research software engineering

Jan Linxweiler from the Technische Universität Braunschweig will talk about “Learnings from SURESOFT - Research Software Engineering Beyond Tooling”.

Abstract: “Research software plays a crucial role in advancing various disciplines and driving scientific progress. Typically developed by scientists with a focus on short-term objectives, due to the pressure to publish results as fast as possible. Therefore, such software often faces challenges in regard to software quality and suffers from reproducibility issues caused by the rushed implementation and the developers’ limited training in software engineering. This hampers its widespread and enduring usage, thereby impeding the quality and pace of scientific research.

The SURESOFT project aims to tackle these issues by establishing a cohesive methodology and infrastructure applicable to most research software projects. While leveraging tools and principles from the discipline of software engineering like version control, continuous integration, containerization, software design principles and patterns as well as testing and Test Driven Development, SURESOFT seeks to enable researchers to enhance the quality of research software to ensure its long-term sustainability and availability.”

Institutions

• National Center for Supercomputing Applications

Neil Chue Hong from the Software Sustainability Institute and The University of Edinburgh

Abstract: “Since the coining of the term Research Software Engineer in 2012, the RSE community have focussed on understanding how to define what an RSE is, where they sit, and what they do. After a decade, we’ve realised that there isn’t a single job profile for an RSE, and there are multiple pathways to becoming an RSE. So what comes next for the profession as it continues to mature? In this talk, I’ll consider whether the RSE profession is defined not by what we do, but how and why we do things. How can research software engineering be meaningful and relevant to society, how can it continue to grow, and how can we make it easier to explain our job to others? I’ll also consider where RSE is going in the future, and how the role of an RSE may be changing.”

Institutions

• Helmholtz Platform for Research Software Engineering - Preparatory Study

We invite you to join us for the 31^st HiRSE Seminar on the 20^th June at 11am where Professor Caroline Jay from the Software Sustainability Institute and the University of Manchester will talk about ‘*Research Software Engineering and Software Engineering Research: Bridging Knowledge Gaps*’.

Abstract: Research software underpins computational research across many academic disciplines, and we might therefore assume that software engineering researchers (SERs), who investigate and develop methods to improve the quality of software and its lifecycle processes, have a strong interest in this growing area. Conversely, we might assume that research software engineers (RSEs) who must select, customize, and apply software engineering methods to create research software have an interest in the production and adoption of novel methods. Whilst there is strong theoretical overlap between these communities, in reality they interact very little. This talk will provide an overview of and personal reflection on a recent Dagstuhl seminar bringing RSEs and SERs together, covering the challenges of tribalism and terminology, and the opportunities of a new interdisciplinary research area.

Institutions

• Helmholtz Platform for Research Software Engineering - Preparatory Study