Governance

The Society of Research Software Engineering is registered with the Charity Commission as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation with Charity Number 1182455.

The Society is governed by a constitution document which defines its overall purpose and some key aspects of how it operates. The trustees of the society have responsibility for making sure our activities and resources are well-directed to meet these charitable aims.

The Society has chosen to adopt the Charity Governance Code and conducts a governance review at least once per year in order to continually improve our governance. Information on our governance procedures and how we use the Charity Governance Code will be published in our trustee annual report.

Each trustee is expected to undertake at least one core role to ensure the smooth operation of the Society. For details of each role, please see the role descriptions page.

Current Board of Trustees

Read below for the roles and subgroups assigned to the individual trustees.

Photograph of Lyndsey Ballantyne
Lyndsey Ballantyne
Elected 2023
A silhouette to represent a missing photo
Iain Barrass
Elected 2025
A photo of Adrian Nenu
Adrian Mircea Nenu
Elected 2025
A photo of Elena Breitmoser
Elena Breitmoser
Elected 2025
Photo of James Tyrrell
James Tyrrell
Elected 2025
Photograph of Twin Karmakharm
Twin Karmakharm
Elected 2023
Photo of Mark Basham
Mark Basham
Elected 2025
David Beavan head-shot photograph
David Beavan
President
Re-elected 2025
Photograph of Martin O'Reilly
Martin O’Reilly
Treasurer
Re-elected 2025
Photograph of Gillian Sinclair
Gillian Sinclair
Re-elected 2025
Photo of Samantha Ahern
Samantha Ahern
Vice President
Elected 2024
Photo of Stef Piatek
Stef Piatek
Secretary
Elected 2023
Photograph of Mike Simpson
Mike Simpson
Vice President
Elected 2023
A photo of William Haese-Hill
Will Haese-Hill
Vice Secretary
Elected 2025

Contact Us

If you want to contact any of the subgroups of the trustees, you may use the following email addresses:

  • All Trustees[email protected]
  • Governance[email protected]
    • David Beavan – President
    • Samantha Ahern – Vice President
    • Mike Simpson – Vice President
    • Stef Piatek – Secretary
    • Will Haese-Hill – Vice-Secretary
    • Martin O’Reilly – Treasurer
  • Conference &Events[email protected]
    • Iain Barrass (2026 Conference Lead)
    • Lyndset Ballantyne (Events Lead)
    • James Tyrrell
  • Finance[email protected]
    • Martin O’Reilly (Treasurer)
    • James Tyrrell (Vice-Treasurer)
  • Web & Infrastructure[email protected]
    • Adrian Nenu (Lead)
    • Twin Karmakharm (Second)
  • Membership[email protected]
    • Samantha Ahern (Lead)
    • Gillian Sinclair (Second)
  • Code of Conduct committee[email protected]
    • David Beavan (as President)
    • Samantha Ahern (as Vice President)
    • Mike Simpson (as Vice President)
    • Stef Piatek (as Secretary)
    • Mark Basham (as lead of EDIA subgroup)
  • Funding and Policy
    • Twin Karmakharm (co-lead)
    • Elena Breitmoser (co-lead)

Working Groups

  • Communications & Publicity[email protected]
    • Gillian Sinclair (Lead)
    • Mark Basham (Second)
    • Mike Simpson
  • EDIA (equality, diversity, inclusivity and accessibility) – [email protected]
    • Mark Basham (Lead)
    • Stef Piatek (Vice)
    • Samantha Ahern
    • Jamie Quinn
    • Louise Brown
    • Rachel Alcraft
    • Samantha Finnigan
  • Mentoring Programme[email protected]
    • Elena Breitmoser (Lead)
    • Adrian Nenu (Second)
  • Elections[email protected]
    • Lyndsey Ballantyne (Lead)
    • David Beavan
  • Special Interest Group co-ordinator[email protected]
    • Will Haese-Hill (Co-lead)
    • Lyndsey Ballantyne (Co-lead)
    • Michael Donnay
  • Leader’s Network
    • Samantha Ahern (Trustee Rep)
    • Martin O’Reilly
    • Iain Barrass

RSE Conference Committee

The Conference Committee are a team of volunteers and trustees responsible for delivering the Society’s annual RSE Conference in the UK.

RSE Conference Committee Structure

Trustee Elections

Because of our origins as a grass-roots association, we wanted to put the members in control so we have adopted a governance model with trustees directly elected by the membership. To strike a balance between continuity and new input, one third of the trustees are up for re-election or replacement each year.

Advisory Group

We have an external advisory group, which is governed by the Advisory Group Terms of Reference.

Annual Reports and AGMs

Past Boards of Trustees

Timeline of Trustees

Past RSE Association Committees

UK RSE Association Committee 2016
UK RSE Association Committee 2015-2016
UK RSE Association Committee 2013-2015