In 2015, the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), the UK’s main agency for funding research in engineering and the physical sciences, released a fellowship call specifically targeted at Research Software Engineers.
The call aimed to provide up to five years of support for individuals with both expertise in programming and solid knowledge of the research environment, who would work with researchers to gain an understanding of the problems they face; they would then develop, maintain and extend software to provide solutions. To support the role of RSEs and establish a cohort in the academic environment, up to £3m was available for this pilot call.
Full proposals were subject to a rigorous peer review process before a final selection by interview of 7 EPSRC RSE Fellows in 2016. This was the first fellowship scheme of this kind in the world.
A second call was issued by EPSRC in 2017, following which a new cohort of 4 EPSRC Fellows was selected.
A third call was issued by UKRI (involving both EPSRC and STFC) in 2021.
2021 EPSRC/STFC RSE Fellows
Eilis Hannon
RSE
University of Exeter
2016 EPSRC RSE Fellows
Louise Brown
RSE
University of Nottingham
Ian Bush
RSE
Oxford e-Research Center
Mike Croucher
Developer Advocate
NAG
Oliver Henrich
RSE
University of Strathclyde
Christopher Richardson
RSE
University of Cambridge
Paul Richmond
RSE
University of Sheffield
Chris Woods
RSE
University of Bristol
2018 EPSRC RSE Fellows
Jeremy Cohen
Research Fellow
Imperial College London
Phil Hasnip
RSE
University of York
Joanna Leng
RSE
University of Leeds
Leila Muresan
RSE
University of Cambridge