Welcome to the May edition of the RSE Society Newsletter, where we’re thrilled to spotlight a bustling slate of community happenings, from the launch of RSECon26 registration (with a 10 % Society discount) and urgent calls for award nominations, reviewers, bursary applicants, and Emerging Voices (all due by today, 1 June) to the vibrant RSEEE & Women in HPC annual meeting and the inaugural Teaching & Training SIG Community Days in Manchester this July. In this issue you’ll also find fresh opportunities to join the Carpentries’ GenAI‑plus‑Teaching discussions, explore the revamped Strain Database collaboration, and dive into new resources such as the “Software Engineer Career Path” guide and the Generative‑AI community‑vision report. Finally, don’t miss our brand‑new Internship & Work‑Experience section (linked at the bottom) and if you are running such a scheme, do please look at the work the SocRSE EDIA working group is doing gathering stories to inspire and expand mentorship opportunities across our network.

Happy reading!

RSECon26 News Updates

RSECon26 Registration Now Open

Secure your spot for the 10th anniversary Research Software Engineering Conference taking place in Sheffield from 9-11 September 2026! You can join us in person or secure a remote access ticket to watch live streams and participate from anywhere in the world. As a valued member of the Society of Research Software Engineering you are entitled to an exclusive 10% discount on your conference ticket.

RSECon26 Call for Award Nominations and Reviewers

It is time to celebrate the amazing contributions to the Research Software Engineering community! You can nominate colleagues, groups or yourself for a Community Award or the Green RSE Award. Nominations close on 13 July 2026. We are also looking for volunteers to help review these nominations. Reviewers of all experience levels are welcome and the total time commitment is a maximum of 3 hours. Applications to be a reviewer close on 12 June 2026.

Urgent Deadlines: RSECon26 Bursaries and Emerging Voices

Please note that the deadlines for both the RSECon26 Bursary scheme and the Call for Emerging Voices close Today on 1 June 2026. If financial barriers are preventing you from attending we offer support for travel, accommodation and free registration. Additionally our Emerging Voices session is looking for newcomers to the community to share their stories. Selected speakers receive professional public speaking coaching and mentoring. Apply or nominate someone immediately before the deadline passes!

Special Interest and Regional Group Round-up

RSEEE & Women in HPC Annual Meeting

On 22 April, the John Innes Centre Conference Centre in Norwich hosted the second iteration of this joint annual gathering for the RSE East of England (RSEEE) regional group and the Cambridge & East Anglia Women in HPC chapter. The room was packed with more than 60 attendees from various institutions across the region and the engaging talks covered a wide range of topics, including Artificial Intelligence and its challenges, sustainability in software development, High Performance Computing (HPC) and various tools. This event was supported by the RSE Society and the Technician Commitment initiative. Catch up on what happened at the website.

Teaching and Training SIG Community Days

Save the date!

Join us in Manchester on the 14th and/or 15th July for the inaugural Teaching and Training SIG Community Days.

Day 1 will focus on the DisCouRSE funded project “Recognising and rewarding training activity in dRTP roles and departments”., This is your opportunity to help inform development pathways for educators in these teams.

Day 2 is the general training community day. We will share the outcomes of the dRTP Training Landscape Survey 2026 and there will be opportunity for collaboration on either scoping new training materials or contribution to the training aspects of the DIRECT skills and competencies framework.

Thanks to the SSI for supporting this event. Bursaries will be available to support travel or childcare costs.

Community News & Events

New Series of Community Discussions on Teaching and GenAI

The Carpentries is hosting a new series of GenAI + Teaching Discussions, bringing educators together to share their experiences: the challenges and opportunities they have identified, strategies they have tried in response, and what they learned in the process. Although we expect conversations to place a particular focus on the teaching of computational research skills (programming, data handling and analysis, etc), we welcome all educators at these sessions.
The calls will begin on Thursday 18 June, at 13:00 and 20:00 BST. The sessions will begin with an invited presentation from Elle O’Brien, co-author of Scientific Software in the Age of Vibe Coding and A survey of generative AI adoption and perceived productivity among scientists who program, and Director of the AI & Data Science Graduate Data Science Certificate at the University of Michigan.

Revamping the Strain Database Together

A two-phase collaboration between a research team at Manchester Institute of Biotechnology and the University of Manchester Research Software Engineering team transformed a legacy Strain Database into a modern, scalable platform. The upgrade improved reliability, usability, and flexibility to better support the ongoing research needs of the lab.

Call for Internship Stories

The SocRSE EDIA working group are collecting stories about internships to raise awareness, encourage and support other teams to create similar opportunities. Please help by submitting your experiences in hosting an internship or work experience opportunity.

Research Software Engineering in the Age of Generative AI: Building a Community Vision report

The report from the Research Software Engineering in the Age of Generative AI: Building a Community Vision workshop is now available. The workshop, held in March in Edinburgh, UK, brought together participants to explore how Generative AI may reshape the research software ecosystem, and to help inform a broader community vision for the future of the field.
Before the workshop, attendees contributed to a draft vision statement that workshop organisers used to identify areas of agreement and difference. A version of this, published as Research Software in an Age of AI-Assisted Development: Reflections from Edinburgh, is intended to provide principles that will guide the community during this time of rapid change.

The Software Engineer Career Path: IC Track, Management Track, and Everything In Between

Free plain-language guide for engineers comparing long-term technical and management paths. It explains IC vs management ladders, senior/staff/principal expectations, specialization, leadership tradeoffs, and how career paths change as engineers gain experience. It may be useful for RSEs mentoring early-career software staff or deciding how to frame growth beyond individual projects.

Society Updates

And finally, our regular reminder that we have a number of events, initiatives and resources that you might want to check out. These are linked below.

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