—- Press release for immediate release – Thursday 13th October 2022 —-

Celebrating Research Software Engineering’s pivotal contribution to UK science

Today marks International RSE Day, organised by the International Council of RSE Associations. This is a fantastic opportunity to celebrate the contribution of research software engineering (RSE) to UK science. Software is used everywhere in science, from modelling COVID-19, forecasting our future climate and analysing vast quantities of social media data. 

Research software engineers help bridge the gap between software engineering and the scientific process, helping accelerate research and embed best practices. Over the past 10 years, the RSE role has been increasingly recognised as a critical one in a world where research increasingly relies on code and computational techniques, and RSE groups are emerging across Universities in the UK to help ensure their researchers have access to this unique combination of skills. However, research software engineering is something that happens across the research community, not just within these dedicated central teams. The majority of work is done by those who are embedded within research teams, often with a different official job title, but still bringing these crucial skills to the research endeavours they support.

Supporting researchers to leverage software and digital tools is crucial for the future of UK science. Research software engineers are the keystone of making this happen, and today we recognise their pivotal contribution to keeping Britain cutting-edge.

“Universities should embrace and recognise research software engineering (RSE) as an intellectually and academically creative collaborative discipline that is vital for keeping UK science at the cutting edge.”

Ben Goldacre, Director of Bennett Institute for Applied Data Science

“The movement to acknowledge the importance of software in research has grown to worldwide scales over the last ten years. International RSE Day is a crucial time to reflect and recognise the fantastic work of everyone doing research software engineering across the UK and the world. The Society of Research Software Engineering is dedicated to continuing to advocate nationally and internationally for this crucial discipline to empower progress.”

Matt Williams, Society of Research Software Engineering President

You can find out more about International RSE Day and read more RSE stories by following the #IntlRSEday hashtag on Twitter.

ENDS

Contact for further details:

Alex Coleman, [email protected] 

Notes:

The Society of Research Software Engineering is a UK charity whose mission is to establish a research environment that recognises the vital role of software in research. We work to increase software skills across everyone in research, to promote collaboration between researchers and software experts, and to support the creation of an academic career path for Research Software Engineers.

Ben Goldacre a clinical researcher at the University of Oxford where he is Director of the Bennett Institute for Applied Data Science. He chaired the Goldacre Review 2022 into delivering better, broader, and safer use of NHS data for analysis and research. You can read the full recommendations here.

The International Council of RSE Associations is a formal open forum for established national and multinational RSE associations to talk and coordinate regularly, and thus sustain international collaboration. The council consists of delegates from established RSE associations who meet regularly to coordinate, discuss and collaborate.