Following a successful meeting at RSECon25, we’re very pleased to announce the relaunch of the RSE Leaders Network, now constituted as a Special Interest Group (SIG) within the Society. 

The purpose and aim of this group is to provide a forum for existing RSE leaders to support each other, to provide a forum for aspiring leaders to gain experience and network, to coordinate the gathering and maintenance of resources supporting both groups, and to be a clear entry point to the leaders community.

Although based in and primarily focused on the UK RSE community, the SIG welcomes leaders and aspiring leaders from around the world, as well as those leading wider research technical professional (RTP) teams.

How to Join

To join, you simply need to sign up for the mailing list. We also encourage you to join the #leaders Slack channel on the RSE Slack workspace, where leaders and aspiring leaders can discuss, share experiences and resources, network, and learn from each other. 

We have archived the previous Slack channel and will shortly be archiving the old mailing list as well, so if you want to stay in the loop, you need to sign up for the new list.

We run a private Slack channel specifically for current RSE group leaders. If you would like to join, please register your interest here.

The SIG is led by a steering group, which is co-chaired by Fliss Guest and Marion Weinzierl and also includes Samantha Ahern, Jonathan Cooper and Michael Donnay. If you want to learn more about the group’s governance, you can read the Terms of Reference.

What’s next

Around 40 leaders and aspiring leaders met at RSECon25 to discuss how they wanted the SIG to work going forward. There was a vibrant discussion about how best to manage the communications channels left over from the previous iteration of the Leaders Network and suggested paths forward (which we hope are faithfully reflected in the new approach to the mailing list and Slack channels).

The community agreed that there was value in hosting biannual meetings, where leaders and aspiring leaders could work together on common issues and share resources. We are hoping to run the next meeting in February or March, with the following meeting run alongside RSECon26 in September. If you are interested in hosting the next meeting, get in touch!