The Society of Research Software Engineering is now open for membership. You can be among the first to become a member of the brand new professional body for RSEs. Membership is open to anyone who supports the aims of the Society to further research software engineering for the benefit of research and wider society. Membership is currently available to people living in the UK and will soon be open from anywhere in the world.

A milestone in the story of RSE

Since the foundation of the UK RSE association, the RSE movement has gone from strength to strength and gained recognition at all levels with around 1500 people signed up to the mailing list and Slack, RSE groups established at most leading UK research organisations, and RSE communities, groups and conferences launching all over the world.

Establishing an independent membership organisation to further Research Software Engineering puts this work on a firm footing to enable even greater progress in the future. The Society of Research Software Engineering was registered as a charity in March 2019 and is now ready to accept members.

Why become a member?

Membership is the way to support the aims of the charity to further Research Software Engineering and to help shape its future. Members have voting rights on important aspects of running the Society, such as electing the trustees. Joining now will enable you to vote (or stand) in the upcoming trustee elections. Members will also have access to early registration for Society events such as the annual conference. The more members we have, the greater our ability to act and influence. It is important that we represent the full range of people with an interest in Research Software Engineering in order to establish ourselves as the recognised professional body.

How to join

There are no requirements to hold particular qualifications or be employed in a particular field and no restriction on nationality or location. Registration takes only a few minutes. The annual subscription is £20, set up as a direct debit during registration. Go to our join us page to review the terms and then follow the link to our registration site. If you have questions you can ask in the #socrse-membership slack channel or email [email protected].

The mailing list

The Society of RSE continues the work of the informal UK RSE association, and the old mailing list and website will be retired once transfer of operations is complete. Slack and our new website will continue to be freely available to both members and non-members.

We hope that subscribers to the existing mailing list will join the Society as full members. There are options during registration to subscribe to email updates for RSE-related news and a summary of vacancies.

Non-members can sign up just for email updates from the Society. Members can opt in to the same emails during registration and do not need to sign up for the mailing list separately.