THE RESEARCH SOFTWARE ENGINEER

Building careers, collaborations, groups and communities

@alysbrett

Research software at UKAEA

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The UK’s national fusion lab

Fusion energy research and related technology

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Fusion energy research at UKAEA

Two Tokamaks experiments

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JET MAST-U

Technology facilities at UKAEA

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▸ Robotics▸ Materials▸ Apprentice training

£86 million new government funding:National Fusion Technology Platform

UKAEA: Software Engineering Group

Develop & maintain data systems and tools

Help researchers with software

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JET data pipeline

Process Access Analyse VisualiseStore Discover

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Data Dashboard

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Discovering data

At-a-glance summary

Microservices + CMS front end

Control-room visualisation

Tool for viewing real time data

Customised views help experiment team make decisions

Open-source tool from neutron scattering

Plugin & interface for fusion data

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Data Access: Simple Access Layer

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▸ Diverse data

▸ Varied, complex access methods

▸ Unfamiliar scientists

▸ Long term value

Signal data Modelling LogsImagesVideoAudio

SALREST API

Storage layer

Client

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Data Access: Simple Access Layer

Machine meta-data

Programming at UKAEA

159 survey responses

549 Gitlab users

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The research software problem

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Study at: https://goo.gl/gmHwGm 14

31 repositories ~600,000 papers

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⅔ of papers indicate

software reliance in 2017

SOFTWARE IS ESSENTIAL FOR RESEARCH

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Who writes research software?

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Study of main UK academic jobs site

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Missing role

Researcher career structures don’t reward software focus

Software Engineer

ResearcherResearcher Developer

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The “Research Software Engineer”

Software engineering skills + understanding of research

Software Engineer

ResearcherResearcher Developer

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A note about names and categories

▸ A common name is powerful

▸ Pre-existing roles and teams

▸ Job titles and group names vary

eg “engineer” is protected term

▸ Community is inclusive

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Career case study: Dr Louise Brown

PhD Mech. Eng. Extensive software engineering experience (academia and industry)

Started working on TexGen textiles software package at University of Nottingham

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As a “Research Fellow” Louise couldn’t get career progression

Because metrics are based on research publications

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Awarded RSE Fellowship

Promotion quickly followed

Can now dedicate herself fully to RSE work

▸ TexGen

▸ Disseminating software skills

▸

The story of the UK

RSE movement

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UK RSE Association

A Brief History…

Simon Hettrick:A very brief history of Research Software Engineersbit.ly/RSETalk2016

A not-so-brief history of Research Software Engineersbit.ly/NotSoBriefRSE

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Background…

2010

SSI

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SSI set up to improve research software

Enabled RSE movement to get off the ground:

▸ Networking▸ Events▸ Publicity▸ Money▸ Links to funders, ▸ Research, policy, evidence

Origins: SSI Collaborations Workshop 2012

2010

Term coined

Mar2012

SSI

“Developing the profession of a scientific software engineer and the career track of software developers in academia.”

- James Hetherington

The term “Research Software Engineer” adopted

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2010

Term coined

FirstRSG

Mar2012

Late2012

SSI

2012: First Research Software Group

First RSE Group at University College London

New model of organising software expertise in a University

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2010

Term coined

FirstRSG

UK RSE

Mar2012

Late2012

Early2014

SSI

2014: RSE Association Founded

RSE Workshop Sep 2013

“Should we create a community to represent RSEs?”

160 members in first 3 months

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2014: Elections, word spreads

2010

Term coined

FirstRSG

UK RSE

Democratic

Mar2012

Late2012

Early2014

Late2014

SSI

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2015: RSE Fellowships

Funding body creates dedicated RSE Fellowships

Five years funding 211 applicants - 7 fellowships awarded(2nd round in 2017)

2010

Term coined

FirstRSG

UK RSE

Democratic RSE fellows

Mar2012

Late2012

Early2014

Late2014

June 2015

SSI

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2010

Term coined

FirstRSG

UK RSE

Democratic RSE fellows

Expansion

Mar2012

Late2012

Early2014

Late2014

June 2015

2015-16

SSI

2015-16: More groups + coordination!

RSE Leaders forum:Networking, help & moral support for people setting up or running RSE Groups

RSE network coordinator (Claire Wyatt)

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2016: First RSE Conference

2010

Term coined

FirstRSG

UK RSE

Democratic RSE fellows

Expansion FirstConference

Mar2012

Late2012

Early2014

Late2014

June 2015

2015-16

Sep 2016

SSI

2010

Term coined

FirstRSG

UK RSE

Democratic RSE fellows

Expansion FirstConference

Current activities

Mar2012

Late2012

Early2014

Late2014

June 2015

2015-16

Sep 2016

SSI

2017-18

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Current activities

(More on this later)

What do RSEs do?

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What do RSEs do?

▸ Build quality software - as part of research projects

▸ Help researchers

▹ Navigate computing infrastructure

▹ Learn skills

▹ Establish good practices

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Better software...

▸ Well designed, understandable

▸ Tested

▸ Documented and maintainable

▸ Easier to use, reuse and extend

▸ Better reproducibility

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Example project: CHERAB

Spectroscopy simulation framework

Modelling of hot plasma diagnostic data

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CHERAB: RSE input

Dr Matthew Carr (Physicist)Dr Alex Meakins (RSE)

Preparing CHERAB for worldwide use

▸ Improving architecture▸ Speeding up▸ Open-source▸ Packaging

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CHERAB: Impact

RSE groups

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Research Software Groups

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Flexible access to software expertise

Pooling resources for small projects

Central source of advice, training, infrastructure

Stable careers for RSEs

Peer group

Can maintain wider range of skills

Focus for a wider network

Research software groups in UK

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The support and recognition provided by a central RSE group allowed Tania to develop her skills and career

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Career case study: Dr Tania AllardPhD in materials science

Encountered issues with poorly-written research software

Joined the RSE group at the University of Sheffield

Help setting up an RSE Group

http://rse.ac.uk/resources/how-to-start-an-rse-group/

RSE leaders discussions

Slack channel for people running or trying to start RSE groups or networks

RSE group case studies

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Research software

communities

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Communities within organisations

Networking Knowledge sharing Self-help

Raising the profile & status of research software work

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Institutional communities & events

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▸ Southampton ▸ UCL ▸ Oxford ▸ Cambridge ▸ RAL/STFC ▸ Nottingham ▸ Newcastle▸ ORNL

“Research software community”

“Research Programming Hub”

“Research Software Developer Network”

“Computing seminar days”

“Software Expo”

National RSE associations

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UK RSE: current activities

▸ Continued growth

▸ Bigger conference!

▸ Formal organisation

▸ International links

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www.rse.ac.uk @ResearchSoftEng

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UK RSE membership

The Society of Research Software Engineering

Currently registering as a “Charitable Incorporated Organisation”

▸ Legal entity▸ Independent of any individual or University▸ Elected trustees▸ Manage funds

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RSE Conference

Two successful events in 2016 & 17

> 200 participants from 14 countries

Talks, workshops, tutorials

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RSE18

September 3rd & 4thUniversity of Birmingham, UK

http://rse.ac.uk/conf2018/

Registration opens June 5th

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More national RSE associations

Gemany: DE-RSE

www.de-rse.org

Netherlands: NL-RSE

nl-rse.org

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National RSE Associations

Nordic Countries: NORDIC-RSE

www.nordic-rse.org

Under construction:

▸ Australia & New Zealand

▸ More in discussion...

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International RSE

movement

International RSE activity

Conferences

RSE17

▸ Int. workshop▸ WSSSPE co-located

Sessions / talks in several national & international conferences

Networks& groups

Name and concept being adopted, eg

▸ Princeton, ORNL, USA

▸ Radboud, Netherlands

RSE Surveys

Comparative data from:

▸ Germany▸ Netherlands▸ UK▸ USA▸ South Africa▸ Canada

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International RSE leaders workshop

30th-31st January 2018

Bringing together RSE leaders from around the world to help each other improve access to software expertise in research by pooling knowledge, coordinating efforts and establishing collaboration.

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Participants Running/starting RSE groups & networks

Leading research software initiatives

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Coordinating efforts, sharing experience

Sharing group models RSE evidence bank

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researchsoftware.org

International RSE websiteBlog post published

Blog posts:

▸ Workshop

▸ How to set up a national RSE Association

▸ Tools for managing RSE projects

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Getting involved

Request invitation via www.rse.ac.uk

(Or ask Scott Henwood / UK RSE people in the break!)

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Canadian Research Software Development

CRSC18

May2018

RSE Survey

2017 2019

What’s next?

How can you help?

?

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PICK WHAT FITSAction can be taken on all scales

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You know your context best

CHANGE ISHARD

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COMMUNITIES ARE POWERFUL

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BIG GOAL SMALL STEPSKeep going and small changes add up

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MAKE IT HAPPEN!

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Simon Hettrick:A very brief history of Research Software Engineersbit.ly/RSETalk2016

A not-so-brief history of Research Software Engineersbit.ly/NotSoBriefRSE

Contactalys.brett@ukaea.uk@alysbrett

info@rse.ac.uk@ResearchSoftEng

Read more www.rse.ac.uk

www.researchsoftware.org

RSE State of the Nation Reportdoi.org/10.5281/zenodo.495360

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Presentation template by SlidesCarnivalModified for UK RSE use by Mark Turner