Fostering a Research Software Engineering community within an organization
Research software engineering is a relatively new concept. The term was first proposed about a decade ago to describe the work of those involved in developing software to support research. Since then, the profession has received increasing attention, beginning in the U.K. and spreading more recently to the United States. Research software engineers (RSEs) today play a pivotal role in scientific progress by designing, developing and sustaining software that forms the foundation of scientific research in most domains. RSEs excel in understanding domain-specific research challenges, ensuring that the software they create serves as a critical core component in the advancement of science.
And RSE jobs abound. Linkedin recently highlighted a story “130,000+ Research Software Engineer Jobs in United States,” and the journal Nature featured an article “Why science needs more research engineers.”
But RSEs often don’t get the recognition – or the funding – they deserve. Part of the reason is that their work is still not well understood.
To address this gap in understanding, researchers from the US-RSE National Organization Empowerment Working Group have prepared a document titled “Getting Started With the RSE Movement Within Your Organization: A Guide for Individuals.”
“This guide is all about helping folks who want to initiate the RSE movement within their own organizations,” said Rinku Gupta, a principal research software specialist in the Mathematics and Computer Science Division at Argonne National Laboratory and co-author of the document.
The guide suggests ways for raising awareness about RSEs (e.g., through blogs and sharing RSE success stories), examines issues such as recruiting colleagues and ensuring flexibility (including avoiding too-rigid deadlines) and discusses practical steps to help individuals bring RSEs together within their organization – and beyond.
“Our aim is to promote understanding among scientists, colleagues, and managers about who RSEs are and why they are so important in today’s evolving scientific landscape. The guide lays the groundwork for creating a dynamic and impactful RSE environment,” said Gupta.
For a copy of the guide, see Rinku Gupta and Gregory Lemieux, “Getting Started With the RSE Movement Within Your Organization: A Guide for Individuals,” December 2023, https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10436166
Argonne National Laboratory seeks solutions to pressing national problems in science and technology by conducting leading-edge basic and applied research in virtually every scientific discipline. Argonne is managed by UChicago Argonne, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science.
The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, visit https://energy.gov/science.