The Four Pillars of Research Software Engineering

Building software that can support the huge growth in data and computation required by modern research needs individuals with increasingly specialist skill sets that take time to develop and maintain. The Research Software Engineering movement, which started in the UK and has been built up over recent years, aims to recognise and support these individuals. Why does research software matter to professional software development practitioners outside the research community? Research software can have great impact on the wider world and recent progress means the area can now be considered as a more realistic option for a professional software development career. In this article we present a structure, along with supporting evidence of real-world activities, that defines four elements that we believe are key to providing comprehensive and sustainable support for Research Software Engineering. We also highlight ways that the wider developer community can learn from, and engage with, these activities

Review of "The Four Pillars of Research Software Engineering"

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Research Software Engineering in 2030

This position paper for an invited talk on the "Future of eScience" discusses the Research Software Engineering Movement and where it might be in 2030. Because of the authors' experiences, it is aimed globally but with examples that focus on the United States and United Kingdom.Comment: Invited paper for 2023 IEEE Conference on eScienc

Approach to Include Sustainability and Creativity in Requirements Engineering

Silveira, C., Santos, V., Reis, L., & Mamede, H. (2022). CRESustain: Approach to Include Sustainability and Creativity in Requirements Engineering. Journal of Engineering Research and Sciences, 1(8), 27-34. https://doi.org/10.55708/js0108004, https://doi.org/10.55708/js0108Requirements Engineering is an evolving field facing new challenges. One of the central conundrums is sustainability in software. The possibility of using known creativity techniques while introducing the dimensions of sustainability to help provide unexpected, original, practical, and sustainable answers in software development is challenging and motivating. This paper proposes an approach, CRESustain, incorporating sustainability dimensions when introducing creativity techniques in the Requirements Engineering process. CRESustain uses various creativity techniques considered appropriate for the different stages of the RE process. It is inspired by the Sustainable Development Goals, creative problem-solving methods, and the Karlskrona Manifesto. The methodology applied to give materiality to the outcome of this work was Design Science Research, a research paradigm that uses knowledge to solve problems, generate new knowledge and insights, and results in an artefact. The main results indicate that the approach stimulates discussion about sustainability in technical, economic, social, human, and environmental dimensions focusing on the Sustainable Development Goals and people's needs.publishersversionpublishe

What Do We (Not) Know About Research Software Engineering?

As recognition of the vital importance of software for contemporary research is increasing, Research Software Engineering (RSE) is emerging as a discipline in its own right. We present an inventory of relevant research questions about RSE as a basis for future research and initiatives to advance the field, highlighting selected literature and initiatives. This work is the outcome of a RSE community workshop held as part of the 2020 International Series of Online Research Software Events (SORSE) which identified and prioritized key questions across three overlapping themes: people, policy and infrastructure. Almost half of the questions focus on the people theme, which addresses issues related to career paths, recognition and motivation; recruitment and retention; skills; and diversity, equity and inclusion. However, the people and policy themes have the same number of prioritized questions. We recommend that different types of stakeholders, such as RSE employers and policy makers, take responsibility for supporting or encouraging answering of these questions by organizations that have an interest. Initiatives such as the International Council of RSE Associations should also be engaged in this work

What do we (not) know about research software engineering?

As recognition of the vital importance of software for contemporary research is increasing, Research Software Engineering (RSE) is emerging as a discipline in its own right. We present an inventory of relevant research questions about RSE as a basis for future research and initiatives to advance the field, highlighting selected literature and initiatives. This work is the outcome of a RSE community workshop held as part of the 2020 International Series of Online Research Software Events (SORSE) which identified and prioritized key questions across three overlapping themes: people, policy and infrastructure. Almost half of the questions focus on the people theme, which addresses issues related to career paths, recognition and motivation; recruitment and retention; skills; and diversity, equity and inclusion. However, the people and policy themes have the same number of prioritized questions. We recommend that different types of stakeholders, such as RSE employers and policy makers, take responsibility for supporting or encouraging answering of these questions by organizations that have an interest. Initiatives such as the International Council of RSE Associations should also be engaged in this work

A Bibliographical Study of Software Product Management Research

Software Product Management (SPM) is a relatively young research area which aims to understand how to productise a software product or a service as well as how to align it with the organisation's strategy. While the research of an academic discipline of SPM started to emerge as yearly as 1990s, the most impactful works have been published during 2006–2007. To understand how this young field has emerged and developed, this paper presents a bibliometric study on SPM publications found from Scopus ( n=142 ). The identified studies have been produced by a small set of authors and institutions, which are mainly located in Europe. By using Bibliographic Coupling and Co-Citation metrics, the study shows that Software Product Management literature is drawing from several different related fields. Furthermore, the studied literature is tightly interconnected. The study also shows that the SPM field might be lacking a coherent intellectual background and new openings due to scattered research foci. To prevent this development, this work calls for a formation of a shared research agenda for the Software Product Management field.acceptedVersionPeer reviewe

An environment for sustainable research software in Germany and beyond: current state, open challenges, and call for action

Research software has become a central asset in academic research. It optimizes existing and enables new research methods, implements and embeds research knowledge, and constitutes an essential research product in itself. Research software must be sustainable in order to understand, replicate, reproduce, and build upon existing research or conduct new research effectively. In other words, software must be available, discoverable, usable, and adaptable to new needs, both now and in the future. Research software therefore requires an environment that supports sustainability. Hence, a change is needed in the way research software development and maintenance are currently motivated, incentivized, funded, structurally and infrastructurally supported, and legally treated. Failing to do so will threaten the quality and validity of research. In this paper, we identify challenges for research software sustainability in Germany and beyond, in terms of motivation, selection, research software engineering personnel, funding, infrastructure, and legal aspects. Besides researchers, we specifically address political and academic decision-makers to increase awareness of the importance and needs of sustainable research software practices. In particular, we recommend strategies and measures to create an environment for sustainable research software, with the ultimate goal to ensure that software-driven research is valid, reproducible and sustainable, and that software is recognized as a first class citizen in research. This paper is the outcome of two workshops run in Germany in 2019, at deRSE19 - the first International Conference of Research Software Engineers in Germany - and a dedicated DFG-supported follow-up workshop in Berlin

Entrenamiento por Competencias de Computación de Alto Rendimiento para Ecosistemas de Computación Avanzada

peer reviewedHigh-Performance Computing (HPC) is one of the pillars of developing modern science and disruptive technologies, uniting computer architectures and parallel programming into multidisciplinary interactions to face domain-specific problems. That is why different areas of knowledge require their future professionals (scientists or not) to acquire skills in using HPC. The Super Computing and Distributed Systems Camping School, SC-Camp, is a non-profit activity that proposes a series of courses about HPC with an important focus on practical sessions (more than half of the time) addressed to undergraduate and graduate students who could benefit from HPC by demand. It is an itinerant school, bringing the HPC knowledge to a different place every year, focusing on diversity, sustainability, and humanity.La computación de alto rendimiento (HPC) es uno de los pilares del desarrollo de la ciencia moderna y las tecnologías disruptivas, uniendo arquitecturas informáticas y programación paralela en interacciones multidisciplinarias para enfrentar problemas específicos de dominio. Es por ello que distintas áreas del conocimiento exigen a sus futuros profesionales (científicos o no) adquirir habilidades en el uso de HPC. El Camping Escuela de Super Computación y Sistemas Distribuidos, SC-Camp, es una actividad sinánimo de lucro que propone una serie de cursos sobre HPC con un importante foco en sesiones prácticas (más de la mitad del tiempo) dirigidas a estudiantes de grado y posgrado que podrían beneficiarse de HPC según la demanda. Es una escuela itinerante, quelleva el conocimiento de HPC a un lugar diferente cada año, con un enfoque importante en la diversidad, la sostenibilidad y la humanidad

Open science in psychophysiology: An overview of challenges and emerging solutions

The present review is the result of a one-day workshop on open science, held at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Psychophysiological Research in Washington, DC, September 2019. The contributors represent psychophysiological researchers at different career stages and from a wide spectrum of institutions. The state of open science in psychophysiology is discussed from different perspectives, highlighting key challenges, potential benefits, and emerging solutions that are intended to facilitate open science practices. Three domains are emphasized: data sharing, preregistration, and multi-site studies. In the context of these broader domains, we present potential implementations of specific open science procedures such as data format harmonization, power analysis, data, presentation code and analysis pipeline sharing, suitable for psychophysiological research. Practical steps are discussed that may be taken to facilitate the adoption of open science practices in psychophysiology. These steps include (1) promoting broad and accessible training in the skills needed to implement open science practices, such as collaborative research and computational reproducibility initiatives, (2) establishing mechanisms that provide practical assistance in sharing of processing pipelines, presentation code, and data in an efficient way, and (3) improving the incentive structure for open science approaches. Throughout the manuscript, we provide references and links to available resources for those interested in adopting open science practices in their research. © 2021This work was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health R01MH097320 and R01 MH112558 to AK