Research Software Engineers (RSEs) - The people behind research software

Software development is an essential, integral part of research activity. Research software increasingly supports the acquisition, processing and analysis of empirical data, but also the modeling and the simulation of complex processes. Thus, software has a significant influence on the quality of research results. The British Software Sustainability Institute (SSI) has coined the slogan “Better Software - Better Research”.

However, the current approaches to research software as well as the recognition of research software engineering do not adequately reflect the importance of this work in and for the research process. The reasons for this are manifold and result in a variety of issues, such as:

• Lack of recognition of research software development as scientific contribution;
• Missing link between research software development and the scientific reputation system;
• Limited availability and usability of research software;
• Redundant and parallel software developments;
• Insufficient skills in software engineering;
• Lack of quality standards for the development and review of research software;
• Lack of reproducibility;
• Unclear rules for publication with regard to licenses and intellectual property (IP).

Researchers, scientists and others developing software in and for research within the German scientific landscape have come together in the de-RSE community in order to considerably boost the visibility of these issues, and to decisively improve the current situation. de-RSE aims at constituting a wider initiative for acting jointly on shared objectives, and being the collective spokesperson for RSEs within the German scientific landscape.

Wanna dive into the world of RSE? Take a look at our position papers, learning and teaching resources, or find excellent reading materials at the UK RSE website, https://society-rse.org/, the US RSE website, https://us-rse.org/, and the UK SSI blog https://www.software.ac.uk/blog!