Where it started and where it’s going
Simon Hettrick
October 2024 - US RSE 2024 - @sjh5000 ORCID: 0000-0002-6809-5195
Abstract: The concept for Research Software Engineers came from a discussion at a workshop. In only 12 years, it has grown into a career path and a self-sustaining movement that has spanned the globe. In this talk, I will look at the history of the RSE campaign and explain why I think the campaign was successful. I will move onto what excites me most about today’s RSE community: the way in which it is helping to change research culture from focussing not just on collecting results, but on collecting reliable and reproducible results. The impetus for this change comes from RSE’s contributions to the arguments around how we define “success” in research. RSE has had a huge, positive impact on this debate by proving that if we don’t recognise everyone who is vital to research, we limit our ability to conduct research. I’ll end with some thoughts on tomorrow’s research and the inevitable and hugely welcome growth of non-traditional research roles.
Could plot the number of history of RSE talks I've done - gives you an idea in interest in RSE
A bit about what it means to leave something you created
Why did it work? It was partly "Nothing is as powerful as..." which is great. But the really surprising thing is that it didn't happen earlier. I mean, there's a ton of software out there. If the planet was submerged in water, you'd expect people who provide boats to become pretty popular. But in this world our research institutions were all "Nope. I'm fine thank you" as they disappeared under the surface. It was weird. The reason is tied to what we see as success in research...
Talk a bit about what it means in reality to try and get a campaign like this working
My top three tips on getting things changed
Stubbornness and stamina rather than astute evidence collection and clever arguments
This is about the past, present and future of RSE
I had a problem. Do something to make software important. Do policy, but with absolutely zero experience in academic policy.
The campaign came together because I had to choose what to spend my time on. What was going to change things?
I thought back to the Collaborations Workshop that had taken place that year.
Reproducibility
A training community
RSEs
Can't remember what the fourth one was
The future is about getting an understanding of the value of RSEs. That's the thing. We need to demonstrate the value. There's ROI, of course. Rif a bit on how reliable those things are to the money people. Need to show the ways that RSEs are contributing. What would have happened without them:? Just as importantly, we need to ensure that universities use metrics that represent our work.
This is where you go "In the UK, there's this thing called the REF. Boring right? It's responsible for £X billions and everyone hates it."
VALUE is the thing that this talk will be about. RSEs have always been valuable. The future is about demonstrating that in a way that the sector understands.
"It's a great idea and all, but nothing will change."
When talking about the reliance on papers in academia
Point out that the people in the group that coined the name "RSE" wrote a paper to sort the problem out.
Could give some hints on working in policy
not always the most intelligent, but you can often be the nicest
Try and say the thing that people want to say but are restricted from doing so by a fear of hitting things head on
Use software
Fundamental to results
69%
92%
n=417
Image courtesy Ian Cosden
People who are
vital to research
People who are named in publications
Academics
RSEs, Technicians,
Librarians, Data
Stewards, PRISMS,
RMAs... and more
The Venn of academic importance and recognition
Recognising all research outputs and every role that makes research possible
www.hidden-ref.org
CC-BY William Murphy |
120 submissions in total
Join us on Slack: https://join.slack.com/t/hiddenref/shared_invite/zt-2gxfqxmw5-EhN96l7Yg74y3Zh87D~QIA
James Baker Lyndsey Ballantyne Simon Hettrick Neil Chue Hong
Gemma Derrick Gemma Fletcher Jude Fransman Emma Karoune
Kirsty Pringle Simon Kerridge Tony Roche
Opens on 27 May
...but it's currently UK only!
To change research culture, we need your help...
@sjh5000
ORCID: 0000-0002-6809-5195, EPSRC Grant no: EP/S021779/1
© Simon Hettrick. These slides are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International : https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
https://slides.com/simonhettrick/modelshare-2024
Image credits