www.software.ac.uk

Is software important?

Use software

Fundamental to results

69%

92%

n=417

DOI:10.5281/zenodo.1183562

Data analytics

Data management

89%

96%

n=179

Photo by Tyler Easton on Unsplash

Without software, data is just a random collection of numbers

n=594

www.bit.ly/SotSoftStudy2019

Is software important?

There are problems...

Lack of skills

Part 1

n=197

"Beginner"

"Professional"

n=197

Lack of skills

Part 2

Research

Software

Engineering

~10,000 RSEs worldwide

Image courtesy Ian Cosden

https://society-rse.org/

Lack of incentives

https://hidden-ref.org/

There is also a lot of support...

2013

1 RSE Group at UCL

2023

40 groups across the UK

https://society-rse.org/community/rse-groups/

 rsg.southampton.ac.uk

+2 more!

Research software expertise on demand

• We make code reliable, robust and extensible
• Broad range of software and research skills
• Pay for expertise only when you need it
• Costed like any other position in the university
• Fully supported by UKRI and other funders
• 26 active projects and >90 completed
• ...the more advance notice, the better

Training in software engineering

• Providing the basic training in software and data engineering
• For everyone from students to Professors, from researchers to professional services
• Courses for beginners and intermediates
• Training provided directly, via CDTs/DTPs and via CHEP (staffbook)

What we teach

• Version control with Github
• Automation with Bash
• Introduction to Python and R
• Introduction to software project management
• Testing and continuous integration for reliable code
• Integrated development environments, virtual environments and code conventions
• Programming paradigms, management, architecture and design
• Developing software in a team

https://rsgsoton.net/training

Some of our work

• Shows relationships between clusters of gene expression in a patient in the form of a navigable 3D network graph
• Produced the MVP based on the implementation of a novel algorithm
• Developed the visualisation hosted in a scalable, Django web application

TopMD

• GENIE is a web-based service that enables people with long-term health conditions to find support in their personal social networks

• We addressed robustness issues and added new functionality to make the code ready for deployment as a service.

• Implemented GENIE as service-based architecture

GENIE

• Southampton sprint out led by Josh Steer

• Improves the design of prosthetics by predicting pressure on limb sockets
• Productised code and developed web backend to scale presentation to consumers.

Radii devices