In May 2017 the first GFZ meet-up for Research Software Engineers (RSEs) addressed a relatively small group of people at our centre. Since then the community grew, not only at GFZ but also considerably in Europe, in Germany and finally in Helmholtz.
Today GFZ offers many options to join-up with peers, get into exchange, receive support, and contribute when it's up to software engineering in research. Many colleagues have been and still are involved in various groups whose core is centred around software development, e.g., interest and working groups covering simulation and modelling, machine learning and data science, research software engineering, workshops and trainings, recommendations and guidelines, and advice on legal aspects and software licensing.
Within the past five years lots of results have been achieved due to the committed work of many individuals and volunteers. Even the first Conference for Research Software Engineers (#deRSE19) in Germany in 2019 was hosted at our campus and followed by an International Series of Online Research Software Events (SORSE) in 2020-2021 with strong support by Helmholtz colleagues. Notably, GFZ's computing centre and the Helmholtz Federated IT Services (HIFIS) offer state-of-the-art cloud services to support software engineering.
However, our community, we at GFZ lost touch a little bit. Some of the keen drivers left GFZ in the meantime, new colleagues have joined. So it's time to revive the community of people using and developing software for research.
Building H with the lecture hall, three workshop rooms, poster space, and lots of occasions to meet each other have been reserved for a whole day after the summer break. The whole day will be focused around those who develop software in research and thus is open to your ideas, demands and contributions. An agenda is already in place but the day still offers flexibility to serve your needs. Your thoughts and ideas are welcome.
Further detailed information on the event, the agenda and contributions will be sent gradually over the next weeks. Looking forward to seeing you on September 14.
