ScotRSE kick-off meeting
26 June 2023
ScotRSE is a new network that brings together Research Software Engineers (RSEs) from across Scotland with the aim of sharing knowledge and ideas to help support and grow the community.
The group’s first meeting was held online on June 14th and was attended by 17 participants from eight research organisations across Scotland including the universities of Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dundee, and Strathclyde. The format was decidedly informal and centred on getting to know each other as many of the participants were meeting for the first time.
For the first meeting, coordinated by the University of Edinburgh, participants were split into groups for an informal icebreaker activity (just to start people talking) and then everyone was brought back together for a general discussion on the future of RSE in Scotland – what would we like to see in five years? The network aims to hold ten meetings a year, all online to start with, but each future meeting will be hosted by a different institution, so essentially the network will tour the country and get to know the research software engineering landscape at each institution.
We have initially promoted the network within educational institutions, but we welcome RSEs from any organisation who would like to share experiences, ideas, and best practice. We intend to meet monthly online, with the potential for local in-person gatherings. We very much hope to grow the network so please spread the word!
We hope this will be a really welcoming network, where people can learn about the RSE landscape across Scotland, get to know each other and work together to deliver improvements.
"It was great up to meet up with other people involved in research software engineering in Scotland. The breadth of research areas was fascinating and I’m looking forward to future events.”
RSE Scot kick-off meeting participant
