Research Software Engineers (RSEs) - is how people who develop research software call themselves independent of their job title and degree. In the science park Albert Einstein in Potsdam now the first conference in Germany took place on the subject of research software. The Potsdam Research Centre of the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) organized the conference together with the Gesellschaft für Informatik eV (GI) - Fachbereich Softwaretechnik (SWT), the de-RSE eV - Gesellschaft für Forschungssoftware , the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences.
Some 200 attendees from Germany and other parts of Europe took part in the fully booked conference: a broad mix of researchers from various fields, experts in software funding and financing, developers and software service providers.
Co-organiser Jan Philipp Dietrich of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research says: "In research, almost nothing is possible without software – but it is almost never discussed. Quality assurance in software is always also quality assurance for research, and silentness certainly doesn't help here. The first German conference on research software is supposed to advance the discussion about how good software has to be, in order for good research to come out of it".
The conference creates a unique network in the German scientific landscape among various actors, stakeholders and industry on the topic of research software in order to discuss current topics such as digital transformation in research and science, sustainability, funding opportunities and possible contributions to the National Research Data Infrastructure (NFDI).
Further information about the conference can be found in the original press release of the GFZ.