diff --git a/.nojekyll b/.nojekyll new file mode 100644 index 00000000..e69de29b diff --git a/404.html b/404.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..9012bacd --- /dev/null +++ b/404.html @@ -0,0 +1,216 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + Nordic RSE + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + +
+ +

404, page not found

+ +

+ This is not the page you are looking for ... return back to the + index page? +

+ +
+ + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/CNAME b/CNAME new file mode 100644 index 00000000..a75b1df0 --- /dev/null +++ b/CNAME @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +nordic-rse.org \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/about/code-of-conduct/index.html b/about/code-of-conduct/index.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..29dbb131 --- /dev/null +++ b/about/code-of-conduct/index.html @@ -0,0 +1,290 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + Code of Conduct - Nordic RSE + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + +
+ +
+

Code of conduct

+
+

This code of conduct is copied and adapted from the code of conduct used at the +Collaborations Workshop 2020 +(CC-BY-NC 2.5 license) which was adapted from the example policy at the +Geek Feminism wiki, +created by the Ada Initiative and other volunteers (CC-0 license). +The procedure for reporting harassment has been adopted from the Ada Initiative's guide titled +"workshop anti-harassment/Responding to Reports".

+
+

We value the participation of each stakeholder and want our members and +participants to our events to have an enjoyable and fulfilling experience. +Accordingly, all members and participants are expected to show respect and +courtesy to other members and participants through all communication channels.

+

To make clear what is expected, all Nordic-RSE members as well as participants, +speakers, exhibitors, organisers and volunteers at Nordic-RSE events are +required to conform to the following code of conduct. Organisers will enforce +this code throughout the event.

+

Summary

+

We are dedicated to providing a harassment-free experience for everyone. We do +not tolerate harassment in any form.

+

All communication should be appropriate for a professional audience including +people of many different backgrounds.

+

Be kind to others. Do not insult or put down others.

+

Behave professionally. Remember that harassment, unprofessional remarks and +messages, and exclusionary jokes are not appropriate in Nordic-RSE.

+

Members violating these rules may have their membership revoked by the board. +Participants to events violating these rules may be asked to leave without a +refund at the sole discretion of the conference organisers.

+

Thank you for making Nordic-RSE a welcoming and friendly environment for all.

+

Clarifications

+

Harassment includes offensive communication related to gender, sexual +orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, religion, sexual +images in public spaces, deliberate intimidation, stalking, following, +harassing photography or recording, sustained disruption of talks or other +events, inappropriate physical contact, and unwelcome sexual attention.

+

Participants asked to stop any harassing behaviour are expected to comply +immediately.

+

Be careful in the words that you choose. Remember that words can be offensive +to those around you. Offensive jokes are not acceptable in the Nordic-RSE. +Excessive swearing is not appropriate.

+

If a member engages in behaviour that violates this code of conduct, the board +of the association may take any action they deem appropriate, including +warning the offender or may revoking their membership without refund of the +membership fee.

+

If the offender is a member of the board, they will be excluded from any board +meetings discussing their conduct. In addition to the above, the offender may +be removed from the board.

+

If a participant at a Nordic-RSE event violates this code of conduct, +organisers may take any action they deem appropriate, including +warning the offender or expulsion from the workshop with no refund.

+

Procedure for reporting harassment

+

If you are being harassed, notice that someone else is being harassed, or have +any other concerns, please contact any +member of the board.

+

Events may have a separate code of conduct committee listed of the event page. +It is always appropriate to contact any member of either code of conduct +committee.

+

Report the harassment incident via email to a member of the code of conduct +committee. All reports are confidential.

+

When reporting the event to a code of conduct committee member, try to gather +as much information as available, but do not interview people about the +incident. The committee member will assist you in writing the report/collecting +information.

+

The important information we need consists of:

+
    +
  • Identifying information (name) of the participant doing the harassing
    • +
  • The behaviour that was in violation
    • +
  • The approximate time of the behaviour (if different than the time the report was made)
    • +
  • The circumstances surrounding the incident
    • +
  • Other people involved in the incident
    • +
+

The code of conduct committee is well informed on how to deal with the incident +and how to further proceed with the situation. All of our committee members +are informed of the code of conduct policy and guide for handling harassment at +the workshop. There will be a mandatory code of conduct committee meeting just +prior to the event when this will be reiterated as well.

+ +
+ +
+ + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/about/getinvolved/index.html b/about/getinvolved/index.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..a33ca701 --- /dev/null +++ b/about/getinvolved/index.html @@ -0,0 +1,234 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + Nordic RSE + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + +
+ +
+

Get involved

+

Yourself

+

We have multiple ways to become involved with Nordic-RSE:

+

Chat with us

+
    +
  • Join the CodeRefinery Zulip chat, there are a lot of very interesting discussions going on here! You can introduce yourself in the #new-members stream. Nordic-RSE related discussion can be followed in the #nordic-rse stream.
    • +
  • Come say hi to our weekly coffeebreak, where we chat and have fun
    • +
+

Stay Tuned

+
    +
  • Become a member here and follow our calendar
    • +
  • Visit our community biweekly meetings, where we plan activities and stuff
    • +
+

Share your skills

+
    +
  • Have you developed a tool you'd like to share? A skill you would like to teach others? Something you find useful and interesting? Then you may want to give a talk to our seminar series. You can propose a talk here.
    • +
+

As Company / Institute / University

+

We are currently thinking about how we can best provide and receive help from companies, institutes and universities and will update this page as soon as we can.

+

If you have ideas on how we could help each other, let us know! +See contact page.

+ +
+ +
+ + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/about/governance/contact/index.html b/about/governance/contact/index.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..572f607d --- /dev/null +++ b/about/governance/contact/index.html @@ -0,0 +1,225 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + Nordic RSE + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + +
+ +
+

Contact us

+

The easiest way to get in touch with us is through the CodeRefinery +Zulip chat, we hang out in the #nordic-rse +channel. There you will have the opportunity to ask us anything you want and +see what we have been up to.

+

If you want to stay up-to date with all the events we are organizing, you can +also join our mailing list.

+

Finally, do not forget to follow us on +Mastodon, +Twitter, and +YouTube.

+

To contact us via email, please see this page.

+ +
+ +
+ + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/about/governance/index.html b/about/governance/index.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..c7a7ed07 --- /dev/null +++ b/about/governance/index.html @@ -0,0 +1,447 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + Association - Nordic RSE + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + +
+ +
+

The Association

+

We are registered in Finland as the Nordic Research Software Engineers ry. +Registering as an association comes with certain legal benefits, such as the ability to +sign contracts and own assets.

+

The association is governed by an annual assembly of its members, which is held +mainly online, and its day to day activities are taken care of by a board.

+

Membership

+

While purpose of the association is to support research software engineering and +scientific computing, anyone can join as a member. The only requirement is that you +wish scientific software was more valued, better implemented, more open and FAIR.

+

We collect a membership fee to cover costs such as the +domain name and bank account. +The member's annual meeting decides the size of the membership fee.

+

Board

+

The association is governed by a board. In practice, the board will take care of +the dull day-to-day affairs and, for now, function as the code of conduct +committee.

+

The current board members are

+
    +
  • Matteo Tomasini (University of Gothenburg, matteo.tomasini@lir.gu.se)
    • +
  • Jarno Rantaharju (Aalto University), jarno.rantaharju@aalto.fi
    • +
  • Samantha Wittke (Aalto University, CSC)
    • +
  • Luca Ferranti (University of Vaasa), luca.ferranti@uwasa.fi
    • +
  • Rohit Goswami (University of Iceland)
    • +
  • Patric Holmvall (Uppsala University)
    • +
  • Stephan Smuts (Aarhus University)
    • +
+

Statutes

+

The Finnish statutes below are actually official, but the English translation is +as faithful as possible.

+

Statutes of the Association in English

+
    +
  1. +

    Name and domicile of the association: +The name of the association is the Nordic Research Software Engineers ry and it is domiciled in Helsinki, Finland

    +
    2. +
  2. +

    Purpose and forms of activity: +The purpose of the association is to support research software engineering and computational research.

    +

    To fulfill its purpose, the association

    +
      +
    • may organize courses, workshops and other similar events
      • +
    • may organize conferences, seminars and other similar events
      • +
    • may maintain electronic communication channels
      • +
    • may publish bulletins and other communications through various communication channels
      • +
    • advises and guides its members
      • +
    • participates in public conversation on issues related to the field
      • +
    • cooperates with public authorities, organizations, companies and individuals
      • +
    • may recognize significant achievements in the field of scientific software development and related fields
      • +
    +

    In order to support its activities, with the proper permissions from authorities, the association

    +
      +
    • may organize paid events
      • +
    • may accept grants, donations and wills
      • +
    • may own goods and real property necessary for its operations
      • +
    • may accept sponsorships
      • +
    +
    3. +
  3. +

    Membership +Any person who approves the purpose and the statutes of the association can become a member. The board approves members on request.

    +

    The board may remove a member who acts against the purpose of the association, violates the code of conduct of the association, or who has neglected to pay their membership fee. Before removal, the member has the right to know the reason for their removal and express any objections in writing.

    +
    4. +
  4. +

    Membership fee: +The annual meeting decides size of the membership fee and registration fee.

    +
    5. +
  5. +

    Board: +The association's affairs are handled by the board, which has a chair and 3-7 other regular members, as well as 0-8 deputies, all of whom are appointed at the annual meeting. The term of office of the board is the time between the annual meetings.

    +

    The board chooses a vice chair from amongst its members, and additionally a secretary, a treasurer and any additional necessary functionaries. Board meetings are convened by the chair, or the vice chair when the chair is unable, when they consider it necessary or at least half of the board members request it. The board has a quorum when at least half of its members, the chair and vice chair included, are present. Votes are resolved by strict majority. In the event of a tie, the chair has the casting vote, except in elections where ties are broken by lot.

    +
    6. +
  6. +

    Signing for the association: +The name of the association is signed by the chair of the board, vice chair, secretary or treasurer, separately.

    +
    7. +
  7. +

    Accounting period: +The associations accounting period is 1.6 - 31.5.

    +
    8. +
  8. +

    Association meetings: +Members may attend the association meeting remotely by mail, online, or using oher technical tools before and during the meeting. The association meeting determines its voting and election procedures.

    +

    The association's annual meeting is held annually in August-October.

    +

    In association meetings each member has one vote. Unless otherwise determined in these statutes, the decisions of the association meeting are the proposals that receive more than half the vote.

    +
    9. +
  9. +

    Convening association meetings: +The board shall invite members to the associations annual meeting and additional meetings no later than seven days before the meeting by e-mail.

    +

    The meetings are held in English.

    +
    10. +
  10. +

    Annual meeting: +The following issues will be discussed at the annual meeting

    +
      +
    1. opening the meeting
      2. +
    2. choosing a chair, secretary, two auditors of the minutes and when necessary two vote counters
      3. +
    3. determining quorum and legality of the meeting
      4. +
    4. approving the agenda for the meeting
      5. +
    5. the associations financial statements, annual report and the statements of the auditors are presented
      6. +
    6. deciding on approving the financial statements and the discharging of the board and other accountable persons
      7. +
    7. establishing the action plan, the revenue and expenditure estimate and the amount of the membership and membership fees
      8. +
    8. choosing the chair of the board and other board members
      9. +
    9. choosing one or two auditors and deputy auditors (auditor = toiminnantarkastaja or tilintarkastaja depending on the size of the budget)
      10. +
    10. discussing other issues mentioned in the invitation to the meeting
      11. +
    +
    11. +
  11. +

    Amendment of statutes and dissolution of the association: +Decisions on amendments to the statutes of the association and on the dissolution of the association shall be made at the association's meeting with a three quarters (3/4) majority vote. The vote on amending the statutes or dissolving the association must be mentioned in the letter of invitation. If the association is dissolved, the association's assets are used to promote the association's purpose in a way determined by an association meeting.

    +
    12. +
+

Finnish translation (Official):

+
    +
  1. +

    Yhdistyksen nimi ja toimipaikka: +Yhdistyksen nimi on Nordic Research Software Engineers ry ja sen kotipaikka on +Helsinki.

    +
    2. +
  2. +

    Yhdistyksen tarkoitus ja toiminnan laatu: +Yhdistyksen tarkoitus on tukea tieteellistä ohjelmistonkehitystä ja tieteellistä laskentaa. +Tarkoituksensa toteuttamiseksi yhdistys:

    +
      +
    • voi järjestää kursseja, harjoitus- ja opetustilaisuuksia sekä muuta vastaavaa toimintaa
      • +
    • voi järjestää konferensseja, seminaareja sekä muuta vastaavaa toimintaa
      • +
    • voi ylläpitää yhdistyksen sähköisiä viestintäkanavia
      • +
    • voi julkaista yhdistyksen tiedotteita ja muuta viestintää eri viestintäkanavissa
      • +
    • neuvoo ja ohjaa jäseniään
      • +
    • osallistuu julkiseen keskusteluun alaan liittyvissä asioissa
      • +
    • toimii yhteistyössä viranomaisten, järjestöjen, yritysten ja yksityishenkilöiden kanssa
      • +
    • voi tunnustaa merkittäviä saavutuksia tieteellisen ohjelmistonkehityksen alalla ja +siihen liittyvillä aloilla
      • +
    +

    Toimintansa tukemiseksi yhdistys voi, hankittuaan tarvittaessa asianomaisen luvan:

    +
      +
    • järjestää maksullisia tilaisuuksia
      • +
    • ottaa vastaan avustuksia, lahjoituksia ja testamentteja
      • +
    • omistaa toimintansa kannalta tarpeellista irtainta ja kiinteää omaisuutta
      • +
    • solmia sponsorisopimuksia
      • +
    +
    3. +
  3. +

    Jäsenet: +Yhdistykseen jäseneksi voi liittyä jokainen, joka hyväksyy yhdistyksen tarkoituksen ja +säännöt. Jäsenet hyväksyy hakemuksesta yhdistyksen hallitus. +Hallitus voi erottaa jäsenen, joka toimii yhdistyksen tarkoituksen vastaisesti, rikkoo +yhdistyksen eettistä ohjeistoa tai jättää jäsenmaksunsa maksamatta. Ennen erottamista +jäsenellä on oikeus tietää irtisanomisen syy ja esittää kantansa kirjallisesti.

    +
    4. +
  4. +

    Jäsenmaksu: +Jäseniltä perittävän liittymismaksun ja vuotuisen jäsenmaksun suuruudesta päättää +vuosikokous.

    +
    5. +
  5. +

    Hallitus: +Yhdistyksen asioita hoitaa hallitus, johon kuuluu vuosikokouksessa valitut +puheenjohtaja ja 3-7 muuta varsinaista jäsentä sekä 0-8 varajäsentä. Hallituksen +toimikausi on vuosikokousten välinen aika. +Hallitus valitsee keskuudestaan varapuheenjohtajan sekä ottaa keskuudestaan tai +ulkopuoleltaan sihteerin, rahastonhoitajan ja muut tarvittavat toimihenkilöt. Hallitus +kokoontuu puheenjohtajan tai hänen estyneenä ollessaan varapuheenjohtajan +kutsusta, kun he katsovat siihen olevan aihetta tai kun vähintään puolet hallituksen +jäsenistä sitä vaatii. Hallitus on päätösvaltainen, kun vähintään puolet sen jäsenistä, +puheenjohtaja tai varapuheenjohtaja mukaanluettuna on läsnä. Äänestykset ratkaistaan +ehdottomalla ääntenenemmistöllä. Äänten mennessä tasan ratkaisee puheenjohtajan +ääni, vaaleissa kuitenkin arpa.

    +
    6. +
  6. +

    Yhdistyksen nimen kirjoittaminen: +Yhdistyksen nimen kirjoittaa hallituksen puheenjohtaja, varapuheenjohtaja, sihteeri tai +rahastonhoitaja, kukin yksin.

    +
    7. +
  7. +

    Tilikausi: +Yhdistyksen tilikausi on 1.6 - 31.5.

    +
    8. +
  8. +

    Yhdistyksen kokoukset: +Yhdistyksen kokoukseen voidaan osallistua myös postitse taikka tietoliikenneyhteyden +tai muun teknisen apuvälineen avulla kokouksen aikana tai ennen kokousta. +Yhdistyksen kokous hyväksyy äänestys- ja vaalijärjestyksen.

    +

    Yhdistyksen vuosikokous pidetään vuosittain hallituksen määräämänä päivänä elo- +lokakuussa.

    +

    Yhdistyksen kokouksissa on jokaisella jäsenellä yksi ääni. Yhdistyksen kokouksen +päätökseksi tulee, ellei säännöissä ole toisin määrätty, se mielipide, jota on kannattanut +yli puolet annetuista äänistä.

    +
    9. +
  9. +

    Yhdistysten kokousten koollekutsuminen: +Hallituksen on kutsuttava vuosikokoukset ja ylimääräiset kokoukset koolle vähintään +seitsemän vuorokautta ennen kokousta sähköpostitse. +Hallitus järjestää etäosallistumismahdollisuuden yhdistyksen kokouksiin ilman erillistä +pyyntöä. Kokoukset pidetään englanniksi.

    +
    10. +
  10. +

    Vuosikokous +Yhdistyksen vuosikokouksessa käsitellään seuraavat asiat:

    +
      +
    1. kokouksen avaus
      2. +
    2. valitaan kokouksen puheenjohtaja, sihteeri, kaksi +pöytäkirjantarkastajaa ja tarvittaessa kaksi ääntenlaskijaa
      3. +
    3. todetaan kokouksen laillisuus ja päätösvaltaisuus
      4. +
    4. hyväksytään kokouksen työjärjestys
      5. +
    5. esitetään tilinpäätös, vuosikertomus ja +toiminnantarkastajien/tilintarkastajien lausunto
      6. +
    6. päätetään tilinpäätöksen vahvistamisesta ja vastuuvapauden +myöntämisestä hallitukselle ja muille vastuuvelvollisille
      7. +
    7. vahvistetaan toimintasuunnitelma, tulo- ja menoarvio sekä +liittymis- ja jäsenmaksun suuruus
      8. +
    8. valitaan hallituksen puheenjohtaja ja muut jäsenet
      9. +
    9. valitaan yksi tai kaksi toiminnantarkastajaa ja +varatoiminnantarkastajaa taikka yksi tai kaksi tilintarkastajaa ja +varatilintarkastajaa
      10. +
    10. käsitellään muut kokouskutsussa mainitut asiat. +Mikäli yhdistyksen jäsen haluaa saada jonkin asian yhdistyksen +vuosikokouksen käsiteltäväksi, on hänen ilmoitettava siitä +kirjallisesti hallitukselle niin hyvissä ajoin, että asia voidaan +sisällyttää kokouskutsuun.
      11. +
    +
    11. +
  11. +

    Sääntöjen muuttaminen ja yhdistyksen purkaminen: +Päätös sääntöjen muuttamisesta ja yhdistyksen purkamisesta on +tehtävä yhdistyksen kokouksessa vähintään kolmen neljäsosan (3/4) +enemmistöllä annetuista äänistä. Kokouskutsussa on mainittava +sääntöjen muuttamisesta tai yhdistyksen purkamisesta. Yhdistyksen +purkautuessa käytetään yhdistyksen varat yhdistyksen tarkoituksen +edistämiseen purkamisesta päättävän kokouksen määräämällä tavalla. +Yhdistyksen tullessa lakkautetuksi käytetään varat samaan +tarkoitukseen.

    +
    12. +
+ +
+ +
+ + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/about/governance/privacy/index.html b/about/governance/privacy/index.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..038a2582 --- /dev/null +++ b/about/governance/privacy/index.html @@ -0,0 +1,312 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + Privacy notice - Nordic RSE + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + +
+ +
+

Privacy notice

+

This contains privacy notices for various aspects of the (unregistered +as of 2020) Nordic RSE association.

+

Website

+ +

Membership

+

Nordic RSE keeps a record of its members.

+
    +
  • Membership data may be used for any Nordic RSE to member contact +purposes related to the Nordic RSE chartered purpose, but will not +be passed to others (besides other members, see below) without +separate agreement.
    • +
  • The information processed is the information requested when +submitting a membership application, in particular name, +affiliation, contact information, municipality of residence +(required by Finnish Associations Act) and other professional +information you may wish to provide.
    • +
  • Membership information is stored in Google Docs.
    • +
  • The Finnish Associations Act requires that names and places of residence +of members are public to all members. +Since membership is broad and in practice +anyone may join, this information should be considered +public.
    • +
  • Membership data is explicitly collected upon becoming a member and +may be occasionally updated.
    • +
  • Your information is actively stored for as long as you are a member.
    • +
  • Legal basis of processing information is performance of a contract. +The contract is a membership agreement and may be ended at any time. +Should you not wish to enter into a membership agreement, you will +not become a member.
    • +
+

Map

+
    +
  • The map on our community page +is considered a +publication and all data is open, and thus not subject to privacy +protection. Information is voluntarily submitted by the person it +describes.
    • +
+

Events

+

Event attendees

+
    +
  • Your registration information will be used to organize the event in +which you have registered and provide you with information related +to the Nordic RSE chartered purpose, for the duration and shortly +after the event.
    • +
  • The information processed is the information requested when +registering, for example including name, job title, affiliation, +registration preferences (sessions to attend, etc), and other +information related to hosting the event.
    • +
  • Your information is stored for at most one year after the end of the +event.
    • +
  • Registration information is not saved indefinitely and does not +imply membership in Nordic RSE.
    • +
  • Demographic data may be saved and publicly reported in aggregate.
    • +
  • Registration data is not shared with other participants unless you +specifically request, but note that online platforms may expose +your name.
    • +
  • The legal basis of processing this information is performance of a +contract. The contract is a registration agreement and may be ended +at any time. Should you not wish to enter into a registration +agreement, you will not be registered.
    • +
+

Presenters and authors

+
    +
  • By submitting a request to present at an event event, your +information is processed for the purposes of organizing the event.
    • +
  • The information processed is the information provided at submission +time, for example, title, abstract, any material you provide, and +information about the presenter (name, affiliation, possible contact +information - depending on what is provided).
    • +
  • Once an event is accepted, the information related to your event +is published and no longer subject to privacy protection. This +(and exact information which will be published) is explicitly +confirmed before publication, though.
    • +
  • The legal basis of processing this information is performance of a +contract. The contract is a request to present at an event and may +be ended at any time prior to publication of data. Should you not +wish to enter into a agreement to present, you will not be +considered for presentation.
    • +
+

General information

+
    +
  • Information will be processed privately using free services such as +Google Drive, Indico, and Github.
    • +
+

Other information we are required to say

+
    +
  • Controller: Nordic RSE, an unregistered association. Contact: +CodeRefinery chat (#nordic-rse stream)
    • +
  • You have the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory +authority: https://tietosuoja.fi/en/
    • +
+ +
+ +
+ + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/about/governance/sponsor/index.html b/about/governance/sponsor/index.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..91186e21 --- /dev/null +++ b/about/governance/sponsor/index.html @@ -0,0 +1,215 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + Nordic RSE + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + +
+ +
+

Become a sponsor

+

Huge thanks for your interest in the Nordic-RSE project! We are still working out what is the best way for you to support us! Stay tune and please don't lose interest.

+ +
+ +
+ + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/about/index.html b/about/index.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..97e57ca7 --- /dev/null +++ b/about/index.html @@ -0,0 +1,213 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + Nordic RSE + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + +
+ +
+ +
+ +
+ + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/about/membership-fee/index.html b/about/membership-fee/index.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..ad42afd4 --- /dev/null +++ b/about/membership-fee/index.html @@ -0,0 +1,265 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + Nordic RSE + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + +
+ +
+

Paying the Membership Fee

+

Note: you also register as a member (once), this is done in the form found here.

+

The membership fee for the 2023 -- 2024 year is 10 euros, this covers the membership until the end of October 2024..

+

You can pay the fee in two ways:

+
    +
  • By a SEPA transfer to "Nordic Research Software Engineers ry" +
      +
    • IBAN: BE42 9672 5549 7154
      • +
    • Message: your name, the words +"membership fee" and the years the you are paying for. +For example "Anna Svenson, membership fee 2023-2024".
      • +
    • Address: Rue du Trône 100, 3rd floor, Brussels, 1050, Belgium
      • +
    +
    • +
  • Using wise.com +
      +
    • Recommended for currencies other than EUR
      • +
    +
    • +
+

Using wise.com

+
    +
  1. Go to wise.com and write the sum to the "You send" field.
    2. +
+A definition of computational science +
    +
  1. Fill in your details, unless you already have an account
    2. +
  2. Choose Business or Charity
    3. +
+A definition of computational science +
    +
  1. Fill in +
      +
    • Name: "Nordic Research Software Engineers ry"
      • +
    • IBAN: BE42 9672 5549 7154 +and click "Confirm".
      • +
    +
    2. +
+A definition of computational science +
    +
  1. In the "Reference" field, write your name and the words "membership fee"
    2. +
+A definition of computational science +
    +
  1. +

    Choose a payment method (online banking and debit card options are available) and complete the transaction.

    +
    2. +
  2. +

    You are now a full member of the Nordic Research Software Engineers ry!

    +
    3. +
+ +
+ +
+ + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/about/membership/index.html b/about/membership/index.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..ad80b35c --- /dev/null +++ b/about/membership/index.html @@ -0,0 +1,258 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + Nordic RSE + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + +
+ +
+

Becoming a member

+

Why become a member

+
    +
  • +

    We aspire to represent and support all research software engineers in the +Nordics and Baltics. When we represent you and form collaborations, our word +has more weight when we have more members.

    +

    For example, we work to get software journals and software publications the +acknowledgment they deserve as contributions to science. Having more members +means we represent a larger percentage of academic researchers. We can also +draw on our members experiences to support our case.

    +
    • +
  • +

    We run events that are useful to our members, such as seminars, workshops +and an annual unconference. Your membership fee helps make these events +possible.

    +

    In-person events may have a participation fee and members get discounts.

    +
    • +
  • +

    An association is owned by its members. As a member, you can vote in the +association annual meeting.

    +
    • +
+

How it works:

+

To become a member you need to

+
    +
  • register by filling out the membership form.
    • +
  • pay the membership fee. See the instructions. +
      +
    • if you want to be a member but cannot afford the fee, send an email to any board member to ask for a concessionary membership. Each request will be evaluated by the board individually.
      • +
    +
    • +
+

Duration:

+
    +
  • Your membership expires after each annual meeting. To be exact, +the membership expires at the end of October each year.
    • +
+

Mailing List

+

Would you rather just follow our activities?

+
    +
  • Join the converstation on the CodeRefinery chat (#nordic-rse stream).
    • +
  • If you just want to hear about our upcoming events a couple of times a year, +sign up to our mailing list.
    • +
+ +
+ +
+ + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/about/rse/index.html b/about/rse/index.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..06e4f9eb --- /dev/null +++ b/about/rse/index.html @@ -0,0 +1,245 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + Nordic RSE + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + +
+ +
+

Research Software Engineers

+

What is a research software engineer?

+

A growing number of people in academia combine expertise in programming with an +intricate understanding of research. Although this combination of skills is +extremely valuable, RSEs often lack a formal place in the academic +system: they may produce fewer first-author papers than a researcher, +and they may contribute to many papers and not appear as a +author beyond a minor acknowledgement, if that! +Their code is less +formal than a software developers', and career recognition is +correspondingly low. The term "Research Software Engineer" is an attempt +to recognize and promote these people, and the advantages to being a +RSE are similar to being a +researcher. +RSEs will almost always closely work with researchers.

+

You can read more about RSEs demographics in the Nordics in our 2018 +survey.

+

Are you a research software engineer?

+

Most research software engineers don't have that as their job title. If you answer yes to many of the following +questions, you are doing the work of a research software engineer:

+
    +
  • Are you employed to develop software for research?
    • +
  • Are you spending more time developing software than conducting research?
    • +
  • Are you employed as a postdoctoral researcher, even though you predominantly work on software development?
    • +
  • Are you the person who write research software in your research group?
    • +
  • Are you sometimes not named on research papers despite playing a fundamental part in developing the software used to create them?
    • +
  • Do you lack the metrics needed to progress your academic career, like papers +and conference presentations, despite having made a significant contribution +through software?
    • +
+

Content of this page is derived from text originally provided courtesy of the +UK Research Software Engineer Association.

+ +
+ +
+ + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/about/timeline/index.html b/about/timeline/index.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..6a6c314a --- /dev/null +++ b/about/timeline/index.html @@ -0,0 +1,246 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + Nordic RSE + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + +
+ +
+

Upcoming activities

+
+

Note:

+

This is a rough plan of our activities in Spring 2022, to be updated +for Fall 2022 in September. Please let us know if you can suggest things to +add here. The best way to do this is by creating an issue at +https://github.com/nordic-rse/NordicRSE-organization/issues. +Pull request to https://github.com/nordic-rse/nordic-rse.github.io are also +welcome.

+
+

February

+

March

+
    +
  • Start collecting data on RSE activities to +
      +
    • make a business case to ask for funding.
      • +
    • help in forming RSE groups.
      • +
    • understand the importance of RSE activities.
      • +
    +
    • +
+

August

+
    +
  • Online meetup +
      +
    • Possibly local in-person meetings
      • +
    +
    • +
+

September

+
    +
  • Nordic RSE associations annual meeting
    • +
+ +
+ +
+ + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/blog/NRSE24_collage.jpeg b/blog/NRSE24_collage.jpeg new file mode 100644 index 00000000..8bc6e033 Binary files /dev/null and b/blog/NRSE24_collage.jpeg differ diff --git a/blog/computational-science.png b/blog/computational-science.png new file mode 100644 index 00000000..d0a7f035 Binary files /dev/null and b/blog/computational-science.png differ diff --git a/blog/first-finnish-rse-meetup/index.html b/blog/first-finnish-rse-meetup/index.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..8dd4f4c3 --- /dev/null +++ b/blog/first-finnish-rse-meetup/index.html @@ -0,0 +1,255 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + Summary of the first Finnish RSE meetup - Nordic RSE + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + +
+ +
+

Summary of the first Finnish RSE meetup

+ + Samantha Wittke, Richard Darst +
+ June 12, 2023 + +
+

The first Finnish RSE meetup was held on 30. May 2023 at Dipoli, Otaniemi. About 15 RSEs and RSE interested people joined in person and online.

+

We started with an introduction round, where everyone could tell about their background and vision for RSE in Finland. The consensus for the future of RSE in Finland was to build a community for experience exchange and collaboration, and the meetup was a great first step into that direction.

+

We then tried to define what is an RSE by discussing what it would mean to leave out either of the letters in the term RSE.

+

Aalto RSE group and RSE activities at CSC were introduced, as well as the activities of Nordic-RSE and the CodeRefinery project. Presentation material can be found behind the links at each name.

+

The vision of a community based RSE support was introduced and discussed. Many places/services nowadays have their own virtual office hours / garage session / user support coffee breaks. How would a RSE garage look like, would it be useful and how could it be realized?

+

You can find the full event notes here: https://hackmd.io/@nordic-rse/fin_rse_meetup

+

We concluded the day by summarizing our goals and needs for the future of RSE in Finland:

+

What would we need from management levels?

+
    +
  • Cost object with funding for future RSE development activities
    • +
  • Enable cross-organization RSE collaboration, that allows sharing work-time
    • +
+

What could RSE-RSE collaboration and support look like?

+
    +
  • Occasional consultations on a technology you happen to know +
      +
    • Cross-organization garage pings
      • +
    • Consider joining CodeRefinery chat and talk about cool stuff you do / ask questions to other RSEs +
        +
      • #nordic-rse (about the org and RSE life), #TIL (cool stuff you do/build), #help (asking for help/answering), #general (misc), #finland, streams
        • +
      +
      • +
    • Submit ideas to and attend the Nordic-RSE seminar series (self-development)
      • +
    • Low barrier to sending messages
      • +
    +
    • +
+

Things that we can do ourselves:

+
    +
  • Update Nordic-RSE page to make it clear why / what activities someone should join (e.g. seminar series, chat).
    • +
  • Talk to others about how cool this meeting was
    • +
  • Work on spreading the info from our chats a bit more (dedicated channels in internal chats)
    • +
  • Local FI meetup around the time of the Nordic-RSE unconference in October '23 (more info to follow)
    • +
+ +
+
+ +
+ + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/blog/getting-funding/index.html b/blog/getting-funding/index.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..996cbe5d --- /dev/null +++ b/blog/getting-funding/index.html @@ -0,0 +1,290 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + How to get funding for software projects - Nordic RSE + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + +
+ +
+

How to get funding for software projects

+ + Thomas Pfau +
+ August 11, 2021 + +
+

Part A: Where and how to get funding?

+

There are some guides about funding of open source software projects:

+ +

They can give a general overview for open source funding. They might have value +for existing projects that need continuous funding as these projects by +demonstrating their use (Letters of support, Download/usage statistics, +citation count etc), have a better chance of convincing external funders of the +value they generate (even if only for the academic community). For funding +requests supporting existing projects it might also help to detail what will be +improved, what features will be added, and how the maintenance benefits the +quality of the project. However, in general it seems easier to obtain funding +for new projects, since it seems that 'novel' ideas tend to be of greater +interest for public funders.

+

Here, we will list several existing options for funds for software projects in +(but not exclusively) academic settings: For quantum projects, +https://unitary.fund is a source of small (4000€) grants, that might be easily +accessible. For visibility and project improvements, Google Summer of +Code and tweag open source +fellowship offer a great +way to get interested students, or with tweag even more professional coders +into the project, test their potential (e.g. for a later masters/PhD) and get +new contributors for a project. However, the support is for a rather short time +(12 weeks). In Germany, the DFG sometimes puts out calls for research software +(e.g. 2016 call for sustainable research software +development +or 2019 call for quality management in research +software)

+

Part B: How can we get more funding for scientific software?

+

Overall, we got the impression, that many software projects are funded by being +hidden within larger grant proposals. While this works to get some funding, it +leads to an undesired invisibility of research software development, which +makes it difficult to get funding for projects. On the other hand decision +makers seem to be aware, that software is necessary, and there are even calls +which explicitly ask for details on what software funding there will be. As +such, it seems important to get grant-writers to stop the practice of hiding or +obfuscating software development in their grants but to explicitly list them +in the requirements and/or goals of the grant. To achieve this it would also +be important to convince PIs that proper funding for research software +development is important, and present the advantages of having permanent +research software engineers. Those include (but are not limited to):

+
    +
  • A RSE stays, and thus the knowledge about the code remains in house for future reference
    • +
  • A RSE has a higher incentive to produce higher quality code, that stays useable even if they leave the institution
    • +
  • Code development can be sped up if a RSE serves multiple groups by not having +to replicate the same code multiple times (in contrast to individual +PhDs/PostDocs who only code for "themselves")
    • +
+

A further argument, which needs some more work could be the time saved by +employing RSEs. This would require a survey of PIs on how much time they, or +their group spend on code development, and an estimate of how much time could +be saved by employing specialists for some of the tasks. This data would also +be important for higher level decision makers in order to show the value of +RSEs in research. To this end, it would be good to obtain more and clearer +statistics to demonstrate use and visibility as mentioned above. For some +languages, download statistics can easily be obtained by package managers (e.g. +conda/pip for python):

+ +

We would need to check to what extend these are available for other languages. +Another important thing to remember is to make citing software easy by putting +it into code (e.g. a cite function), into the documentation, and in general +make it easily findable (since often a lack of easy citability will lead to +fewer citations). And in the end, citations are an important way to prove +impact for future funding.

+ +
+
+ +
+ + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/blog/git-evangelist/index.html b/blog/git-evangelist/index.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..a90837f9 --- /dev/null +++ b/blog/git-evangelist/index.html @@ -0,0 +1,459 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + How to be a 'good' git evangelist? - Nordic RSE + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + +
+ +
+

How to be a 'good' git evangelist?

+ + Sunniva Indrehus +
+ September 02, 2021 + +
+

Text credit

+

This text is based on the notes from the community discussion 'How to be a +'good' git +evangelist?' +which took place during the online Unconference +event of the Nordic +RSE community on the 29th of June 2021.

+

The modern scientist's toolbox

+

Basic usage and skills of computational knowledge are becoming more and more +important in academic fields. Both the biologist, physicist, psychologist, and +the economist are expected, to some kind of extent, to know how to use and +write small scripts to accompany their scientific arguments. To do this in a +successful way 'good' scientific software is needed.

+A definition of computational science +

A definition of computational science. Figure credit.

+

'Good' scientific software does not have one clear definition. Dependent on the +discipline and field you will get different answers. Some main points that most +users/developers of scientific codes would agree upon are that 'good scientific +software' is something that is:

+
    +
  • working
    • +
  • standardized
    • +
  • understandable
    • +
  • reproducible
    • +
  • maintainable
    • +
+One way to measure code quality +

One way to measure code quality. Figure credit.

+

To help the user/developer accomplish 'good' scientific software there exist +several modern tools. Some of these are:

+
    +
  • version control systems (VCS)s
    • +
  • documentation (in code, Read the Docs, examples, etc.)
    • +
  • modern editors
    • +
  • proper debugging tools
    • +
  • containers
    • +
+

All of them are important in the modern scientist's toolkit but seen from the +RSE perspective the deployment and usage of VCSs are often not taken advantage +of in scientific domains where coding and software itself is not the +deliverable.

+

This text aims a giving you some techniques or arguments you could use to +convince your team that it is time to invest in learning to use version +control. We also explore some of the broad tasks that can be more easily +accomplished with the usage of modern VCSs and make the daily life of the +modern scientist easier.

+

How can scientists be motivated to learn to use version control?

+

According to Wikipedia, the +first deliberate revision control system was published in 1975. Modern version +control is most popularly used for tracking changes in a codebase over time. +For this reason, there is also reason to think that this is the only type of +task which is relevant to use VCS for.

+

How can scientists be motivated to learn to use version control?

+
    +
  • +

    Ability to use advanced regret button. The first introduction to version +control on a computer is done by pressing ctrl+z in a gmail or office +document. When writing or collaborating on a longer text, the nightmare +before version control or +having folders with documents like +version_final_x_modified_PI_comments.docx, x=[1, 2, ...] quickly becomes a +mess.

    +
    • +
  • +

    Automatic backups. Remembering to take a backup of your work in progress +and keep safe copies is an extremely good idea if your computer crashes, +dies, or gets stolen. To complete a typical master thesis in a modern +university will contain some kind of scripts used to construct a lot of +figures and plots made by changing or commenting in and out some lines of +code. If properly explained and introduced, VCSs can be used to track these +changes so one never needs to wonder about which configuration that made +that figure. You can keep track of changes in a document, for instance, TeX, +logging your daily work, and collaborating with your colleagues.

    +
    • +
  • +

    Better platform for collaboration. The moment the coding work is shared +with colleagues there is a need for a platform for sharing files and scripts. +Sending zip-files over mail is not a modern or ideal way of sharing code.

    +
    • +
  • +

    The experimental analog: If you were doing a scientific experiment, would +you ever trust your instruments if they were not calibrated? To have a +successful experiment you will need the right tool for the right job. When +touching something data scienceish on a computer, settings for versioning is +essential for reproducibility.

    +
    • +
  • +

    You will probably need it later to be taken seriously. Most of the students +taking a master or PhD today will not stay in Academia. If one decides to +join the industry or another part of the real world, academic programmers +are not known for good quality on their academic +software +or scientific +code. +To be taken seriously as a software engineer or data scientist the use of VCS +is a critical tool.

    +
    • +
  • +

    A way to track unforeseen consequences. If something is changed somewhere in +a code base/script it can have unforeseen effects in other parts of a project. +Without VCS it is difficult to know when we have introduced such problems or +solutions. In research projects these changes are usually something we need +to know since the changes affect our thinking and conclusions which again +can/will affect other research projects. It's not good enough to say "well it +got fixed at some point. let's just be happy that it is correct now"

    +
    • +
  • +

    A way to track unforeseen consequences. If something is changed somewhere +in a codebase/script it can have unforeseen effects on other parts of a +project. Without VCS it is difficult to know when we have introduced such +problems or solutions. In research projects, these changes are usually +something we need to know since the changes affect our thinking and +conclusions which again can/will affect other research projects. It’s not +good enough to say “well, it got fixed at some point. let’s just be happy +that it is correct now”.

    +
    • +
+

How can we be 'good' git ambassadors in our communities?

+

In the days before markdown and sleek web interfaces version control was a tool +for the dedicated developer. Today, there exists a broad range of modern +graphical user interfaces that simplify the mysteries of branches and +merge. Convincing people that the time invested in learning to use these +modern tools will pay off is a big part of the RSE job.

+

How can we be 'good' git ambassadors in our communities?

+
    +
  • +

    Enforce the use of technical solutions. If someone asks you for help you +could provide the solution via GitHub/GitLab/Bitbucket/etc. Embracing one of +the nice and modern web interfaces like Github can take away a lot of the +complexity for beginners. Remember that you might need to provide some +assistance with how to use the platform.

    +
    • +
  • +

    Promote workshops. Share workshops like +Coderefinery and Software +Carpentry with students and +colleagues can lower the bar to get people to start using VCSs.

    +
    • +
  • +

    Use (positive) social control. Among same or similar level researchers and +RSEs it is easier to make suggestions like starting to use git. Even in the +fields where the researchers do not develop their own code, but only use +software written by others, there is a potential to use VCSs to simplify +their daily work. One could use VCS to track the different kinds of +experiments conducted when they run code. Changing one parameter, changing +to another parameter, etc.

    +
    • +
  • +

    VCS helps the reproducibility of research. There are starting to come +requirements from journals and conferences on the +reproducibility +of code used in scientific settings. By enforcing good standards as early as +possible one are sure to be good enough when this is actually needed.

    +
    • +
  • +

    Convince the authorities. As an individual alone, it can be very hard to +convince colleagues to understand why they should invest in learning version +control. With the authorities are onboard you can make your life easier. +Younger individuals in academia (young post-docs, PhD and master students) +are easier to convince than the older generation (permanent staff like +researchers and professors).

    +
    • +
  • +

    Make it a requirement in research grants. In our modern scientific world, a +common task differentiation is to give the programming job and the details to +the youngsters let the older generation handle the overall picture and +long-term planning. As a result, there is still quite common in academia that +people working with code today do not use VCS because their supervisors did +not use it in their work and they are not encouraged to invest their time to +learn how to use this tool. If the principal investigators for research +grants can be convinced to require researchers to work a particular way, it +can be very effective to tip the standards in a good direction.

    +
    • +
  • +

    Make it a required skill for individuals. Include experience, or the +willingness to learn, VCSs a requirement when hiring new people in the group.

    +
    • +
+

When should we learn to use VCS?

+

From an RSEs perspective version control could easily be introduced right after +the first code line successfully prints hello world, but it is not useless +to learn at any other point.

+

When should we learn to use VCS?

+
    +
  • +

    From the beginning. Most students will start their programming career by +writing small scripts or completing examples. By introducing VCS at the same +time the complexity of the usage can grow with the learner's needs.

    +
    • +
  • +

    Wait until needed in daily work. It is hard to imagine an effective and +successful code collaboration between more than one person without having +some rules for contributions etc. Waiting until one sees the need for the +tool can also be a good strategy. Maybe not all projects need to use a VCS, +but at the point where one starts to collaborate with other people, VCS is +extremely useful.

    +
    • +
+

How and who should teach VCS best practices?

+

There are workflows that are considered as standards and certain forbidden commands one should not use when working with VCSs.

+

How and who should teach VCS best practices?

+Typical git usage in a nutshell +

Typical git usage in a nutshell? Figure credit.

+
    +
  • +

    Include VCS in university courses VSC or Git can quite easily be included +as a smaller part of a Python course + Git as a part of a scientific +software development practice course. Based on experience it is important to +make the learners repeat what they have learned in other settings where they +can continue to use the tool for their own needs. University courses that +have coding exercises could choose to use a collaborative platform where the +students can clone repositories and submit answers. The learners would then +start to use version control in a setting where it can not be questioned. For +students at the PhD-level, there are usually a certain amount of credits that +must be taken. By integrating git in the curriculum all students will hear +about git at one point.

    +
    • +
  • +

    Volunteer learning initiatives. Workshops and courses hosted by +organizations like +Coderefinery and Software +Carpentry are great examples of +settings where learners in communities without RSEs or technical competence +in VCS could get hands-on experience and start working. If you have the +capacity to give a hand, like being a +helper, +host or instructor, you can

    +
    • +
+

Summary

+

If you are an RSE preaching git to colleagues you can try to use 'good +enough' practices for scientific +computing. +Remember that every scientist does not need to master all aspects of VCS to +make use of it in their daily work.

+Preaching scientific software +

In the RSE church, it is effective to preach 'good enough' scientific software. +Figure credit: Michele Rosenthal.

+ +
+
+ +
+ + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/blog/index.html b/blog/index.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..b687aed2 --- /dev/null +++ b/blog/index.html @@ -0,0 +1,280 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + Blog posts - Nordic RSE + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + +
+ + +

Blog posts

+ + +
+ +
+ + +
+ + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/blog/international-rse-survey/index.html b/blog/international-rse-survey/index.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..72dfa9d7 --- /dev/null +++ b/blog/international-rse-survey/index.html @@ -0,0 +1,234 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + Take the 2021 international RSE survey: help us improve the RSE community - Nordic RSE + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + +
+ +
+

Take the 2021 international RSE survey: help us improve the RSE community

+ + Patric Holmvall, Radovan Bast, Richard Darst, Samantha Wittke +
+ November 30, 2021 + +
+

Take the survey

+

Do you develop research codes, or generally work with research software or data analysis? Perhaps you even feel more connected to the technology side: programming, software, data, etc., rather than the writing of papers? Although this work is crucial to the research, the modern research environment seldom fully recognizes it, in contrast to other methodology development. Take part in the international Research Software Engineer (RSE) survey to help us understand how we can improve the situation. Your current position or job title does not matter, only that you feel connected to software, data, computation, or similar technology.

+

Link to the survey: https://softwaresaved.limequery.com/386272?lang=en

+

You can also help us by sharing the survey with others

+

Perhaps you are not writing research software as part of your work, but maybe your colleagues or collaborators are? Or perhaps a research group or research institute that you are in contact with? You can help us and the reach of the survey immensely, by sharing and making the survey more visible in mailing lists, group chats, blog posts, or newsletters. There are many RSEs out there who may not know about the RSE community, and that there are many more RSEs working across the Nordics/Baltics (and in the rest of the world). Many are not even aware about the term "Research Software Engineer", and that they are one. This survey is one way to reach them, and to raise awareness.

+

What and who is an "RSE"?

+

A Research Software Engineer is a person who combines the mindset of a researcher with the skills of a software developer. We interpret this inclusively, for people who might consider themselves data engineers, system specialists, and so on. For decades, research has been dependent on such roles, but without providing them proper career support or recognition. The Research Software Engineer movement aims to improve this situation by representation and advocating for these people and their work.

+

RSEs in the Nordics and Baltics

+

Nordic-RSE is the Nordic+Baltics association advocating for RSEs. Founded in 2017 and registered in Finland in 2021, it provides a community, periodic seminars, and in the future other events which can connect RSEs to like-minded individuals and promote career development. It will also advocate for the value of RSE services within the research process.

+

Why the survey matters

+

The survey is run worldwide every two or three years by the national RSE associations together with the Software Sustainability Institute, with the aim to provide a better understanding of the RSE community, and the environment in which research code is developed in. This insight is invaluable when trying to improve the situation for RSEs, and when applying for support from national associations, funders and other policy makers. The data from the survey is anonymized and published openly.

+

The 2018 survey was completed by nearly 1000 people around the world, providing a useful overview of the RSE landscape. For example, it allowed us to assess the average background, experience and primary disciplines of RSEs. Alarming results were found in terms of gender imbalance in all regions, and 50% of RSEs reported a lack of proper recognition or acknowledgement of their work. Hence, the survey provides important and substantial results to point towards in our interaction with universities, institutes and the policy makers.

+

The survey is being conducted with ethics approval from the University of Southampton (ERGO ethics application number: 65619). The first page of the survey tells you everything about the conduct of the survey, our approach to privacy and data protection, and your rights as a participant in the survey.

+ +
+
+ +
+ + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/blog/nrse-conference/index.html b/blog/nrse-conference/index.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..0e047e77 --- /dev/null +++ b/blog/nrse-conference/index.html @@ -0,0 +1,237 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + Insights from the first Nordic-RSE conference in May 2024 - Nordic RSE + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + +
+ +
+

Insights from the first Nordic-RSE conference in May 2024

+ + Samantha Wittke +
+ July 12, 2024 + +
+

The first Nordic-RSE conference in May 2024

+Image collage of impressions from the Nordic RSE conference 2024. Images show the group picture, a picture of thank you notes, presenters in front of their slides, a group discussing and a afternoon lake view +

On May 30th and 31st of 202, the Nordic-RSE community met for the first time in person on the Otaniemi campus of Aalto university in Espoo, Finland. After we had originally planned to meet in Stockholm in 2020, we were happy to finally get together in the same space as a community. While Nordic-RSE has continued evolving in the last 4 years, this conference in many ways felt like an official kick-off for the association.

+

The team behind the scenes consisted of Nordic-RSE members from Sweden, Finland, Norway and Denmark. Together, they have been planning and preparing the conference for about six months. We were incredibly lucky to receive sponsoring from the Software Sustainability Institute and Aalto Universtiy. This event would not have taken place without their support, and we are forever grateful. Furthermore, discussions with organizers from other RSE conferences, such as RSECon and US-RSE, helped us a lot to prepare for this event. Thank you so much!

+

Participants to the conference came from seven countries (Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and United Kingdom) and from a number of scientific backgrounds. They were employed at all levels ranging from students to researchers, from junior RSEs to RSE leaders.

+

The event started on Thursday with an informal introduction session where each one of the 28 participants could create their own name tag and get to know each other in relaxed and loosly led group conversations. The first Nordic-RSE in-person conference program officially started after a lunch break, but lively discussions among the participants had already started before and during lunch.

+

In the opnening session, Nordic-RSE was presented in detail, describing the long path that led from its conception, through its foundation, to finally meeting physically in the same room for this conference. At the end of the first day, we met for dinner at a restaurant on campus, and afterwards- in true Finnish fashion - we moved across the street to the sauna where the bright summer evening continued.

+

Martin O'Reilly from the Alan Turing Institute in the UK, representing the Software Sustainability Institute, opened Friday morning with a keynote talk. He talked about the growth of Research Software Engineering and its vital role in research.

+

Eirini Koutsaniti from the Swiss National Supercomputing Center followed with a second keynote talk about enhancing HPC service management.

+

The submitted conference talks ranged from experience reports to tool presentations and demos. You can find all abstracts of the conference in the Nordic-RSE conference 2024 book of abstracts, and the few public notes that were taken at the conference, along with some slides, on the event HackMD.

+

As this was the first such conference that we held, we had the chance to hear a lot about how the creation and leadership of RSE groups from Aalto University, the Arctic university in Tromsø and NTNU in Trondheim, and about infrastructures such as InfraVis in Sweden and CSC in Finland.

+

In the afternoon of Friday we dedicated time to workshops and discussions: the first discussion started with another introduction round, this time focusing on the relation to RSE and how supported everyone feels in their organization. After that we split into groups and discussed around the question "why should an organization have RSEs?". The results of these discussions were summarized in another blogpost titled "Small steps towards sustainable and open research". +In the last discussion of the conference we started collecting feedback and planning the next conference.

+

Nordic-RSE conference 2025 will be arranged in Gothenburg and you can be part of the planning team by joining the discussion in the Nordic-RSE-2025 repository.

+

During the whole conference we had an open board to collect ideas for logos for Nordic-RSE. Currently the Nordic-RSE association uses the general RSE society logo with Nordic added before it. However, the community agrees that it would be nice to have something of our own.

+

We would like to thank all participants and organizers of the conference for a successful event and hope to see many of you in 2025 in Gothenburg, Sweden!

+ +
+
+ +
+ + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/blog/preaching.jpg b/blog/preaching.jpg new file mode 100644 index 00000000..002989f6 Binary files /dev/null and b/blog/preaching.jpg differ diff --git a/blog/research-software-journals/index.html b/blog/research-software-journals/index.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..e739ae60 --- /dev/null +++ b/blog/research-software-journals/index.html @@ -0,0 +1,284 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + Research software journals - Nordic RSE + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + +
+ +
+

Research software journals

+ + Luca Ferranti +
+ August 11, 2021 + +
+

Why research software papers?

+

Publications is the currency of researchers. To receive fundings or progress in +the academic career path (e.g. getting a tenure track positions) researchers +are (among other things) judged by their number of publications, the number of +citations they have received and on what forum their work has been published. +What about those people spending most of their time developing a research +software? It is true they are not producing new scientific result, nevertheless +their work is fundamental to conduct research in a transparent and reproducible +way. How can they get credits from their work being used by several researchers +around the world? Sure they can archive their code repository to Zenodo and get +a DOI, but several platforms (I'm looking at you Google Scholar) do not count +those publications and the citations, as they only value papers? The solution +is thus software papers, a paper giving a short description of the software +that can be cited by other researchers.

+

Advantages of writing a software paper

+
    +
  • Citable, citations are researchers currency
    • +
  • increases visibility of the software
    • +
  • Review process has to check the software -> improves reproducibility of science
    • +
+

Why not just Zenodo?

+
    +
  • Not recognized by several citations counting tools, e.g. google scholar
    • +
+

Challenges in publishing software papers

+

Fair recognition of contributions

+
    +
  • List of authors fixed, what if someone joins after the paper was published +but still does a significant contribution?
    • +
+

How are software papers seen?

+
    +
  • Unfortunately, in several countries research software journals are still +seeen as "minor" publication forums and are not as respected as other +traditional journals.
    • +
+

Some research software journals

+ +

Did we miss some? Send us a pull request!

+ +
+
+ +
+ + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/blog/rse-on-mastodon/index.html b/blog/rse-on-mastodon/index.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..9623d276 --- /dev/null +++ b/blog/rse-on-mastodon/index.html @@ -0,0 +1,299 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + State of Research Software Engineers on Mastodon - Nordic RSE + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + +
+ +
+

State of Research Software Engineers on Mastodon

+ + Richard Darst (ed) +
+ August 08, 2023 + +
+

Many domains have migrated to Mastodon as of 2023. Have Research +Software Engineers? This post examines the situation, based on this +post by rkdarst. +There are many contributors to this post as seen in this +issue.

+

Summary: not much yet

+

This post can be updated as we get more information/the situation +evolves, please send pull requests.

+

RSE organizations

+ +

Other accounts to follow to seed your community

+

TODO: We should try to get a category in https://fedi.directory/ rather than make our own list.

+

Common hashtags

+
    +
  • +

    #RSEng and #RSE have been seen, but #RSEng is preferred +(ref. +There doesn't seem to be much activity there. #RSEng was +the primary tag from from Twitter. Sometimes #RSE is the people and +#RSEng is the activity.

    +
    • +
  • +

    #HPC has a fair community.

    +
    • +
  • +

    #OpenScience can be found, in addition to ResearchData and +ResearchSoftware.

    +
    • +
  • +

    We propose #SciComp as a general "scientific computing" tag +which can partly overlap with the above, but is more general to +people interested in the computing part of science.

    +
    • +
  • +

    There is the a.gup.pe group +"researchsoftware", which will boost any post tagging it, and can be +used as a more targeted distribution group than tags +(ref). +We could also get a listing at https://fedi.directory/.

    +
    • +
+

RSE-focused Mastodon servers

+

There don't seem to be any servers specifically focused on the RSE +community. Perhaps the closest one is the HPC community +https://mast.hpc.social, and we are invited to take part there +(ref). There is overlap +between the HPC and RSE communities, and the initial community survey (ref) +for creation of the HPC.social Mastodon server showed a significant interest in +exchanging information on software topics.

+

Many +of the repliers used https://fosstodon.org.

+

One could ask if it's better to have a common server, or be more +distributed among the communities of other scientists to spread the +word. There is a list of academic/science related servers at +fedi-science. The primary advantage +of a topic-driven server is a better local timeline, which will be populated with +the posts of everyone on that server. While following hashtags/etc. is similar, +the local server makes this more natural.

+

There could be room for some RSE organization to set up a +RSE-focused server. (editor note: I, rkdarst, would somewhat prefer a +"scicomp"-focused mastodon server to bring together data, computing, +software, etc. people. Yet, this is also too broad and nebulous and without +organizational backing so comments were negative on this idea.)

+

Future

+
    +
  • Please send pull request with updates.
    • +
  • We should contact SocRSE UK and ask them if they are interested in +a Mastodon community.
    • +
+ +
+
+ +
+ + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/blog/sc-report/index.html b/blog/sc-report/index.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..69a83c1b --- /dev/null +++ b/blog/sc-report/index.html @@ -0,0 +1,386 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + Imp-RSE-sions from SuperComputing conference 2023 - Nordic RSE + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + +
+ +
+

Imp-RSE-sions from SuperComputing conference 2023

+ + Samantha Wittke, Radovan Bast +
+ December 06, 2023 + +
+

SuperComputing conference 2023 in Denver

+

"SC23 Welcomed Over 14,000 Attendees and 438 Exhibitors Setting SC Records on +Both Counts" (from SC homepage).

+

And indeed, a little overwhelming it was, but getting lost in the many +hallways of the Colorado conference center was one of the best icebreakers to +start talking to random people. However, following mostly the smaller events +of the conference, like BoFs and workshops, it never really felt too big or anonymous.

+

It was sometimes difficult to choose between multiple relevant and interesting +sessions happening at the same time. But we also tried to "parallelize" and +below we summarize our impressions and notes.

+

"I am HPC"

+

The topic of this year's SuperComputing conference was "I am HPC" and this +showed in many of the keynotes and panels that were presented, as well as a +wonderful exhibition of previous conference themes and highlights and some +posters highlighting different key people stories in HPC.

+

Democratizing HPC workshop

+

This was a great workshop and we had the chance to see two outstanding +presentations (while unfortunately missing the other presentations in this +session when jumping to other sessions and meetings):

+ +

The second presentation cited this important document: The Missing Millions.

+

Research Software Engineering

+

Even though this conference is so large, it is nice to see a lot of the same +people in sessions of interest. One of these groups are the Research Software +Engineers. US-RSE had a booth in the exhibition area and luckily collected a +list of all RSE-related talks and sessions of the whole conference, and +also organized a social gathering.

+

In some meeting we learned about a wonderfully curated list of lists for RSEs +by the Helmholtz Federated IT Services (HIFIS): +https://github.com/hifis-net/awesome-rse .

+

RSE in HPC workshop

+

The UniverseHPC project (providing training +for RSEs in HPC) developed a nice looking framework for delivering courses and +materials from markdown with metadata in +yml.

+

A portal for scientific software discovery: Virtual Institute for Scientific +Software.

+

Scientific Software and the People Who Make it Happen: Building Communities of Practice

+

This was a second edition of this BoF (previous +editions) with a +welcoming community and interesting and inspiring lightning talks.

+

Among others, there was a lightning talk about RSE as a career path, +introducing a brochure on the topic by US-RSE (Research Software Engineers: +Creating a Career Path—and a Career) and +a talk on the European Environment for Scientific Software Installations, +introducing the EESSI software +stack.

+

Panel on RSE in HPC centers

+

Some notes from the panel discussion hosted by Daniel S. Katz, with Gabrielle +Allen, Neil P. Chue Hong, Alison M. Kennedy, Fabio Kon and Miranda Mundt:

+

What are RSEs:

+
* Bridge between scientific requirements & computational constraints / HPC novice & computing infrastructure
+* Stewards for computational resources
+* Advocates for better software practices
+* Mentors, trainers, educators
+* Quality gates for scientific software
+
+

It was also mentioned that ideally an RSE in HPC should have at least 2 of these skills:

+
* Knowledge of best software engineering practices 
+* Domain specific knowledge
+* HPC
+
+

-> sometimes better if there is a mixed group of RSE, each with 2 of these skills working together

+

Some issues/challenges that RSEs in HPC face:

+
* Lack of diversity (from domain perspective)
+* Lack of possibilities to develop interpersonal and communication skills
+* More work with the researcher instead of work for the researcher (leaving the R in RSE)
+* How to keep RSEs relevant in funders/organizations eyes
+* Salaries (same skillet earns much better in industry)
+* Status: RSEs often seen as inferior to researchers (researchers question to include RSEs as authors in publications, because of "just" doing software, not the "real" research)
+* More training possibilities needed to develop own specialization within HPC
+* Recruitment: title still not known enough
+* Retention due to eg lack of recognition
+* Promotion: lack of official titles and career paths
+* Often spread all over: need high level advocate/coordination
+
+ +

From FAIR HPC training meeting: Project started to collect HPC training +materials, discussion on minimum metadata ongoing, but probably good to follow +as material metadata needs to be submitted manually: +https://hpc-ed.github.io/. Similar efforts ongoing in Australia (Automatic +web scraping): https://dresa.org.au/ .

+

Workshop on best practices in HPC education and training

+

A lot of talk about how to making it easier and incentives for training developers to share materials. "Sharing by design" is wished.

+

IQM had a wonderful lightning talk about their IQM Academy material, talking +about the importance of focusing on fundamental concepts to get learners ready +for the real world rather than teaching tools that are changing all the time. +In their training material they provide exercises solutions via tabs for +different tools that can be used. (Example: https://www.iqmacademy.com/curriculum/foundations02.html)

+

The concept of Code-a-thon was introduced: Learning by doing, starting with a +simple "story" and letting learners develop the code. Introducing more +complexities in the "story" with every step and let students further develop their code. In that way the students knowledge can grow with the code, +instead of having a huge task to start with that is introducing multiple new concepts at once.

+

Another interesting resources we learned about: Cornell virtual workshop: https://cvw.cac.cornell.edu/

+

HPC certification forum

+

Call to action and request for contributions from the HPC certification Forum: +They have started defining a skill tree and examination questions to provide a +framework for HPC skill certification. Skill tree: +https://www.hpc-certification.org/wiki/skill-tree/b as tree: +https://www.hpc-certification.org/cs/map/.

+

An example for how a learning roadmap could be presented: https://roadmap.sh/.

+

Fun ideas for outreach and teaching HPC

+

This was a super nice BoF on designing HPC outreach activities with wonderful +ideas on especially how HPC and scientific computing can be brought to +different age groups. Some activities can be found here: +https://edin.ac/3Z0ZJ34 .

+

Ideas/suggestions/inspirations collected at various workshops and BoFs:

+
    +
  • Nice example to practice parallel programming with randomness: +Nagel–Schreckenberg model. +Try to make it reproducible and parallel.
    • +
  • Parallel color-by-number.
    • +
  • Parallel puzzle solving.
    • +
  • Teach machine learning with tic-tac-toe as example with reinforced learning.
    • +
  • Distributing a problem with coloring.
    • +
  • Practice parallelization by sorting objects into buckets with several +people.
    • +
  • Scheduler explained with Tetris.
    • +
  • Results from Outreach BoF: https://tinyurl.com/outreach-activity-design
    • +
+

ACM SIG Education

+

The ACM SIG HPC education chapter had an informal meeting that we joined out of +interest which seems like a nice forum for exchange around HPC education at +universities and centers around the world: https://sighpceducation.acm.org/

+

Collaborations and contacts

+

With CodeRefinery we connected with projects Better scientific +software, Universe-HPC and +INTERSECT to +discuss how to work together and exchange experiences/helpers/materials. We +agreed that it is crucial for sustainability of all the awesome stuff that comes +out of each of these projects, so we agreed stay in contact.

+

The RSE social event was also great to do some networking with RSEs from around +the world. Got lots of insights and contacts to US-RSE and the Software +Sustainability Institute in UK, which will help a lot in organizing first +Nordic-RSE conference next year and further developing Nordic-RSE to be a +welcoming and active community.

+

We also talked to HPC Carpentries. They know that people are reusing their +materials through forks and adapting it to their needs, but no one ever shares +their changes back. Mostly this seems to be a problem of wanting to make the +materials "ones own" and not being sure if it can/should be reintegrated. Also +it is a lot of work to review and make decisions on what should be +reintegrated, to keep it all general.

+

The women in HPC community is steadily growing and providing lots of +opportunities for mentoring , learning, career coaching etc with the mission to +increase general diversity and make anyone feel welcome in the HPC community. +They had a full day workshop and own reception. So instead of the general +tracks it was also possible to submit a talk/poster to their session. Highly +recommended to follow them on social media if that is your kind of thing :)

+

Own contributions

+

Two of our proposals were not accepted but nevertheless we were fortunate to participate in three very inspiring sessions:

+
    +
  • Radovan presented Research Software Hour, at Scientific Software and the People Who Make it Happen: Building Communities of Practice (SC 2023 BOF).
    • +
  • Samantha was part of a workshop panel on training and mentoring, based on CodeRefinery experiences (workshoplink)
    • +
  • Samantha co-organized a BoF session on HPC learning pathways, which was great success with almost full house (some 70 people) and a lot of great feedback and discussions going on. It's a tricky topic, we will report the results in Jan/Feb to ACM HPC SIG education and training Chapter and write a blog or something to share the results. There was also requests for more of this type of BoF or workshop in similar forums like ISC etc.
    • +
+

We submitted one tutorial which would have +been about showing the CodeRefinery way of providing hybrid training in FAIR +research software development practices. +However, the proposal was not accepted +due to being not +timely and thought through enough (but in total did not get too bad reviews). +We are planning on trying again next year, maybe with slightly different focus.

+ +
+
+ +
+ + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/blog/seminar-report-julia-package/index.html b/blog/seminar-report-julia-package/index.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..d68c4624 --- /dev/null +++ b/blog/seminar-report-julia-package/index.html @@ -0,0 +1,227 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + Seminar report: Package Development in Julia - Nordic RSE + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + +
+ +
+

Seminar report: Package Development in Julia

+ + Nordic-RSE +
+ August 18, 2021 + +
+

On August 18th 2021 we started our (to be) monthly Research Software Seminar Series with Luca Ferranti from University of Vaasa giving insights in Package development with Julia. +9 interested learners + host and speaker joined the zoom call for about 3 hours. Luca had set up the session in a way that everyone who wants can type along with him. All material can be found in this github repository and the Agenda and Q&A here. +Topics captured were the Julia REPL and how to use and create environments. Luca showed us his general workflow for creating packages from scratch, which gave a good starting point for people to develop their own Julia packages. +Also tips and tricks for testing and documenting Julia packages were covered. +Nordic-RSE thanks Luca for a super interesting and engaging seminar workshop! +The recording of this seminar will soon be available on Nordic-RSE youtube channel.

+ +
+
+ +
+ + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/blog/typical-git-usage.png b/blog/typical-git-usage.png new file mode 100644 index 00000000..a66761da Binary files /dev/null and b/blog/typical-git-usage.png differ diff --git a/blog/unconference/index.html b/blog/unconference/index.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..5419476d --- /dev/null +++ b/blog/unconference/index.html @@ -0,0 +1,236 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + Unconference 2021 - Nordic RSE + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + +
+ +
+

Unconference 2021

+ + Nordic-RSE +
+ August 11, 2021 + +
+

Although the world situation prevented our plans to meet the community in person in Stockholm and we were all busy with other works, we did not want to give up meeting the community this year. Thus we decided for the unconference/birds of a feather format to keep organizational hassle low, but still give the community a place to meet, learn, and discuss. In that way, the community could decide on the topics of interest and create an event to their liking. +The event was held on June 29th + 30th 2021 afternoons. Three speakers were invited beforehand to talk about their interesting work, +the rest of the event was free for the community to fill.

+
    +
  • Shahnawaz Ahmed from the Wallenberg Centre for Quantum Technology talked about the journey of his Quantum Toolbox in Python (QuTiP) from small research project +to open source project developed by a community from all around the world.
    • +
  • Kristoffer Carlsson from JuliaComputing introduced Julia for research software.
    • +
  • Anne Fouilloux from Nordic-RSE gave some insights into myths and misconceptions about research software development in academia that she encountered during her work as an RSE. +The event had 69 registrations from 7 countries (FI,NO,SE,DK,UK,DE,NL). +Topics ranged from broad (Introduction to Julia, What is R/S/E?, ...) to specific ( Funding for software projects, Development frameworks, Software paper publishing,...) +with lots of Q&A and discussions. You can find schedule and notes here and stay tuned +for more blogposts (https://nordic-rse.org/blog/) and recordings of the invited talks coming in the near future. +Since this was the first event of this format, we learned a lot in the process. We definitely want to organize this kind of event again, but will try to bring a bit more order into the submission and decision of talks and discussions. +Another suggestion we got was to encourage last minute contributions by having more own contributions since it is easier to add the tenth suggestion to a list of nine suggestions rather than adding the first.
    • +
+ +
+
+ +
+ + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/blog/what-is-r-s-e/index.html b/blog/what-is-r-s-e/index.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..babfdf1a --- /dev/null +++ b/blog/what-is-r-s-e/index.html @@ -0,0 +1,276 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + What is 'R'? What is 'S'? What is 'E'? - Nordic RSE + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + +
+ +
+

What is 'R'? What is 'S'? What is 'E'?

+ + Richard Darst +
+ August 11, 2021 + +
+

Who is considered an Research Software Engineer (RSE)? This has surely been +discussed plenty, but at the unconference we had our own little chat about it.

+

Perhaps as you might expect, we didn't come up with any amazing answers. +However, we did make a summary of what happens if you remove each term from +"RSE", which perhaps provides the most insight we found.

+

Remove Research (Software Engineer)

+

Research is more explorative and unknown (and requires more creativity) than +following a specification. It is not only doing "the research" but also other +things that support research or research infrastructure. There didn't seem to +be strong opinions that it had to be academic, but this wasn't a major +discussion point.

+

If you hire a software engineer instead of a RSE, you might not have +practical research value (or might right now but not in five years). You might +miss open science, reproducibility, flexibility, and it might not be easy to +modify and reuse by other researchers who don't have as deep of software +training.

+

Remove Software (Research Engineer)

+

In some ways, "software" is the trickiest term to define. Of course "software" +is obvious, but in practice our community is not only about software but about +specialist support of computing in general. Its seemed that most of the +attendees took a broad view of software: it doesn't have to be just directly +software used for research or large, but could be (for example) other +infrastructure software or small things.

+

Perhaps more ambiguous are roles such as data engineers/data manages/computer +cluster administrators. There wasn't any motivation to exclude people like +this, though their skillset would be slightly different (though it's important +that we all share some of the basics!). At the very least, these are people +that we can very well include in our community of specialist research +supporters.

+

If you hire a Research Engineer instead of a RSE, you might expect that +they are not computational. These days, lacking other named communities, a RSE +could very well be a data engineer, or focus on computational infrastructure, +or a wide variety of other similar topics.

+

Remove Engineer (Research Software Person)

+

In some localities, "engineer" is a licensed profession or degree. While we +acknowledge this, it didn't seem to be the dominant factor in our definition. +"Engineer" can also be a particular degree title, but that was also not a +significant factor in our definition.

+

Instead, the "engineering" is maintaining the overall "structural integrity" of +the project. They are in some ways more practical and have a bigger overall +view of keeping the project together (see other references of "software +developer" vs. "software engineer"). The engineer will make sure that the +right tools are used and it will be designed in a maintainable way. Their jobs +might also include watching over the product long-term.

+

If you hire a Research Software Person instead of a RSE, they can make +something but it might start falling apart after a few years, might not be +modifiable, might not use best practices for reproducibility and distribution - +basically, the problems in science that RSEs are made to solve.

+

Summary

+

If you wanted a definition of "Research Software Engineer", we don't +have it - but right now, that is probably an impossible task. +However, we do hope it has made you think about what it means to you, +and appreciate the diversity of the community.

+

If you want to discuss more, why not join the Nordic-RSE community +chat and discuss more?

+ +
+
+ +
+ + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/blog/why-rse/index.html b/blog/why-rse/index.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..b24f7cf0 --- /dev/null +++ b/blog/why-rse/index.html @@ -0,0 +1,317 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + Small steps towards sustainable and open research - or why you should care about Research Software Engineering - Nordic RSE + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + +
+ +
+

Small steps towards sustainable and open research - or why you should care about Research Software Engineering

+ + Aurélie Vancraeyenest, Samantha Wittke, Konstantin Stadler +
+ August 16, 2024 + +
+

A blog post summarizing the outcome of a discussion at Nordic-RSE conference May 2024 (https://nordic-rse.org/events/2024-in-person-conference/).

+

What is a Research Software Engineer (RSE)?

+

The short answer +People striving for "Better software, better research"

+

The long answer +Definition of Research Software (from keynote by Martin O'Reilly) +Research software is software that one use to generate, process or analyse results that is intended to appear in a publication. It can be anything from a few lines of code, to a professionally developed software package.

+

A Research Software Engineer is a person who combines an intricate understanding of research with professional software engineering expertise. RSE often have background in academia and have specialized in computing related areas, be it either software development, data analysis, (high-performance) computing, etc.

+

Independently of their area of expertise, their common goal is better maintainability, sustainability of research software and better reproducibility of research outputs. They introduce best practice tools and techniques to research groups by showing the benefits. They also teach them how to use them independently and support them in their adoption of the new tools and practices. +They usually work in tight collaboration with researchers and help in finding the right tools and technologies for each project.

+

What an RSE is not

+

Even though they are in close collaboration with IT services, RSEs are not IT support people, as in IT manager or IT system specialists. They have a dual background (research/coding), they take part in research projects and speak the "same language" as researchers.

+

Why would an organization need RSEs? - Current state of Research software

+

Does any of following scenario sound familiar?

+
    +
  • A PhD/post doc has developed some really nice piece of code, but they left and no one knows anymore how to run it or develop it further.
    • +
  • Someone wrote some code long time ago that is used daily by a research group, but no one knows the technology in the research group anymore and it cannot be modified, updated or compiled anymore.
    • +
  • When a newcomer joins a team and starts familiarizing with analysis/modelling/etc tools, the only way is to "ask others who use it". No document or tutorials are available.
    • +
  • Some essential piece of software runs on a very old machine or on very old version of language and it's very difficult to replace or update, if even possible. This can even lead as far as stopping research activities in the team for some time
    • +
  • After an article is submitted, one reviewer ask for additional analysis, or slightly different plots, but upon running the code again, one cannot reproduce the plots/results anymore.
    • +
+

How can RSEs help research ?

+

Short answer

+

Improve the (re)usability of research software - including improving performance, reduce time and resource usage and ease on-boarding of new users.

+

Long answer

+

RSE can leverage all the above issues and more by accompanying researchers in their software development journey. RSEs' technical knowledge and creativity on solving problems allow seeing where researchers would benefit the most. Here are a few examples/use cases:

+
    +
  • Researchers have great ideas, but might not know how, or have time to develop the corresponding tools
    • +
  • Help to get rid of repetitive or time consuming steps (that users don't want to do themselves) by introducing automatization
    • +
  • RSEs know about the FAIR principles and can apply them to research software
    • +
  • Write documentation so the information doesn't get lost when people leave
    • +
  • Make the regular technology updates to prevent that it become obsolete and break
    • +
  • Supporting when switching from laptop to compute clusters
    • +
  • Many groups need the same thing, RSEs know how to create flexible templates to simplify e.g. spinning up a website to present research outputs
    • +
  • … what other good examples?
    • +
+

They can also act as intermediate in technical discussions about computing needs, as they know the needs of researchers since they are involved in research in a daily basis, and are also technology-aware people.

+

As a summary, researchers with very deep expertise and RSEs with shallower but wider range of interests and skills complement each other very efficiently.

+

How can organisations help RSEs?

+

Many organisations already have people doin RSE work, but the people and the organisation might not be aware of the term RSE. To give those people a sense of belonging and knowing that there is others like them, organisations could:

+
    +
  1. +

    Support community involvement and self development

    +
      +
    • Give people room to be active in RSE communities, attend conferences and trainings beyond academic work.
      • +
    +
    2. +
  2. +

    Acknowlege RSE work

    +
      +
    • Consider other factors than authorship when evaluating the scientific output
      • +
    • While the contribution of the RSE team/engineer might not be enough for a co-authorship, an acknowledgement in the paper can provide an adequate way to honor the work provided by RSEs
      • +
    • Introduce this practice in your organizational guidelines and courses
      • +
    • Provide example statements to acknowledge the work behind the scenes (e.g. "Code development and data management were supported by [names of your friendly RSEs or the RSE group].")
      • +
    +
    3. +
  3. +

    Spread the word - be an RSE ambassador

    +
      +
    • Recognize and highlight RSE (often behind the scenes and non-academic) work
      • +
    • Invite RSEs to talk about their work
      • +
    • Support RSEs building their own network within the organisation (connect them to administration, other RSEs, researchers, etc)
      • +
    +
    4. +
  4. +

    Make it a THING (administrative existance)

    +
      +
    • Hire RSEs
      • +
    • If you have them already, gather them ("virtual team" or central RSE group)
      • +
    • Offer support to spread good enough software practices in research groups
      • +
    • Train the trainer events are important and needed
      • +
    • Support formation of RSE groups by providing guidance about practices for forming a new entity in the organisation (group, service, etc) and finding the right integration points
      • +
    • Share organizational knowledge on how get internal funding for RSE-type work
      • +
    +
    5. +
  5. +

    Funding

    +
      +
    • Inlcude RSEs at the stage of grant proposal writing
      • +
    • Provide central RSE funding to support smaller projects and internal tool developments
      • +
    • RSE benefits from open ended, non temporary funding - like other techical supports
      • +
    • training and collaboration funding (e.g. EuroCC, EOSC)
      • +
    +
    6. +
+

Get to know more

+

Does RSE sound like something you would need in your organisation, or want to hear more about what RSEs in the Nordics are about, please reach out to us at Nordic-RSE.

+

Other useful resources:

+ +

We would like to thank and acknowledge all the participants of the discussion "Why should organisations have an RSE/RSE group?" at the Nordic-RSE conference 2024 in Espoo, Finland.

+ +
+
+ +
+ + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/blog/wtfs.png b/blog/wtfs.png new file mode 100644 index 00000000..c2c9c484 Binary files /dev/null and b/blog/wtfs.png differ diff --git a/communities/index.html b/communities/index.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..e5efc86b --- /dev/null +++ b/communities/index.html @@ -0,0 +1,281 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + Nordic RSE + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + +
+ +
+ +

The community of research software engineers in the Nordics

+

There are several ways of being a member of the Nordic RSE community. None of +these numbers count everyone, but here are some details (as of Spring 2024)

+ +

Community map of research software engineers in the Nordics

+
+

How to get added

+

You can add yourself or your group to this map by sending a pull request changing the +data file.

+

Who can be included? We don't strictly define it right +now, but welcome anyone who feels a connection to +the research software engineering spirit. You don't +have to have an "RSE" job title, or even be recognized +for your software expertise, but you should feel it +relates to your current or future career somehow.

+

Here +you find documentation about the required and optional data fields.

+

Privacy

+

This map is a publication, and we are supporting your explicit choice to +express your professional information to the world. By submitting to this map, +you are choosing that your data is made public without special privacy +protection. However the data itself is licensed under the CC-BY-SA +license. We publish your +information on your behalf until you request it be removed from the current +version, but we won't alter the Git history. We may contact you to keep things +up to date or let you know of events.

+ + +
+ +
+ + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/communities/local/index.html b/communities/local/index.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..225fae50 --- /dev/null +++ b/communities/local/index.html @@ -0,0 +1,239 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + Nordic RSE + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + +
+ +
+

RSE groups in Nordic countries

+

Research software engineering groups provide a home for research programmers +who collaborate with researchers on multiple research projects. +Typically, a group of RSEs contract out their work to different people +who need it, but we are also interested in groups with significant +internal RSE work.

+

To create a Nordic network of RSEs, we are +interested in listing RSE groups, teams, and local communities. They +may be based in (for example) universities, national labs, research +institutes, academic departments, or university IT organisations.

+

If you are organized in such a group please contact us.

+

List of RSE groups

+ +

Community map

+
    +
  • Please add yourself or your group here.
    • +
+

International RSE Groups

+ + +
+ +
+ + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/communities/map/index.html b/communities/map/index.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..61359f1f --- /dev/null +++ b/communities/map/index.html @@ -0,0 +1,272 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + Nordic RSE + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + +
+ +
+ +

Community map of research software engineers in the Nordics

+
+

How to get added

+

You can add yourself or your group to this map by sending a pull request changing the +data file.

+

Who can be included? We don't strictly define it right +now, but welcome anyone who feels a connection to +the research software engineering spirit. You don't +have to have an "RSE" job title, or even be recognized +for your software expertise, but you should feel it +relates to your current or future career somehow.

+

Here +you find documentation about the required and optional data fields.

+

Privacy

+

This map is a publication, and we are supporting your explicit choice to +express your professional information to the world. By submitting to this map, +you are choosing that your data is made public without special privacy +protection. However the data itself is licensed under the CC-BY-SA +license. We publish your +information on your behalf until you request it be removed from the current +version, but we won't alter the Git history. We may contact you to keep things +up to date or let you know of events.

+ + +
+ +
+ + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/communities/members/index.html b/communities/members/index.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..b0e45c5c --- /dev/null +++ b/communities/members/index.html @@ -0,0 +1,229 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + Nordic RSE + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + +
+ +
+

Active public members

+

The following people are active members, and can provide more +information about our activities.

+
    +
  • Radovan Bast (radovan.bast@uit.no), High Performance Computing Group, UiT The Arctic University of Norway
    • +
  • Richard Darst, Aalto Scientific Computing, Aalto University, Helsinki
    • +
  • Anne Fouilloux, IT Group Department of Geosciences, University of Oslo
    • +
  • Radek Lonka, RSE at Digital Laboratory, Industrial Ecology Programme, NTNU Trondheim
    • +
  • Jarno Rantaharju, Researcher at the University of Helsinki
    • +
  • Konstantin Stadler, Manager and Lead Researcher of the Digital Laboratory, Industrial Ecology Programme, NTNU Trondheim
    • +
  • K. Thor Wikfeldt, PDC Center for High-Performance Computing, KTH, Stockholm
    • +
  • Patric Holmvall, RSE/Postdoc at the Department for Physics and Astronomy, Uppsala University, Uppsala
    • +
  • Luca Ferranti (luca.ferranti@uwasa.fi), PhD student, University of Vaasa, Vaasa
    • +
  • Samantha Wittke (samantha.wittke@csc.fi), Application specialist, CSC, PhD student, Aalto University / Finnish Geospatial Research Institute, Finland
    • +
+

If you want to be listed here, please send a pull request.

+ +
+ +
+ + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/css/map.css b/css/map.css new file mode 100644 index 00000000..591cc9d1 --- /dev/null +++ b/css/map.css @@ -0,0 +1,20 @@ +.cluster { + background-color: rgba(220, 51, 255, 0.2); + background-clip: padding-box; + border-radius: 20px; +} + +.cluster div { + background-color: rgba(220, 51, 255, 0.4); + width: 30px; + height: 30px; + margin-left: 5px; + margin-top: 5px; + color: white; + text-align: center; + border-radius: 15px; +} + +.cluster span { + line-height: 30px; +} diff --git a/css/style.css b/css/style.css new file mode 100644 index 00000000..e6d1eae6 --- /dev/null +++ b/css/style.css @@ -0,0 +1,93 @@ +* { font-family: 'Roboto', sans-serif; } + +body { + background: #ffffff; + margin: 0; + height: 100%; + color: #384452; + font-size: 16px; + font-weight: 300; + padding-bottom: 100px; +} + +h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6 { + font-weight: 500; + margin-top: 1.5em; +} + +p { + padding: 0; + margin-bottom: 12px; + font-weight: 400; + line-height: 24px; + color: #384452; + margin-top: 10px; +} + +.top-buffer { margin-top: 100px; } + +.navbar-nav { + float:none; + margin:0 auto; + display: block; + text-align: center; +} + +.navbar-nav > li { + display: inline-block; + float:none; +} + +.nav-collink { + color: #822361; +} + +blockquote { + border-left: .25em solid #dfe2e5; + color: #808080; + padding: 0 1em; +} + +blockquote p { + color: #808080; +} + +.teaser-container { + display: flex; + width: 100%; + flex-flow: row wrap; + background-color: #702552; + color: #FFFFFF; + align-items: baseline; + justify-content: space-around; + text-align: center; + padding-bottom: 2rem; +} + +.teaser-child { + flex-basis: 30%; + } + +.teaser-child p { + color: #FFFFFF !important; +} + +.teaser-child a { + color: #FFFFFF !important; + text-decoration: none; +} +.teaser-title { + flex-basis: 100%; +} + +@media (max-width: 64rem) { + .teaser-child { + flex-basis: 48%; + } +} + +@media (max-width: 48rem) { + .teaser-child { + flex-basis: 90%; + } +} \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/events/2020-online-get-together/aalto-rse/index.html b/events/2020-online-get-together/aalto-rse/index.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..162637aa --- /dev/null +++ b/events/2020-online-get-together/aalto-rse/index.html @@ -0,0 +1,226 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + Aalto RSE - Nordic RSE + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + +
+ +
+ back to the schedule + +

Aalto RSE

+

Jarno Rantaharju

+ +
+

Introducing the Aalto RSE group and program.

+
    +
  • Exists inside Aalto Scientific Computing
    • +
  • Supported by deparments, basic service
    • +
  • Expected to grow with longer term projects
    • +
+

Slides: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wf2ZFLGbwnCGzRwB07cquKauDvjv2WIu/view?usp=sharing

+ +
+ +
+ + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/events/2020-online-get-together/about-get-together/index.html b/events/2020-online-get-together/about-get-together/index.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..0abb457e --- /dev/null +++ b/events/2020-online-get-together/about-get-together/index.html @@ -0,0 +1,283 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + About the get-together and future of Nordic-RSE - Nordic RSE + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + +
+ +
+ back to the schedule + +

About the get-together and future of Nordic-RSE

+

Samantha Wittke

+ +
+
    +
  • History of Nordic RSE
    • +
  • Why it makes sense
    • +
  • Connect with Nordic-RSEs
    • +
  • Future of Nordic-RSE
    • +
  • The Nordic-RSE conference 2021
    • +
  • Meetup organizers
    • +
  • Agenda highlights
    • +
+

Slides

+
+

Questions and comments

+
    +
  • Why zulip? :D why not Slack! +
      +
    • threaded discussions (every topic is a thread). good for asynchronous work and remote work. (https://zulip.com/help/about-streams-and-topics and https://zulip.com/why-zulip/)
      • +
    • Plus, it's Open Source :smile: +
        +
      • :+1:
        • +
      • can be self-hosted
        • +
      +
      • +
    • Also, messages are stored for longer (at least with a non-paid plan). +
        +
      • unsure about this but as open source or non-profit projects one can apply for a free premium plan (keeping entire history) which worked for us for a couple of chat instances +
          +
        • Slack only stores 10k messages, while there seems to be no limit in Zulip. From personal experience (for whatever that is worth), messages disappear much quicker in Slack than in Zulip (the Slack channels I'm in are also way less active than the Zulip channels).
          • +
        +
        • +
      +
      • +
    +
    • +
+

Fair enough, after reading the responses and digging a bit more into the Zulip it seems there are number of essential features that makes the app more efficient to use compared to Slack. Still, there's a resistence and that's the fact that already most of the work is done on Slack and many people already are using it, it is not convenient to have some other apps as satellites around your main messaging app. Moreover, I thought for a community such as Nordic-RSE that is trying to attract more members and activity would probably makes more sense to use a more common messaging app, nevertheless, thanks for the responses and introducing Zulip with us all, I'll give it a shot ;)

+
    +
  • good point about yet another tool/app.
    • +
  • little downside: on mobile phone it was less good/responsive than Slack few years ago when I tried last time. I am using it on computer browser always.
    • +
  • Wonder how many here already use Slack compared to Zulip +
      +
    • Don't forget MS Teams, which is the "official" one here at UiO! Just don't get me started on how much it lags behind Slack...
      • +
    • These days most know and use Slack and very few know and use Zulip. So it is still niche but I think this tool was a good choice for the CodeRefinery project.
      • +
    +
    • +
  • How is Zulip integration with other apps (specifically Dropbox, Google Cloud and Todoist) when compared to Slack? +
      +
    • Here is an overview https://zulip.com/integrations/ but I have only tried GitHub integration so far +
        +
      • Thanks for the link. I see there's no Todoist yet. The others I mentioned are there, but that doesn't say much about how well that works.
        • +
      +
      • +
    +
    • +
+

+For the reference and comparison of other options from g2.com

+
    +
  • What are you expecting from this meeting? +
      +
    • See what others are doing around Nordics, what cool tools they are using and what types of problems they are solving.
      • +
    • Would be interesting to see what career paths exists in other groups / universities.
      • +
    +
    • +
+ +
+ +
+ + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/events/2020-online-get-together/academic-bioinformatics-and-startups/index.html b/events/2020-online-get-together/academic-bioinformatics-and-startups/index.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..68b3dd0a --- /dev/null +++ b/events/2020-online-get-together/academic-bioinformatics-and-startups/index.html @@ -0,0 +1,282 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + What academic RSEs could learn from startups? - Nordic RSE + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + +
+ +
+ back to the schedule + +

What academic RSEs could learn from startups?

+

Dmitrii Borisevich

+ +
+

Dear all,

+

Below you will find a proposal for the discussion "What academic RSE could learn from startups?" on the 1st of December, 14:00. +If you feel that you share this frustration about research software, and you would like to join the discussion session, feel free to comment on the proposal, and let us all know in advance what your experience is.

+

The academic world strives to perform the best research possible. The research that was done thirty years ago created a foundation for modern-day computational methods in many areas. But today many academic areas suffer a reproducibility crisis. Letters and papers are regularly published in high-impact journals about reproducibility crisis,... and nothing changes. Poor scientific software is considered one of the major causes of the crisis.

+

From a startup perspective, academic environments often look outdated and generally wrong. CI/CD, shared codebase, code review, Agile, and orientation to the product are seen as necessary to just survive in the startup world. At the same time, these concepts are completely unheard of or even opposed in most of the non-CS academic places. Why is it so and what can we do about it? Do we really want reproducible research, or do we only want to grumble about it?

+

The discussion will:

+

Start with discussing the experiences of the participants, +Analyze a trade-off between the benefits and the costs of reproducibility, and how it affects research, +Compare the benefits of teamwork with the academic "single researcher" mentality, and check how it affects RSE's outcome, +Discuss infrastructure and management problems, +Summarize potential solutions. +We look to meet everyone, who feels they have the same problem in their area of research.

+

Questions and comments

+

Stats: 1/2 are "senior" staff, 1/4 are PhD fellows, 1/4 are others

+
Problems:
+
    +
  • Individual publication pressure +
      +
    • Publications are KPI
      • +
    • "Software won't give you a PhD"
      • +
    • Individual work is expected
      • +
    • This leads to people using their limited time towards personal research rather than developing tools and collaborating
      • +
    • "Cultural inertia" among peers and leadership doesn't help
      • +
    +
    • +
  • No clear future career and role model +
      +
    • No good role models, no understanding of how to transition from MSc/PhD to an "RSE"
      • +
    • No clear expectations how much freedom to do research an RSE should have - is RSE a researcher or employee?
      • +
    +
    • +
  • No resources and training +
      +
    • There is not enough knowledge resources and training
      • +
    • And different backgrounds need different training
      • +
    +
    • +
+
Solutions needed:
+
    +
  • Promotion of team work (both RSE + "scientists" for more papers and RSE + RSE for day-to-day working and learning) +
      +
    • "In industry you may go to other people who would complement your skills"
      • +
    +
    • +
  • Adoption and enforcement of industry's technical solutions for co-developing (VCS, etc.) to enable the co-developing itself +
      +
    • Technical debt is addressed in product startups because the quality of thier product matters - doesn't quality of research matter too?
      • +
    +
    • +
  • Allocation of time for teaching and knowledge transfer +
      +
    • Remember "bus factor" - how many RSEs need to leave the group for its research to fall apart?
      • +
    +
    • +
+

But no one makes these solutions!

+
Actionable steps - what we could do as the RSE society?
+
    +
  • Public advocacy campaing towards funders - they should fund RSE projects and put pressure on leadership!
    • +
  • Advocacy campaing towards leadership - they will benefit the most because good RSE practices are beneficial in a long run, over 2-4 years
    • +
  • More educational materials within the community
    • +
+ +
+ +
+ + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/events/2020-online-get-together/ai-based-sample-centering/index.html b/events/2020-online-get-together/ai-based-sample-centering/index.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..95c40873 --- /dev/null +++ b/events/2020-online-get-together/ai-based-sample-centering/index.html @@ -0,0 +1,233 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + MXAimbot - AI-based sample centering for macromolecular crystallography - Nordic RSE + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + +
+ +
+ back to the schedule + +

MXAimbot - AI-based sample centering for macromolecular crystallography

+

Isak Lindhé

+ +
+

What is this?

+

MXAimbot is a neural network based tool currently in development, designed to +relieve researchers of the task of manually and individually centering their +samples in synchrotron beamlines for macromolecular crystallography.

+

How does it do that?

+

It is a pretty simple CNN trained on a few thousand images from a camera +pointed at the loop which holds the samples. These images are annotated with +coordinates, height, and width.

+

Why?

+

Because the other two alternatives are

+
    +
  1. Manual centering by humans, which is boring and tedious and consumes researchers valuable time.
    2. +
  2. X-ray centering, which can cause radiation-damage the crystal.
    3. +
+ +
+ +
+ + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/events/2020-online-get-together/closing-statements/index.html b/events/2020-online-get-together/closing-statements/index.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..c119de72 --- /dev/null +++ b/events/2020-online-get-together/closing-statements/index.html @@ -0,0 +1,283 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + Closing Statements - Nordic RSE + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + +
+ +
+ back to the schedule + +

Closing Statements

+

Jarno Rantaharju

+ +
+

Notes

+
    +
  • Thanks to all contributors, organizers and keynote speakers +
      +
    • Especially Samantha, Richard, Thor, Jeremy, Radovan, Naoe for technical setup
      • +
    +
    • +
+
    +
  • Highlights from the notes +
      +
    • Great intro to the international RSE movement and to RSEs on Monday, thanks Alys Brett, Richard and Samantha
      • +
    +
      +
    • Good introductions to groups and projects +
        +
      • several expanding RSE groups
        • +
      +
      • +
    • Several technical tools and topics +
        +
      • The further we go, the more we can focus on sharing experiences and tools
        • +
      • Great to see interest in these discussions!
        • +
      +
      • +
    • We will try to make all slides/contributions findable and accessible +
        +
      • authors: please send us the DOI or the pdf version
        • +
      +
      • +
    • Interesting and inspiring panels session.
      • +
    • What the Nordic RSE should do? +
        +
      • Build an identity. Create a network with local hubs. +
          +
        • About local hubs: multiple things need to happen on university level
          • +
        +
        • +
      • Build a network, connect RSEs who are currently only connected to researchers in a field +
          +
        • Have a more specific definitions of RSE
          • +
        • Job board (separate from CR chat?)
          • +
        +
        • +
      • Give feedback to national and Nordic organisations (funders, for example)
        • +
      • Collection of resources on the website (to hands of scicomp, citation file format …)
        • +
      +
      • +
    +
    • +
  • It is easy to see the problems. We should implement solutions. +
      +
    • Make good, well designed tools that also professors will use.
      • +
    • Use and advocate for best practices
      • +
    +
    • +
  • Ask for feedback
    • +
  • Invite everyone to +
      +
    • Biweekly meetings
      • +
    • Coffee breaks for more freeform chats
      • +
    +
    • +
+ +
+ +
+ + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/events/2020-online-get-together/code-of-conduct/index.html b/events/2020-online-get-together/code-of-conduct/index.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..4ff674bd --- /dev/null +++ b/events/2020-online-get-together/code-of-conduct/index.html @@ -0,0 +1,283 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + Code of conduct - Nordic RSE + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + +
+ +
+

Code of conduct

+
+

This code of conduct is copied and adapted from the code of conduct used at the +2nd Intl. RSE Leaders Workshop 2020, adapted from +Collaborations Workshop 2020 +(CC-BY-NC 2.5 license) which was adapted from the example policy at the +Geek Feminism wiki, +created by the Ada Initiative and other volunteers (CC-0 license). +The procedure for reporting harassment has been adopted from the Ada Initiative's guide titled +"workshop anti-harassment/Responding to Reports".

+
+

We value the participation of each stakeholder and want all participants to +have an enjoyable and fulfilling experience. Accordingly, all participants are +expected to show respect and courtesy to other participants throughout the +event and through all communication channels.

+

To make clear what is expected, all participants, speakers, organisers and +volunteers at this online get-together are required to conform to +the following code of conduct. Organisers will enforce this code throughout the +event.

+

Summary

+

We are dedicated to providing a harassment-free workshop experience for +everyone. We do not tolerate harassment of workshop participants in any form.

+

All communication should be appropriate for a professional audience including +people of many different backgrounds.

+

Be kind to others. Do not insult or put down other attendees.

+

Behave professionally. Remember that harassment, unprofessional remarks and +messages, and exclusionary jokes are not appropriate at this event.

+

Participants violating these rules may be asked to leave the event +at the sole discretion of the organisers.

+

Thank you for helping make this a welcoming, friendly event for all.

+

Clarifications

+

Harassment includes offensive communication related to gender, sexual +orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, religion, sexual +images in public spaces, deliberate intimidation, stalking, following, +harassing photography or recording, sustained disruption of talks or other +events, inappropriate physical contact, and unwelcome sexual attention.

+

Participants asked to stop any harassing behaviour are expected to comply +immediately.

+

Be careful in the words that you choose. Remember that words can be offensive +to those around you. Offensive jokes are not acceptable at this event. +Excessive swearing is not appropriate at this event.

+

If a participant engages in behaviour that violates this code of conduct, the +workshop organisers may take any action they deem appropriate, including +warning the offender or expulsion from the workshop.

+

Procedure for reporting harassment

+

If you are being harassed, notice that someone else is being harassed, or have +any other concerns, please contact any member of the code of conduct committee +via email or direct message using the workshop Slack chat:

+
    +
  • Samantha Wittke (samantha.wittke@aalto.fi)
    • +
  • Jarno Rantaharju (jarno.rantaharju@helsinki.fi)
    • +
  • Radovan Bast (radovan.bast@uit.no)
    • +
+

Report the harassment incident via email to a member of the code of conduct +committee. All reports are confidential.

+

When reporting the event to a code of conduct committee member, try to gather +as much information as available, but do not interview people about the +incident. The committee member will assist you in writing the report/collecting +information.

+

The important information we need consists of:

+
    +
  • Identifying information (name) of the participant doing the harassing
    • +
  • The behaviour that was potentially in violation
    • +
  • The approximate time of the behaviour (if different than the time the report was made)
    • +
  • The circumstances surrounding the incident
    • +
  • Other people involved in the incident
    • +
+

After the code of conduct committee receives a report, a decision will be made +as quickly as possible and any decisions made by the code of conduct will be +enforced immediately.

+ +
+ +
+ + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/events/2020-online-get-together/code-quality/index.html b/events/2020-online-get-together/code-quality/index.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..4937afd6 --- /dev/null +++ b/events/2020-online-get-together/code-quality/index.html @@ -0,0 +1,285 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + Is it possible to make code quality more important than the number of published papers in academia? - Nordic RSE + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + +
+ +
+ back to the schedule + +

Is it possible to make code quality more important than the number of published papers in academia?

+

Sunniva Indrehus

+ +
+

The code quality in academia has a bad reputation. A global measure of the quality of a computational-oriented research group is typically based on the number of published papers and not a stable and well organized code. The latter is crucial for the further development of the scientific quality of the group. Is it possible to make code quality more important than the number of published papers in academia?

+

Interesting questions that are closely related to my title:

+
    +
  • How to construct a sustainable workflow for groups working where someone has a user and someone a developer perspective? Where goes the line between what type of knowledge is expected from the users and the maintainers?
    • +
  • Who has the responsibility to teach the academic staff about best software practices? Is it the individual doing computational stuff he(r)self?
    • +
  • How can the studying programs at the universities speed up and keep track of the “standard” developments in the business? For instance: in 2020 everybody doing some kind of development should be aware of version control and testing.
    • +
+

Slides: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lnveZ3flvTixgIDv2kwKDIhL0saXFE1b/view?usp=sharing

+
+

Questions and comments

+

Follow-up questions:

+
    +
  • Does it make sense to move in this direction?
    • +
  • Better coding culture and education ?
    • +
  • Incentivisation ?
    • +
+
    +
  • code quality vs code volume: Is it worth putting effort in going open source? -> ongoing debate in many places
    • +
  • github: a representation of the university towards the world, should be showcasing the good
    • +
  • we may not be experts but we should be using the tools provided (version control, testing) +-> "you wouldn't trust an uncalibrated thermometer"
    • +
  • pressure form funding agency to produce research results and not code, hard to try to find excuses to make good code an output
    • +
  • code should be a part of research proposal, otherwise there is 'not enough time'
    • +
  • often severity of the problem is not seen by professors
    • +
  • people get by by producing adequate code and get by and get funding, that does not motivate people to do testing etc
    • +
  • professors need to know and understand the problem (often they do not do any coding (anymore) and forget)
    • +
  • later additions to 'bad code' leads to problems which get noticed -> explanation to the 'higher level' how we could now save time with better code from the beginning
    • +
  • Lots of time pressure in research projects where improving and making code reproducible is not focussed on
    • +
  • no courses on how to write research code :( or not many
    • +
  • stuff like software engineering is often one of the first courses to be dropped when money runs out. Often because 'higher levels' do not know about the importance
    • +
  • new field: not much old stuff to build on top, no real need for sharing. But not anymore the case.
    • +
  • Catchin up takes time, no time to reproduce everything
    • +
+

How can we find the 'paper' of coding?

+
    +
  • github stars
    • +
  • https://joss.theoj.org/ +https://openresearchsoftware.metajnl.com/ +https://www.journals.elsevier.com/softwarex, software wrapped in paper for traditional metrics, good start but does not solve the problem
    • +
  • one citable paper for many years of developing the software? -> need to be judged on different scale
    • +
  • Standard research outputs are not the only thing that research is measured by anymore, need to 'jump on the train'
    • +
  • continuous necessity for novelty, all metrics problematic, potential metrics: how many people are using your product? -> if many people use it, it is valuable to maintain and update software, supporting a large community
    • +
  • usage metrics as a way of demonstrating impact -> hard to make funding bodies recognize that
    • +
  • in ok it is now pushed to be recognized, slowly building up now, took several years to build evidence base of usage
    • +
  • UK’s Research Excellence Framework: https://www.ref.ac.uk/
    • +
  • importance of being able to read documentation, you need to know where to look and how to do (not everyone can do that)
    • +
  • what about promoting the importance of releasing often? It is a measure of continuous effort, something that writing one-off papers doesn't do, and even small, bug-fixing patches are important IMO. The flip side is it could encourage busy-work, but I still think it's worth it.
    • +
  • all metrics can break -> wide variety of metrics for value is important
    • +
  • some people work in a field where software is not used much by other people, but may be very useful for your colleagues -> citation supports more novelty than quality
    • +
  • no tasks anymore that can be solved by one person. As a researcher, pair up with an RSE to solve a problem, paper together. win-win. can also help your career.
    • +
  • people are rewarded for bad code by keeping their job through being the only person who can actually read and work with their code, no incentive to make code better -> better long term management needed
    • +
  • today no one is indispensible, dont hire people who think they are
    • +
  • make sure multiple people can 'keep the server running', collaborate
    • +
  • -> culture change needed
    • +
  • need for basic education (version control etc) of students, code review
    • +
  • but people do not like to find out / being pointed put as having written bad code, creates high barrier, but one one need to get over
    • +
  • when sharing code, poeple will get used to it, as its part of development
    • +
  • Coderefinery as a good place to send new phds students to learn version control and how collaborative coding works -> no merge without someone else reading the code first
    • +
  • it's all research, you never know which part will become part of your codebase, turns into something big -> hard to go back later, so its important to start early with reviewing, version control etc
    • +
  • So maybe we should have some sense of "continual review" like "continuous integration"
    • +
  • writing test framework takes time but is worth it in the long run
    • +
  • do what you want in your own code,but you will need to 'act like a software engineer' when working with others
    • +
  • compared to how long it takes to make things work, test implementation does not take too much time
    • +
  • courses such as coderefinery are not appealing to some people who think of themselves knowing git* enough for current use, 'bubble workers', so they never learn how it could be also with branches in own code
    • +
  • 'onboarding package' as in how we do things here is lacking in academia, not everywhere though: example: https://scicomp.aalto.fi/aalto/welcomeresearchers/
    • +
+ +
+ +
+ + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/events/2020-online-get-together/coderefinery/index.html b/events/2020-online-get-together/coderefinery/index.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..b7d2c660 --- /dev/null +++ b/events/2020-online-get-together/coderefinery/index.html @@ -0,0 +1,227 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + The CodeRefinery project - Nordic RSE + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + +
+ +
+ back to the schedule + +

The CodeRefinery project

+

Radovan Bast

+ +
+

In this short presentation I will discuss how we grew the CodeRefinery project +over the past 4 years and taught hundreds of students and researchers across +all disciplines in best practices in reproducible research software +engineering.

+

I will highlight how we transitioned from in-person workshops to online +training and the team effort which made it possible to scale the workshops to +almost 100 participants per event.

+

Slides: https://bit.ly/coderefinery-nordic-rse-2020

+ +
+ +
+ + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/events/2020-online-get-together/conference/index.html b/events/2020-online-get-together/conference/index.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..f8ef820f --- /dev/null +++ b/events/2020-online-get-together/conference/index.html @@ -0,0 +1,260 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + Collecting ideas/suggestions for Nordic RSE conference in May - Nordic RSE + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + +
+ +
+ back to the schedule + +

Collecting ideas/suggestions for Nordic RSE conference in May

+

+ +
+

This was an unconference session, a discussion added to the agenda during the workshop.

+
    +
  • I haven’t prepared this and maybe it was discussed already somewhere
    • +
+
+

Questions and comments

+
    +
  • May 27 and 28, 2021, Stockholm
    • +
  • 1 auditorium (150-200), 2 workshop rooms for 30 people and a number of smaller rooms booked
    • +
  • common social area can be used
    • +
+

suggestions:

+
    +
  • offer different tracks with a good balance
    • +
  • training tracks: RSE's role as a trainer and supporter
    • +
  • consider inviting persons from funding agencies ("how can we fund 'invisible' but important work?") +1 +
      +
    • also university HR/ management; to avoid a too one-sided discussion if only RSEs are in the room
      • +
    +
    • +
  • invite representatives from other "chapters" to share lessons learned +1
    • +
  • hearing about/from journals like JOSS +1
    • +
  • open science should be included as a topic
    • +
  • interface with CarpentryConnect conference (collocated)
    • +
  • invite managers and policy makers who have success stories in the RSE area +1
    • +
+

theme suggestions:

+
    +
  • "software in research"
    • +
+

how to announce it outside of our "bubble":

+
    +
  • consider calling the press (press offices at Unis)
    • +
  • at the places where startups advertize
    • +
  • unions for researchers and engineers
    • +
  • newsletters via computing centers
    • +
+

technical:

+
    +
  • better many short hackmds rather one long hackmd
    • +
+ +
+ +
+ + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/events/2020-online-get-together/containers/index.html b/events/2020-online-get-together/containers/index.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..22d386d5 --- /dev/null +++ b/events/2020-online-get-together/containers/index.html @@ -0,0 +1,232 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + How to explain containers are friends of scientists? Are they? - Nordic RSE + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + +
+ +
+ back to the schedule + +

How to explain containers are friends of scientists? Are they?

+

+ +
+

This was an unconference session, a discussion added to the agenda during the workshop.

+
+

Questions and comments

+
    +
  • Mentioning where containers are used and what are the the alternative and competing tools. Conda was mentioned many times.
    • +
  • A story of advertising Containers at an institution to scientists, in particular by organising a semminar giving overview of containers and brief intro into them, including documentation where and how can be used at the institute. But even such activities has not resulted in a serious adaption from the scientists side. On the other side it found other paplication, e.g. where isolation is needed for dividing conservative stable software for controlling scientific instruments and up-to-data data analysis environment. Mentioned that in early times, containers were presented in way expressing only limitted view and applications of them.
    • +
  • Mentioned that application in the instrument control, requiring isolation, are interesting.
    • +
  • There are different type of containers (docker, singularity, proto???mark) that are appropriate for different situations: service deployment, HPC, isolation etc. A proper one should be choosen depending on the application case.
    • +
  • There are many possible options how the given container technology can be adapted/used. One should think it is a versatile technology.
    • +
  • Other particular cases where containers were used: a) glibc issues, b) dot.net on CentOS
    • +
  • Expressing a thought that if containers (or other tools) are not widely used/adopted in the given community (scientists) it can die out.
    • +
  • View from BioInformatics: Conda was used a lot (Bioconda), nowadys many computing intensive pipelines are packed into Singularity
    • +
+ +
+ +
+ + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/events/2020-online-get-together/demographics/index.html b/events/2020-online-get-together/demographics/index.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..adf13396 --- /dev/null +++ b/events/2020-online-get-together/demographics/index.html @@ -0,0 +1,240 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + Problematic demographics within research computing and ways to rectify the problem - Nordic RSE + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + +
+ +
+ back to the schedule + +

Problematic demographics within research computing and ways to rectify the problem

+

+ +
+

This was an unconference session, a discussion added to the agenda during the workshop.

+
+

Questions and comments

+
    +
  • Special interest groups exist. +
      +
    • Do they funnel people out of the main group?
      • +
    • Work with them and include the interest groups in the main group
      • +
    +
    • +
  • What leads to the imbalance at different levels on career / education?
    • +
  • Example: Gender balance in computational particle physics in Helsinki surprisingly good. Why? +
      +
    • Better balance among students than before
      • +
    • Hiring from earlier in the studies (batcherol's level)
      • +
    • If related fields are more biased, there are more qualified applicants
      • +
    +
    • +
  • Hard discussion to have, thanks to everyone who was involved
    • +
  • Sorry I forgot to take notes for most of it :(
    • +
+ +
+ +
+ + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/events/2020-online-get-together/eessi/index.html b/events/2020-online-get-together/eessi/index.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..e77dad78 --- /dev/null +++ b/events/2020-online-get-together/eessi/index.html @@ -0,0 +1,298 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + European Environment for Scientific Software Installations (EESSI) - Nordic RSE + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + +
+ +
+ back to the schedule + +

European Environment for Scientific Software Installations (EESSI)

+

Thomas Röblitz

+ +
+

We will do a presentation of the EESSI (European Environments for Scientific Software Installations) project including a demo of its current pilot software stack.

+

In a nutshell, EESSI develops an infrastructure/service which will eventually allow you to use the same scientific software stack on any machine (e.g., Raspberry Pi, laptop, server, cluster, cloud, supercomputer) running on various operating systems (Linux, macOS, Windows) and the software stack is built from sources and can thereby be optimised for the CPU/GPU/interconnect at your machine. Even better you don't even have to install (almost) any software package as the stack will be delivered to you via CernVM-FS a proven solution to distribute software in the WLCG (Worldwide LHC Computing Grid).

+

The current pilot stack can be easily tested via Singularity, supports ARM, Intel and AMD processors and includes scientific software packages such as GROMACS, OpenFOAM, bioconductor, TensorFlow as well as all their dependencies.

+
+

Questions and comments

+
    +
  • Question: Is it possible to test the whole stack, please add links? +
      +
    • Yes, see https://eessi.github.io/docs/pilot/
      • +
    • To get help, join the EESSI Slack, see https://www.eessi-hpc.org/join/
      • +
    +
    • +
+
    +
  • Question: Will you also support AMD Rocm and AMD ecosystem overall? +
      +
    • Yes, eventually. Right now there already are optimized installations for AMD Zen2 (Rome). +OpenMPI is included and is installed on top of UCX & libfabric, so should properly support AMD Rocm interconnect, but this is currently untested.
      • +
    +
    • +
  • Comment: I like this idea as for us it is important people can use it in their laptops. +Personally I not much loosing time in setting up sw at my laptop but I see for the users it is important +to have an option to install/use it also in their lab. They like it more. +
      +
    • Yes, this could allow people to literally write a job script that just works on the HPC cluster. Same modules, same software. +(and no need to build containers, or copy them over, etc.)
      • +
    +
    • +
  • Question: This builds on existing projects so it has some content from the begining. +
      +
    • Thanks to EasyBuild we can easily provide 1000s of installations. +Right now we limit what we provide, so we can focus on solving the problems we're hitting first.
      • +
    +
    • +
  • Question: Why European in the name? +
      +
    • Because it started with European sites. +We're already thinking about changing the first E to "Easy" :) +"EESSI is the Easy Environment..."
      • +
    +
    • +
  • Question: Question: what are the possibilities to add “own dirty module”, is it like same as e.g. with EasyBuild itself? +
      +
    • You can easily install additional software on top, for example in your home directory on in /tmp, just like you can with any other software stack built with EasyBuild).
      • +
    +
    • +
  • Question: Sensitivity of central Stratum-0 component, in terms of resilience? +
      +
    • The CernVM-FS design is very robust. If the Stratum-0 dies, the only impact is that you can't add new software to the repositories. +As long as one Stratum-1 server is still alive, the software remains available (all Stratum-1 servers have a full copy of the provided software). +So it comes down to having enough Stratum-1 servers, spread across the world, in different sites and cloud providers.
      • +
    • W.r.t adding software: we plan to fully automate the workflow of adding software to the EESSI repository, such that adding software comes down to opening a pull request on GitHub. When the PR is approved by a reviewer, the software gets built automatically on all supported CPU architectures, and added to Stratum-0, fully automatically. Ideally we also have (small) test cases to verify that the installations are functional before deploying them.
      • +
    +
    • +
  • Question: You mentioned that CernVM-FS only relies on HTTP connections. Shouldn't that be HTTPS for security reasons? +
      +
    • No, switching to HTTPS has no added value in terms of security, we've discussed that with the CernVM-FS developers. +CernVM-FS has built in security checks between server and clients, so HTTPS doesn't provide any additional security (I think, should be checked in CernVM-FS documentation).
      • +
    +
    • +
  • How would this work for large jobs across multiple nodes, can a lot of network traffic to pull in the software be avoided? +
      +
    • Yes, you can set up a shared CernVM-FS cache on a shared filesystem. +If there's no internet access on the cluster workernodes, you can use a squid proxy in the cluster network (on a login node for example). +This setup has been tested with the EESSI pilot stack at the Jülich Supercomputing Centre, worked really well!
      • +
    +
    • +
  • Comment: Detection of CPU architecture is a very nice feature. This is a big issue with containers where generic binaries are often, which can have a big impact on performance. +
      +
    • Yes, indeed! Containers are also very rigid: what if you want to add additional software? +The EESSI environment is way more dynamic, easy to add software on top of it (without paying for it in terms of performance), etc.
      • +
    +
    • +
  • Comment: This would also work really well in heterogenous environments with a mix of old/new CPUs, thanks to the auto-detection mechanism. +
      +
    • Yes, very correct, this is an interesting use case!
      • +
    +
    • +
+ +
+ +
+ + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/events/2020-online-get-together/eosc/index.html b/events/2020-online-get-together/eosc/index.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..ab82a2c7 --- /dev/null +++ b/events/2020-online-get-together/eosc/index.html @@ -0,0 +1,224 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + Future EOSC data analysis services - Nordic RSE + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + +
+ +
+ back to the schedule + +

Future EOSC data analysis services

+

Zdenek Matej, Jason Brudvik, Andrii Salnikov

+ +
+

Nordic countries are hosting several large scale scientific experimental facilities, including Photon and Neutron (PaN) reserach infrastructures, in particular MAX IV synchrotron laboratory and European Spallation Source (ESS), both situated in Lund. With the excellent particle accelerator source brightness and fast detectors enormous volumes of scientific data are produced. Almost a thousand of scientists annually are using these research infrastructures to conduct scientific experiments in relation to biology, chemistry, physics, material science and also geology or cultural heritage. In late 2018 several European PaN research infrastructures, including ESS, started a project called PaNOSC [1] and they were complemented a year later with the ExPaNDS [2] project at national PaN facilities, including MAX IV, within the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) initiative. Both projects aim for expanding practices of scientific data management and analysis towards Open Science and FAIR data principles. Strategy, several scientific application cases, which should prototype the EOSC services for PaN users communities, and tools chosen can be briefly introduced giving an essence what can be the future scientific data service for the relevant communities.

+
    +
  1. PaNOSC: Photon and Neutron Open Science Cloud, https://www.panosc.eu (Nov 9, 2020).
    2. +
  2. ExPaNDS: EOSC Photon and Neutron Data Services, https://expands.eu (Nov 9, 2020).
    3. +
+ +
+ +
+ + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/events/2020-online-get-together/ericsson-research/index.html b/events/2020-online-get-together/ericsson-research/index.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..4f0cd015 --- /dev/null +++ b/events/2020-online-get-together/ericsson-research/index.html @@ -0,0 +1,257 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + Ericsson Research and Distributed Applications in the Cloud - Nordic RSE + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + +
+ +
+ back to the schedule + +

Ericsson Research and Distributed Applications in the Cloud

+

Andrew Williams

+ +
+

Ericsson has a long history in the telecommunications industry dating back more +than a hundred years, but with traditional network infrastructure becoming +increasingly virtualized and software defined, and the rise of the cloud, both +the way we work and the skills we require is rapidly changing. This change is +being rapidly driven by the need to collaboratively develop code that can be +meaningfully shared with stakeholders.

+

This talk illustrates the inspiration that Ericsson Research Cloud Systems and +Platforms (CSP) is taking from the Research Software Engineering community and +provides an introduction to one concept for a distributed application runtime +that we are working on.

+

Slides: https://github.com/nordic-rse/meetups/blob/main/2020/ericsson-distributed.pdf

+
+

Questions and comments

+
    +
  • There are already long-standing software stacks to do distributing computing. How are you interacting with these existing projects? I do hate to continual pound this drum but HTCondor written by the folks in Wisconsin have been doing this sort of platform agnostic distributed computing for a long time now.
    • +
  • Any plans for running on HPC and how that would work? +
      +
    • A: Currently looking for stakeholders write now for research projects. Under discussion and debating whether the software should be open sourced.
      • +
    +
    • +
  • In the era of GDPR and sensitive data how are you seeing the ocean of computing working with localisation requirements that these regulations impose? +
      +
    • A: Not working with the infrastructure but specifying locations where stuff should run.
      • +
    +
    • +
  • Comment: We have quite currious application at particle accelerators: the guys making "particle re-energiteze" devices for the particle accelerator started using networks/clouds of smart-devices. So instead of well-defined dedicated networks the control system is running over wifi.
    • +
  • Where does Ericsson see potential benefits in building links with the RSE community? Would this, for example, ultimately be as a route to build users of specific codes, would it be as a route to get/share technical expertise and input from the RSE community, etc? Are there other drivers? +
      +
    • This has to be a two-way partnership, giving back. Trying to get people to better communicate both internally as well as across stake-holder groups. The Met-Office showed how training is important for getting researchers up to speed on making production code and the unique requirements this entails. An on-boarding program for getting new hires acclimatized to the standards of the projects is very important. All code should be group-code. Beware of personalized ownership.
      • +
    +
    • +
  • Code ownership is a particularly tricky point, both in Sweden and elsewhere. +
      +
    • This is a very interesting topic that is getting more attention recently. Who owns the intellectual property for e.g. the code developed to do research at a university? Universities have a policy that can seem quite aggressive in the way they claim ownership. It was discussed that teachers can fall under a special clause, but that researchers and students do not. I'm not sure if the latter is true, students (from bachelor up to and including postdocs) also have a special clause, and the tools they develop to "conduct their studies" (including thesis work and postdoc work) are their own. At least this seems to be the case at my university. For researchers and other staff, the situation looks different. Please comment if you have any experience or encountered a different policy.
      • +
    +
    • +
  • Patents & Papers as measures for success, but are these actually good measures for progress and in particular the value of collaborative work?
    • +
+ +
+ +
+ + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/events/2020-online-get-together/eurocc-sweden/index.html b/events/2020-online-get-together/eurocc-sweden/index.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..d01f9ad3 --- /dev/null +++ b/events/2020-online-get-together/eurocc-sweden/index.html @@ -0,0 +1,244 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + EuroCC National Competence Center Sweden - Nordic RSE + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + +
+ +
+ back to the schedule + +

EuroCC National Competence Center Sweden

+

Thor Wikfeldt

+ +
+

The EuroCC National Competence Center Sweden (ENCCS) +was established +on 1 September 2020 with funding from the Swedish Research Council +(https://www.vr.se/english.html), Vinnova (https://www.vinnova.se/) +and the EuroHPC Joined Undertaking +(https://eurohpc-ju.europa.eu/). ENCCS is one of the 33 national HPC +Competence centers across Europe.

+

The mission of ENCCS is to develop competence, knowledge and support +in Sweden to enable academic and industrial researchers and high +performance computing (HPC) users to take advantage of both +forthcoming (pre-)exascale EuroHPC resources as well as modern +artificial intelligence and high-performance data analytics (AI/HPDA) +methodologies.

+

ENCCS has research software engineers from different backgrounds who +are both training researchers through workshops and hackathons and +supporting selected research software to run on (pre-)exascale +systems. We also work with industry through the Research Institutes +Sweden (RISE) and offer support in writing +EuroHPC-JU systems access proposals.

+

To keep up to date on ENCCS activities or get information +about upcoming training events, visit our web +page, sign up for the ENCCS +newsletter and follow us on +Twitter or on +LinkedIn.

+ +
+ +
+ + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/events/2020-online-get-together/fair-principles/index.html b/events/2020-online-get-together/fair-principles/index.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..b2ad762c --- /dev/null +++ b/events/2020-online-get-together/fair-principles/index.html @@ -0,0 +1,230 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + Computational reproducibility and the FAIR principles - Nordic RSE + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + +
+ +
+ back to the schedule + +

Computational reproducibility and the FAIR principles

+

Wolmar Åkerström

+ +
+

We would like to have a discussion on computational reproducibility and the +FAIR principles in relation to RSE. In particular we would hope flesh out some +stories on challenges/solutions related to computational reproducibility – e.g +experiences from trying to rerun an analysis on a new system or +training/supporting others in reproducible practices. Ultimately being able to +draft some tips/tricks or a checklist of things to consider to address common +pain-points.

+

Some work on surveying the field is being done in the Research Data +Alliance (RDA), FORCE 11 and ReSA etc. but it would probably be an +interesting discussion to have with a Nordic RSE perspective.

+

A result of this discussion could be published as a blog post.

+ +
+ +
+ + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/events/2020-online-get-together/gromacs/index.html b/events/2020-online-get-together/gromacs/index.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..cdafcab0 --- /dev/null +++ b/events/2020-online-get-together/gromacs/index.html @@ -0,0 +1,250 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + Helping build a developer community though good software practice - Nordic RSE + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + +
+ +
+ back to the schedule + +

Helping build a developer community though good software practice

+

Mark Abraham

+ +
+

GROMACS is a free, open-source molecular dynamics community code mainly +designed for simulations of proteins, lipids, and nucleic acids. It is one of +the fastest and most popular scientific software packages available, and can +run on central processing units (CPUs) and graphics processing units (GPUs). In +this session, Mark Abraham (former development manager of GROMACS) will +illustrate software development practices that helped build the GROMACS +developer community. Mark will be happy to take any questions you might have, +e.g. on how to apply similar ideas to the software projects you are working on.

+

Questions and comments

+
    +
  • You moved from specific tools (gerrit, bugzilla) to gitlab. Do you think the integrated solution is better then specific tools? +
      +
    • Specialized tools can lack integration with each other, integrated tools work as a whole
      • +
    +
    • +
  • How often do you need to deal with support requests from your community that are related to somehow having GROMACS installed or compiled incorrectly (and is there stuff you do to avoid problems like that from happening)? +
      +
    • can avoid some support questions on installation through continuous integration
      • +
    +
    • +
  • Regarding unit tests: How do you find the sweet spot between creating too few unit tests and trying to come up with every single input combination so all bases are covered and your software is fool-proof? +
      +
    • No perfect solution, need to choose a balance. Physics constraints provide useful general tests.
      • +
    +
    • +
  • did you do specific outreach activities to reach new contributors +
      +
    • pre-covid there were some developer workshops by external people. Some have later joined the dev community
      • +
    +
    • +
+ +
+ +
+ + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/events/2020-online-get-together/hpc-procurement/index.html b/events/2020-online-get-together/hpc-procurement/index.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..113cfcad --- /dev/null +++ b/events/2020-online-get-together/hpc-procurement/index.html @@ -0,0 +1,296 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + Lessons learned from procuring a fairly large HPC system - Nordic RSE + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + +
+ +
+ back to the schedule + +

Lessons learned from procuring a fairly large HPC system

+

Thor Wikfeldt and Gert Svensson

+ +
+

Procuring an HPC system - a.k.a. a supercomputer - is a complex and +multifaceted task. Before sending out the Request For Proposals the +procurer needs to quantify requirements along several dimensions and +decide on an acceptable level of risk. Should the tendered system +maximize benefit for existing users and use cases, or should possible +future user communities and emerging HPC workloads be factored in? Do +you prioritize throughput capability or minimizing time to solution +for given workloads? How important are acquisition and running costs +compared to other measures? Are you willing to invest in future +technologies which would require significant refactoring of commonly +used HPC simulation software? Which HPC software should be included in +the benchmarking suite, and how should benchmark results be scored?

+

This session will start with a walk through of several aspects of an +HPC procurement and will be followed by an open discussion where +participants can share their own experiences. A goal of the discussion +can be to arrive at a set of best practices in HPC procurements.

+

Slides: https://hackmd.io/@KTW/HPC-procurement-lessons#/

+
+

Questions and comments

+
    +
  1. Are you monitoring your cluster usage? What tools?
    2. +
  2. Do you regularly run regression tests? Which tools?
    3. +
  3. How did you select application benchmarks?
    4. +
  4. How did you design the scoring system?
    5. +
  5. Was there anything that surprised you during the procurement process?
    6. +
  6. What was particularly challenging?
    7. +
  7. Do you think the procurement could have been more successful if you had done anything differently? If so, what?
    8. +
  8. Should we score the quality of benchmark reports?
    9. +
  9. Is it worth all the work to use real application benchmarks? Or use only synthetic or kernels--benchmarks?
    10. +
  10. How should we estimate the "real" power usage of the system?
    11. +
  11. Do we need to run a job mix to evaluate how different users affect each other?
    12. +
  12. Is benchmarks a good way to evaluate the "competence" of the vendor?
    13. +
+
    +
  • +

    Q: How did your requirements gathering procedure work, how did you implement risk assesment to requirement process?

    +
    • +
  • +

    Q: Is the benchmark list exhaustive for the application benchmarks? Can you elaborate on why you chose such narrow scope of the benchmarks?

    +
      +
    • 7 benchmarks are probably at the upper end and is approaching painful for vendors.
      • +
    • including more benchmarks leads to overall worse results
      • +
    • one often ends up benchmarking the vendor benchmark teams +
        +
      • is this a good thing because we will need software support later? +
          +
        • benchmark teams (might) not the same group that does support
          • +
        +
        • +
      +
      • +
    +
    • +
+
    +
  • +

    how much modification of benchmark codes should be allowed?

    +
      +
    • major refactoring not representative of typical future use, so might want to keep it minimal
      • +
    +
    • +
  • +

    performance for individual proxy benchmarks and application benchmarks can point in different directions, but often becomes robust after averaging

    +
    • +
  • +

    to eliminate small/less competent vendors, can require certain minimum placement on top500 or alternatively have requirements on vendor stability or financial aspects

    +
    • +
+
    +
  • Q: did you have a dynamic rebalancing of scores for phase 1 and phase 2 depending on the bids? +
      +
    • we had minimum performance on each phase
      • +
    • turned out that it paid off for vendors to focus efforts on phase 2
      • +
    • we decided to have phase 2 with accelerators because that's where HPC is heading, even if all users were not in favor
      • +
    +
    • +
+ +
+ +
+ + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/events/2020-online-get-together/index.html b/events/2020-online-get-together/index.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..4a265ef5 --- /dev/null +++ b/events/2020-online-get-together/index.html @@ -0,0 +1,3664 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + Nordic-RSE online get-together 2020 - Nordic RSE + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + +
+ + +
+ +

Nordic-RSE get-together online event, Nov 30 - Dec 2, 2020

+ + + +

+ Are you more interested in the software and technology in research than + making as many papers as possible? Do you wish you could share your + interest with others who feel the same as you? You aren't alone, and + the name for this feeling is being interested in + Research Software Engineering + (RSE), and this conference is dedicated to it. +

+ +

+ Our main Nordic-RSE conference has been postponed due to COVID-19 situation but you are all invited to our first + online get-together event. We plan on an afternoon keynote + session on Nov 30th, followed by days of talks on Dec 1-2 (mornings + for workshops and talks, afternoons for discussions). Topics include + both the experience of being a RSE and tech tools useful for research. +

+ +

+ All participants, speakers, organisers, and volunteers at this event are + required to conform to the following + code of conduct. +

+ +

+ Click here to register +

+ +

Program

+

All times are in Central European Time

+ +

Monday, November 30th

+ Chairing this session: Jarno Rantaharju + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ 14:00 (CET) + + + + + + + + + + + Introduction + (Jarno Rantaharju) + + +
+

Welcome and introduction to the event and Nordic RSE.

+ +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ 14:10 (CET) + + + Keynote: + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + Research Software Engineering: the growth of a movement + (Alys Brett) + + +
+

The importance of Research Software Engineering as a role, a discipline and a +community is becoming more and more widely recognised because it is essential +for harnessing the opportunities and of modern, computational research. Alys +Brett is head of the Software Engineering Group at the UK Atomic Energy +Authority and founding president of the Society for Research Software +Engineering. She has just handed over the leadership of the Society after +several years in that role. In this talk she will share the experience from the +UK of building recognition for the RSE role and developing groups, career +structures and communities, and reflect on where we are now with this +international movement.

+

Slides: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4298589

+
+

Questions and comments

+
    +
  • Can a research software engineer be also a "research data engineer" or do you think we will need a new "RDE" role? +
      +
    • I think RSEs often need to do a bit of everything so in some projects they will be the data engineer and will probably need to be able to navigate the basics and research the rest. There definitely are distinct roles relating to research data engineering and management though and we should promote recognition of and collaboration with these complementary roles too. I have an RSE team and a research data engineering team in my group and there is a lot of overlap in skills but some greater emphasis on devops and data management over numerical modelling and statistical methods in the data-systems-focussed team.
      • +
    +
    • +
  • Related to the above, how does RSE relate to many other 'support staff' kind of role, even if software is not their main focus? +
      +
    • In the UK, some RSE groups are part of Research IT services departments and some are within academic departments. Similarly, individuals will have different kinds of contract. In some places the distinction between researchers and support staff is very rigid and limits what you can do, and in others it is more flexible. We have found there is no one size fits all approach to how to make it work which is one of the reasons starting such a group is hard as you have to get into the specific way finances, contracts, HR etc work in your institution. The words "support staff" can be a bit controversial, partly because of the hierarchical culture in research (which is a problem in itself). I prefer to talk about "specialist roles" and "professional collaborators/consultants" in various fields to set the expectation that RSEs and researchers are collaborating as equals with complementary skills. There can definitely be a similar model in non-software but research-related specialist roles and common cause in developing the culture and the structures to support those careers and skills.
      • +
    +
    • +
  • What might the value be for an RSE group to hire a software engineer that has not worked with researchers before? +
      +
    • [name=a] I think there is value in there. As an RSE you naturally tend to split your time between doing, teaching and learning. Having a dedicated Software Engineer with experience churning out good quality code and familiar with the necessary concepts can be very useful. I've generally had people like that close to me and it's useful to bring them in to give talks, help with course material, workshops and so on. They also get something out of it - experience in working with researchers.
      • +
    +
    • +
  • For the researches who were not exposed to software engineering in a formal way, there are very little opportunities to get the best practices. There are no university course for such things either. How do we fill this vaccume? +
      +
    • Software Carpentry Workshops aim to introduce "basic lab skills for research computing" in a 2-day workshop (eg programming, version control and Unix shell)
      • +
    • CodeRefinery! More advanced for practicing researchers.
      • +
    • Increasingly part of Researcher training programmes. RSE groups in UK often run training and some teach parts of undergrad and postgrad courses
      • +
    • On the job... Richard is covering this well :-) pair programming and informal interaction with people who have the skills along with workshops/online courses etc, but need the culture in research to value and support this
      • +
    +
    • +
  • Whats the relationship between RSE and the more narrow "Bioinformatician" role that has gotten more traction and recognition over the last couple of years? +
      +
    • I think about it in terms of overlapping communities, so bioinformatics is a possible specialism for an RSE and some (most?) bioinformaticians will regard themselves as RSEs. I have heard the term "pet bioinformatician" used by people who were the sole person doing the programming for a group and feeling a bit isolated/unsupported so I think they can benefit from a wider community and the strong overlaps with methods and tools used in other research fields.
      • +
    +
    • +
  • Is there a "career path" for RSE in UK now? +
      +
    • It's not a completely solved problem, but the larger RSE groups will often have RSEs at multiple grades so there is scope for progression. In my group there are four levels: graduate RSE, RSE, Senior RSE and team/group leaders which are the same as levels in research groups. For RSEs in research roles
      • +
    • Depends very much on the group. For example, I was employed as an RSE but to get promotion I was treated like a PostDoc and required to publish papers. I think it needs a department head who understand the problem and who they have, otherwise they lose them.
      • +
    +
    • +
  • In my department people (i.e., professors, researchers, managers, etc.) do not understand the difference between RSE, post-doc or teaching-assistant: they treat everybody in the same way (although we all have different salaries, duties, etc.) and expect all of them to support them, their research and their teaching, in the same way. How can I/we make them understand what RSEs are? +
      +
    • Influencing professors is possibly the hardest part of this whole effort. I don't think there is a magic answer but when RSEs are in demand from multiple groups they are in quite a strong position to explain how they can best use their skills to collaborate and to prioritise projects where they can make the most effective contribution. Some groups have written down criteria for accepting projects that include the ability of the research group to work with them effectively and the opportunity to transfer skills to the researchers. Also, they sometimes listen more when they hear it from outside so getting talks (or a couple of slides in a talk) about what RSE is into big domain conferences can be good.
      • +
    +
    • +
+ +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ 14:40 (CET) + + + Keynote: + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + RSE: supporting software or supporting equality? + (Richard Darst) + + +
+

Research Software Engineering: it's obviously about software, right? +It could be, but I believe we can adopt a broader viewpoint. We have +all heard countless times about the systematic factors affecting +inequality in science, but how much does access to computing, or +computing training, contribute to this? In this talk, I will first +outline some factors contributing to inequality of computing which I +have noticed after years of supporting researchers. I will relate +this to the services which can be provided by RSEs, and present a +vision for addressing this by developing our own skills and promoting +RSE services to our institutions.

+

Slides

+
+

Questions and comments

+
    +
  • +

    Perhaps getting sympathy from more traditional professionals in academia might not be easy because the RSE career path is not nearly (yet?) as "hard-coded" as that for, say, a professor.

    +
      +
    • I agree with this. As an RSE, will I just need to leave academia sooner or later as all other "non professors" or do I just become the old IT staff member? insert steve buscemi meme "hello fellow kids"
      • +
    • [name=a] A lot of people do leave, like me, but I don't think that's necessarily a problem. There needs to be people industry to work with RSEs and a goal I'd like to see is a good industry/RSE collaboration with RSEs being the people speaking the common language in partnerships. Quick plug for my talk on Wednesday containing some information on both sides of industry partnerships!
      • +
    +
    • +
  • +

    Apprenticeship can also happen by reading how others work (read their code, watch their code review, watch the tools they use)

    +
      +
    • [name=speaker] yes! I've learned plenty by reading the right blogs, for example.
      • +
    +
    • +
  • +

    Suggestion: using equality of opportunity for competent knowledge/skill rather than simply saying equality. e.g. we want to achieve equality of opportunity for everyone to be able to acquire knowledge rather than equalizing everyone's knowledge in a certain field.

    +
      +
    • [name=speaker] Yes, that's correct. We can't make the same outcome, but hopefully people have the same opportunity, without implicit prerequisites that some people don't have.
      • +
    +
    • +
  • +

    What is your take on implications of cultural differences on the topic of "supporting equality of opportunity". for example, many of your ideas seem to be easier to apply in a collectivist society as opposed to an individualist society which probably most of the Nordic could be categorized as.

    +
      +
    • [name=speaker] This is not my speciality, but I think most of the points I make come about because we are very individualist and assume that everyone can make their own way. That breaks down when not everyone has the network to do that. Perhaps you could even say, those who think they succeed as individualists often happen to have these implicit networks that make that possible, yet doesn't get recognized.
      • +
    +
    • +
  • +

    So true! I learned so much when sitting down with a RSE or with a software engineer in their offices. We had really good sessions. The software engineer did not have a background in physics, I did not have a background in computer science. But I think we made a pretty good team learning from each other. No chance to do this in the open space where I had my office.

    +
      +
    • Indeed. Learned so much by somebody telling/showing me: "hey look at this cool thing I found out"
      • +
    +
    • +
  • +

    Re computer skills, I also notice some researchers seem shy to share the code they wrote because they think it's "sloppy". I always try to remind them that programming is a secondary skill to them (as it was for many RSEs)!

    +
      +
    • Important to consider code a 'group ownership', to try and take the personal pain out of showing code. Code reviews are great to learn this kind of separation of person from code. You critique the code not the author!
      • +
    +
    • +
  • +

    Suggestion for a substitude to the "academic vs vocational skills": actionable vs non-actionable skills. The latter creates less stereotypical or stigmatic bias against the academia or likewise against the industry/practice. moreover, actionable and none-actionable skills could occur on both sides, it's just that academia is more prune to it since there is more room for theoretical material.

    +
      +
    • [name=speaker] Thanks, nice idea. We'll have to make sure that they terms are also clear, without other elaboration, but this is a good start.
      • +
    +
    • +
  • +

    I do wonder if we should call ourself "engineers" if we don't really have the solid technical skils I associate with an Engineer.

    +
      +
    • At Lund University physicists etc are just hired as "research engineers" because they are not hired as scientists, postdocs, professors, but they have a permanent position. Here engineer seems to be just job description.
      • +
    +
    • +
  • +

    I like the idea of making services fairly available for making/contributing to equality. On the other hand, I have seen some cases that distributing time and efforts of RSEs to one project/researcher could be really time consuming and at some point, researchers/research projects need to buy-out such a service by RSEs. Then the "rich gets richer" happens again. How to tackle this type of problems?

    +
      +
    • [name=speaker] We can't solve everything, so there is a tiered system: some basic resources for everyone, long-term is paid. It's up to us to convince our funders to make the best balance.
      • +
    +
    • +
  • +

    What about publishing code, papers and credits? Should a RSE be included as an author in papers wher he(r) contributions are crucial for the result?

    +
      +
    • Only if it makes a difference to the RSE. Hopefully he has no pressure to publish. Maybe the RSE team/program should be attributed.
      • +
    • I strongly think that if code is fundamental to the results, i.e. if you're modelling some physical process, the author should be credited. After all, that person is contributing to the quality of the results.
      • +
    • I argue he/she should be included!
      • +
    • [name=speaker] When you realize there can be separate software authorship from paper authorship, there is more flexibility to do the right thing in each case. Is the RSE doing creative work about the science or the software? Is the software the science? +
        +
      • [name=w] This is a good point, maybe the CFF initiative can help with that.
        • +
      +
      • +
    +
    • +
  • +

    I think some universities are still in the awkward situation that they do not acknowledge the importance of RSE. Would be good to find ways to highlight such importance with the help of the RSE network.

    +
      +
    • There are various sources of material about this online, and was proposed to be a topic of this event or the conference next year. Hopefully someone can link it here
      • +
    • [name=a] The UK-RSE community have been and are still struggling with this but it's improving a lot over time. Pointing Nordic Universities at the UK and demonstrating what has been happening there demonstrates what RSEs can bring, why they are required, and the path to follow.
      • +
    +
    • +
  • +

    I saw a brief note about gender balance. Like to point out that it is nice when everyone feel welcome and equally participating, not only male and female but also non-binary.

    +
      +
    • thank you for pointing this out. Indeed we need to improve this to create a welcoming environment for everybody.
      • +
    +
    • +
+ +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ 15:10 (CET) + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + About the get-together and future of Nordic-RSE + (Samantha Wittke) + + +
+
    +
  • History of Nordic RSE
    • +
  • Why it makes sense
    • +
  • Connect with Nordic-RSEs
    • +
  • Future of Nordic-RSE
    • +
  • The Nordic-RSE conference 2021
    • +
  • Meetup organizers
    • +
  • Agenda highlights
    • +
+

Slides

+
+

Questions and comments

+
    +
  • Why zulip? :D why not Slack! +
      +
    • threaded discussions (every topic is a thread). good for asynchronous work and remote work. (https://zulip.com/help/about-streams-and-topics and https://zulip.com/why-zulip/)
      • +
    • Plus, it's Open Source :smile: +
        +
      • :+1:
        • +
      • can be self-hosted
        • +
      +
      • +
    • Also, messages are stored for longer (at least with a non-paid plan). +
        +
      • unsure about this but as open source or non-profit projects one can apply for a free premium plan (keeping entire history) which worked for us for a couple of chat instances +
          +
        • Slack only stores 10k messages, while there seems to be no limit in Zulip. From personal experience (for whatever that is worth), messages disappear much quicker in Slack than in Zulip (the Slack channels I'm in are also way less active than the Zulip channels).
          • +
        +
        • +
      +
      • +
    +
    • +
+

Fair enough, after reading the responses and digging a bit more into the Zulip it seems there are number of essential features that makes the app more efficient to use compared to Slack. Still, there's a resistence and that's the fact that already most of the work is done on Slack and many people already are using it, it is not convenient to have some other apps as satellites around your main messaging app. Moreover, I thought for a community such as Nordic-RSE that is trying to attract more members and activity would probably makes more sense to use a more common messaging app, nevertheless, thanks for the responses and introducing Zulip with us all, I'll give it a shot ;)

+
    +
  • good point about yet another tool/app.
    • +
  • little downside: on mobile phone it was less good/responsive than Slack few years ago when I tried last time. I am using it on computer browser always.
    • +
  • Wonder how many here already use Slack compared to Zulip +
      +
    • Don't forget MS Teams, which is the "official" one here at UiO! Just don't get me started on how much it lags behind Slack...
      • +
    • These days most know and use Slack and very few know and use Zulip. So it is still niche but I think this tool was a good choice for the CodeRefinery project.
      • +
    +
    • +
  • How is Zulip integration with other apps (specifically Dropbox, Google Cloud and Todoist) when compared to Slack? +
      +
    • Here is an overview https://zulip.com/integrations/ but I have only tried GitHub integration so far +
        +
      • Thanks for the link. I see there's no Todoist yet. The others I mentioned are there, but that doesn't say much about how well that works.
        • +
      +
      • +
    +
    • +
+

+For the reference and comparison of other options from g2.com

+
    +
  • What are you expecting from this meeting? +
      +
    • See what others are doing around Nordics, what cool tools they are using and what types of problems they are solving.
      • +
    • Would be interesting to see what career paths exists in other groups / universities.
      • +
    +
    • +
+ +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ 15:30 (CET) + + Close +
+ +

Tuesday, December 1st

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ 9:00 (CET) + + Welcome and Introduction to day’s schedule +
+ 9:05 (CET) + + Lightning talks: Introducing groups + + (Chairing this session: Naoe Tatara) + + +
    + + + +
  • + EuroCC National Competence Center Sweden + + (5 min) + + (Thor Wikfeldt) + + +
    +

    The EuroCC National Competence Center Sweden (ENCCS) +was established +on 1 September 2020 with funding from the Swedish Research Council +(https://www.vr.se/english.html), Vinnova (https://www.vinnova.se/) +and the EuroHPC Joined Undertaking +(https://eurohpc-ju.europa.eu/). ENCCS is one of the 33 national HPC +Competence centers across Europe.

    +

    The mission of ENCCS is to develop competence, knowledge and support +in Sweden to enable academic and industrial researchers and high +performance computing (HPC) users to take advantage of both +forthcoming (pre-)exascale EuroHPC resources as well as modern +artificial intelligence and high-performance data analytics (AI/HPDA) +methodologies.

    +

    ENCCS has research software engineers from different backgrounds who +are both training researchers through workshops and hackathons and +supporting selected research software to run on (pre-)exascale +systems. We also work with industry through the Research Institutes +Sweden (RISE) and offer support in writing +EuroHPC-JU systems access proposals.

    +

    To keep up to date on ENCCS activities or get information +about upcoming training events, visit our web +page, sign up for the ENCCS +newsletter and follow us on +Twitter or on +LinkedIn.

    + +
    + +
    • + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
  • + Aalto RSE + + (5 min) + + (Jarno Rantaharju) + + +
    +

    Introducing the Aalto RSE group and program.

    +
      +
    • Exists inside Aalto Scientific Computing
      • +
    • Supported by deparments, basic service
      • +
    • Expected to grow with longer term projects
      • +
    +

    Slides: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wf2ZFLGbwnCGzRwB07cquKauDvjv2WIu/view?usp=sharing

    + +
    + +
    • + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
  • + Future EOSC data analysis services + + (10 min) + + (Zdenek Matej, Jason Brudvik, Andrii Salnikov) + + +
    +

    Nordic countries are hosting several large scale scientific experimental facilities, including Photon and Neutron (PaN) reserach infrastructures, in particular MAX IV synchrotron laboratory and European Spallation Source (ESS), both situated in Lund. With the excellent particle accelerator source brightness and fast detectors enormous volumes of scientific data are produced. Almost a thousand of scientists annually are using these research infrastructures to conduct scientific experiments in relation to biology, chemistry, physics, material science and also geology or cultural heritage. In late 2018 several European PaN research infrastructures, including ESS, started a project called PaNOSC [1] and they were complemented a year later with the ExPaNDS [2] project at national PaN facilities, including MAX IV, within the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) initiative. Both projects aim for expanding practices of scientific data management and analysis towards Open Science and FAIR data principles. Strategy, several scientific application cases, which should prototype the EOSC services for PaN users communities, and tools chosen can be briefly introduced giving an essence what can be the future scientific data service for the relevant communities.

    +
      +
    1. PaNOSC: Photon and Neutron Open Science Cloud, https://www.panosc.eu (Nov 9, 2020).
      2. +
    2. ExPaNDS: EOSC Photon and Neutron Data Services, https://expands.eu (Nov 9, 2020).
      3. +
    + +
    + +
    • + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
  • + The CodeRefinery project + + (5 min) + + (Radovan Bast) + + +
    +

    In this short presentation I will discuss how we grew the CodeRefinery project +over the past 4 years and taught hundreds of students and researchers across +all disciplines in best practices in reproducible research software +engineering.

    +

    I will highlight how we transitioned from in-person workshops to online +training and the team effort which made it possible to scale the workshops to +almost 100 participants per event.

    +

    Slides: https://bit.ly/coderefinery-nordic-rse-2020

    + +
    + +
    • + + + + + +
  • + MXAimbot - AI-based sample centering for macromolecular crystallography + + (5 min) + + (Isak Lindhé) + + +
    +

    What is this?

    +

    MXAimbot is a neural network based tool currently in development, designed to +relieve researchers of the task of manually and individually centering their +samples in synchrotron beamlines for macromolecular crystallography.

    +

    How does it do that?

    +

    It is a pretty simple CNN trained on a few thousand images from a camera +pointed at the loop which holds the samples. These images are annotated with +coordinates, height, and width.

    +

    Why?

    +

    Because the other two alternatives are

    +
      +
    1. Manual centering by humans, which is boring and tedious and consumes researchers valuable time.
      2. +
    2. X-ray centering, which can cause radiation-damage the crystal.
      3. +
    + +
    + +
    • + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
  • + RSE work done at the Oslo Centre for Biostatistics and Epidemiology + + (5 min) + + (Waldir Leoncio Netto) + + +
    +

    Abstract

    +

    The Oslo Centre for Biostatistics and Epidemiology (OCBE) is a scientific center integrating the activities of the Department of Biostatistics, University of Oslo, and the Section of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, Oslo University Hospital. Our 70+ scientists work together to provide research, teaching, and advising to the scientific community.

    +

    In this lightning talk, I share a bit of my experience as the first (and currently only) hired RSE professional.

    +

    Some links for the curious

    + + +
    + +
    • + + + + + + + + + + + +
+
+ 10:00 (CET) + + Morning break/ free-form conversation +
+ 10:30 (CET) + + Talks + + (Chairing this session: Emiliano Molinaro) + + +
    + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
  • + PRACE Best Practice Guide - Modern-Processors + + (10 min) + + (Ole Saastad) + + +
    +

    The just released PRACE - Best Practice Guide for Modern processors (ARM +Kunpeng & THX2, Intel Skylake and AMD Rome) is just released. A short +introduction to the guide will be given. Topics cover architecture, programming +environment, tuning, performance libraries, performance and introduction to +European systems using these processors. A couple of hands on examples and +tricks to some of the tools in an optimal way will also be presented.

    + +
    + +
    • + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
  • + My first R package + + (15 min) + + (Tobias Busch) + + +
    +

    Writing an R package has helped me leave my comfort zone and level up my R +programming skills. The code I write as a researcher is mostly single-user and +single-use. Writing and publishing code meant for others has helped me break +old habits and acquire useful new software engineering skills. R has a +streamlined ecosystem for package development that supports understanding and +adhering to best practices. I will talk about the things I have learned while +writing my first R package, why I think writing a package should be a rite of +passage for any aspiring research software engineer, and why R is a great tool +for this.

    + + +
    + +
    • + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+
+ 11:00 (CET) + + Discussions based on the talks (participants can move between breakout rooms) +
+ 11:30 (CET) + + Lunch break/ free-form conversation +
+ 12:30 (CET) + + Discussion sessions/workshops/events + + +
    + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
  • + Computational reproducibility and the FAIR principles + + (Wolmar Åkerström) + + +
    +

    We would like to have a discussion on computational reproducibility and the +FAIR principles in relation to RSE. In particular we would hope flesh out some +stories on challenges/solutions related to computational reproducibility – e.g +experiences from trying to rerun an analysis on a new system or +training/supporting others in reproducible practices. Ultimately being able to +draft some tips/tricks or a checklist of things to consider to address common +pain-points.

    +

    Some work on surveying the field is being done in the Research Data +Alliance (RDA), FORCE 11 and ReSA etc. but it would probably be an +interesting discussion to have with a Nordic RSE perspective.

    +

    A result of this discussion could be published as a blog post.

    + +
    + +
    • + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
  • + Testing Software: From Unit Testing to Model-based Testing + + (Cyrille Artho) + + +
    +

    Unit tests are fixed sequences of function calls that set up the software to the right state and test the outcome of one or a couple of functions. Unit testing has the advantage that if the functionality of the test is relatively clear, at the expense of generality. It is not feasible to create a diverse set of test cases by unit testing alone; we need higher levels of abstraction. +Model-based testing allows a developer to create a higher-level model of software, which models the functionality of an entire software module. A good test model is capable of generating diverse test cases with different API calls and parameters, while still having a relatively precise test oracle. +We will first present model-based testing and our experience with testing Apache ZooKeeper, where we found an unknown, complex defect. After that, we will give a tutorial where participants can create and modify models of Java collections.

    +

    Links: +Modbat github page +Modbat tutorial page

    + +
    + +
    • + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
  • + What do you expect from Nordic RSE? + + (Jarno Rantaharju) + + +
    +

    The Nordic RSE group is new. This is a great time to take part in the +active development of the organization by making sure your voice is heard. +We need your help in deciding what is important for the organization to do +and what kind of an organization we should aim for.

    +

    For inspiration, you can check out the websites of other RSE associations:

    + +

    The purpose of this discussion is to solicit input from prospective members +of the Nordic RSE group.

    +

    a) What kind of activities they think would be useful?

    +
      +
    • Advocating for X (value of good software, ...)
      • +
    • Networking opportunities, workshops
      • +
    • Exchanging skills
      • +
    • Formalizing the profession (create career structure)
      • +
    +

    b) How the group should be organized?

    +
      +
    • Registered association
      • +
    • Professional organization
      • +
    • Something else
      • +
    +

    Questions / discussion prods:

    +
      +
    • Do you consider yourself an RSE? Who is an RSE?
      • +
    • Would you join the Nordic RSE organization? Are you a member?
      • +
    • Why would you join as a member?
      • +
    • If you have joined other professional associations, what have they done for you?
      • +
    +

    Questions and comments

    +

    Ice breaker:

    +
      +
    • Are you an RSE? +
        +
      • RSE interested, with a plan of becoming one, some day, maybe
        • +
      • yes, leading a rse group
        • +
      • yes, working directly with reseachers (no RSE group, temporary employment, also just learned about the term)
        • +
      • yes, though only learned the term recently. In a bioinformatics group doing infrastructure projects
        • +
      +
      • +
    • What is an RSE? +
        +
      • research software engineer (duh)
        • +
      • supporting researcher through code/software development (but can be part of a researcher job)
        • +
      • A software engineer in the area of research (akin to a software engineer in the area of finance). Also to say that domain knowledge is important. Probably more focused on software as infrastructure.
        • +
      +
      • +
    • What an RSE is not? +
        +
      • Sysadmin/IT support (although there's typically a lot of IT support involved...?)
        • +
      • Can someone make a carreer as an RSE? or is it where you end up when everything else fails? +
          +
        • Hopefully it is a career path. There are (supposedly) RSE positions and openings, but in my experience they are hard to find. It is definitely not where you end up when everything else fails! It is an alternative path to regular academic research (and to software development in industry). It is typically suited for people who want to focus more on the hands-on problem solving rather than "selling" research and applying for grants, also with a more long-term focus on software usage and sustainability (which is hard to focus on when under academic pressure).
          • +
        +
        • +
      • For a lot of people the name "Research software engineer" is confusing and they only put emphasis on the word "research", thereby expecting the RSE do be some kind of (lower grade) researcher but with a more technical background than a "true academic researcher", and that bothers me (because in academia researchers are not supposed to be evaluated based on the number of scientific papers they produce). Maybe removing entirely the term "research" and replacing it by something like "Domain specific" or whatever else would make it easier for people to understand and better define their role? Add something to link it to science and perhaps to computing infrastructures (that could change the acronym from RSE to something like "Domain Specific Scientific Software and Computing Infrastructure Engineer" = DSSSCIE or DoSSSCIE or DoS3IE instead?)
        • +
      +
      • +
    +

    a) What kind of activities they think would be useful?

    +

    examples from abstract: Advocating for X (value of good software, ...) +Networking opportunities, workshops +Exchanging skills +Formalizing the profession (create career structure)

    +

    ideas that came up during discussion:

    +
      +
    • build an identity on what is RSE, local communities: communication with others, sharing ideas
      • +
    • be more specific about what an RSE is and also what it is not (not a researcher, not a technician, not a handyman, etc.) +-> making it possible for people to label themselves as RSE
      • +
    • Sweden: Reasearch Engineer exists and gets confused with RSE
      • +
    • it should be pushed to make it possible to hire RSE +-> Nordic RSE should push to make it an official title
      • +
    • this has to happen also within universities
      • +
    • but RSE is not yet a field that professors could chose to hire and thats where Nordic RSE could start (big push from a lot of people) +-> association with members could do that
      • +
    • if Nordic-RSE grows to registered 500 members in the Nordics that call themselves RSE there would be more weight behind what we do. One could write letters and influence
      • +
    • Nordic RSE as place for feedback (eg for Norwegian Reasearch Council)
      • +
    • building understanding (people should know the idea) and not fully focus on formal job title (since this may take long). Make groups and PIs aware that a person with a RSE role could solve many common problems faced in research
      • +
    • defining the RSE: how much research? how much software? how much engineer? ->check what UK has done, one definition on nordic RSE website https://nordic-rse.org/#what-is-a-research-software-engineer
      • +
    • knowledge sharing in meetups etc
      • +
    • permanence: RSE often first position to get cut, importance of position has to be highlighted
      • +
    • service / research
      • +
    • jobboard: help finding RSE jobs (that are not mentioning RSE specifically), currently done on coderefinery chat -> better to have on webpage
      • +
    • acknowledgement for RSE work, writing documentation could be as important as writing a paper, attempts happening in international RSE +
        +
      • As a new RSE, I want to ask if acknowledgements is a metric that is typically tracked and used throughout an RSE career? How important is it (apart from being fair in acknowledging work done)?
        • +
      +
      • +
    • Hackathon type of event to get advice on publishing code and related topics
      • +
    • joining forces to organize (online) workshops similar to coderefinery (so that community can link to it) -> setting up a list of these on nordic RSE website that we can recommend
      • +
    • use nordic-rse.org to build up list of recommended training material and resources.
      • +
    • networking: https://coderefinery.zulipchat.com/
      • +
    +

    b) How the group should be organized?

    +

    ideas from discussion: +Should we have official association?

    +
      +
    • necessary to receive money +
        +
      • for eg workshops (continuation of Coderefinery, software carpentry)
        • +
      +
      • +
    • could also be done via some university
      • +
    • will probably need to be done at some point
      • +
    +

    How could NordicRSE association be useful for us:

    +
      +
    • how to attract also researchers doing RSE in addition to RSEs +-> highlight that we also want researchers doing RSE work to join NordicRSE
      • +
    • acknowledgement also for their RSE work (even if they do not identify as RSE (yet)) +-> continue to teach how code can be made citable +-> how else to help with this? +-> public guidelines on how to cite research software -> community shows how the ideal should be +-> list journals which take software publications on Nordic RSE website (similar to UK RSE)
      • +
    • advocate for that software should be cited
      • +
    • create career-path or make more public that there is one; if there is no path, people are maybe not interested
      • +
    • adding open source research software as merits for universities (making it more likely they will spend money on hiring RSEs)
      • +
    + +
    + +
    • + + + + + + + +
+
+ 13:30 (CET) + + Afternoon break/ free-form conversation +
+ 14:00 (CET) + + Discussion sessions/workshops/events + + +
    + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
  • + Helping build a developer community though good software practice + + (Mark Abraham) + + +
    +

    GROMACS is a free, open-source molecular dynamics community code mainly +designed for simulations of proteins, lipids, and nucleic acids. It is one of +the fastest and most popular scientific software packages available, and can +run on central processing units (CPUs) and graphics processing units (GPUs). In +this session, Mark Abraham (former development manager of GROMACS) will +illustrate software development practices that helped build the GROMACS +developer community. Mark will be happy to take any questions you might have, +e.g. on how to apply similar ideas to the software projects you are working on.

    +

    Questions and comments

    +
      +
    • You moved from specific tools (gerrit, bugzilla) to gitlab. Do you think the integrated solution is better then specific tools? +
        +
      • Specialized tools can lack integration with each other, integrated tools work as a whole
        • +
      +
      • +
    • How often do you need to deal with support requests from your community that are related to somehow having GROMACS installed or compiled incorrectly (and is there stuff you do to avoid problems like that from happening)? +
        +
      • can avoid some support questions on installation through continuous integration
        • +
      +
      • +
    • Regarding unit tests: How do you find the sweet spot between creating too few unit tests and trying to come up with every single input combination so all bases are covered and your software is fool-proof? +
        +
      • No perfect solution, need to choose a balance. Physics constraints provide useful general tests.
        • +
      +
      • +
    • did you do specific outreach activities to reach new contributors +
        +
      • pre-covid there were some developer workshops by external people. Some have later joined the dev community
        • +
      +
      • +
    + +
    + +
    • + + + + + + + + + +
  • + Intro to the HTCondor Python API on a laptop cluster + + (Matthew West) + + +
    +

    Abstract

    +

    The philosophy of HTCondor is to allow researchers to easily automate and scale their workflows for greater overall throughput with minimal changes to the analysis code itself. The objective is to run jobs as efficiently as possible wherever there are available resources. CHTC's HTCondor software suite provides not just the batch system but a toolset that includes workflow pipeline automation, performance evaluation, and containerized environments. This demo will cover:

    +
      +
    • Running a cluster within a Docker container on Windows
      • +
    • Using the Python API to construct and submit a multi-layer workflow
      • +
    • Parsing log-files for performance information
      • +
    +

    Prior knowledge

    +
      +
    • Some experience with a cluster batch scheduling system
      • +
    • Familiarity with the Python programming language
      • +
    +

    References

    +
      +
    • Github repo for scripts
      • +
    • DockerHub link for HTCondor-Scipy container
      • +
    • HTCondor Python API documentation page
      • +
    + +
    + +
    • + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
  • + What academic RSEs could learn from startups? + + (Dmitrii Borisevich) + + +
    +

    Dear all,

    +

    Below you will find a proposal for the discussion "What academic RSE could learn from startups?" on the 1st of December, 14:00. +If you feel that you share this frustration about research software, and you would like to join the discussion session, feel free to comment on the proposal, and let us all know in advance what your experience is.

    +

    The academic world strives to perform the best research possible. The research that was done thirty years ago created a foundation for modern-day computational methods in many areas. But today many academic areas suffer a reproducibility crisis. Letters and papers are regularly published in high-impact journals about reproducibility crisis,... and nothing changes. Poor scientific software is considered one of the major causes of the crisis.

    +

    From a startup perspective, academic environments often look outdated and generally wrong. CI/CD, shared codebase, code review, Agile, and orientation to the product are seen as necessary to just survive in the startup world. At the same time, these concepts are completely unheard of or even opposed in most of the non-CS academic places. Why is it so and what can we do about it? Do we really want reproducible research, or do we only want to grumble about it?

    +

    The discussion will:

    +

    Start with discussing the experiences of the participants, +Analyze a trade-off between the benefits and the costs of reproducibility, and how it affects research, +Compare the benefits of teamwork with the academic "single researcher" mentality, and check how it affects RSE's outcome, +Discuss infrastructure and management problems, +Summarize potential solutions. +We look to meet everyone, who feels they have the same problem in their area of research.

    +

    Questions and comments

    +

    Stats: 1/2 are "senior" staff, 1/4 are PhD fellows, 1/4 are others

    +
    Problems:
    +
      +
    • Individual publication pressure +
        +
      • Publications are KPI
        • +
      • "Software won't give you a PhD"
        • +
      • Individual work is expected
        • +
      • This leads to people using their limited time towards personal research rather than developing tools and collaborating
        • +
      • "Cultural inertia" among peers and leadership doesn't help
        • +
      +
      • +
    • No clear future career and role model +
        +
      • No good role models, no understanding of how to transition from MSc/PhD to an "RSE"
        • +
      • No clear expectations how much freedom to do research an RSE should have - is RSE a researcher or employee?
        • +
      +
      • +
    • No resources and training +
        +
      • There is not enough knowledge resources and training
        • +
      • And different backgrounds need different training
        • +
      +
      • +
    +
    Solutions needed:
    +
      +
    • Promotion of team work (both RSE + "scientists" for more papers and RSE + RSE for day-to-day working and learning) +
        +
      • "In industry you may go to other people who would complement your skills"
        • +
      +
      • +
    • Adoption and enforcement of industry's technical solutions for co-developing (VCS, etc.) to enable the co-developing itself +
        +
      • Technical debt is addressed in product startups because the quality of thier product matters - doesn't quality of research matter too?
        • +
      +
      • +
    • Allocation of time for teaching and knowledge transfer +
        +
      • Remember "bus factor" - how many RSEs need to leave the group for its research to fall apart?
        • +
      +
      • +
    +

    But no one makes these solutions!

    +
    Actionable steps - what we could do as the RSE society?
    +
      +
    • Public advocacy campaing towards funders - they should fund RSE projects and put pressure on leadership!
      • +
    • Advocacy campaing towards leadership - they will benefit the most because good RSE practices are beneficial in a long run, over 2-4 years
      • +
    • More educational materials within the community
      • +
    + +
    + +
    • + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+
+ 15:00 (CET) + + Close +
+ +

Wednesday, December 2nd

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ 9:00 (CET) + + Welcome and Introduction to day’s schedule +
+ 9:05 (CET) + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + Panel discussion: RSE careers and their position in academia + (moderated by Samantha Wittke) + + +
+

Panelists:

+
    +
  • Gudrun Lotze
    • +
  • Patric Holmvall
    • +
  • Keijo Heljako
    • +
  • Ella Bingham
    • +
  • Konstantin Stadler
    • +
  • Peter Schmidt
    • +
  • Jeremy Cohen
    • +
+

Topics:

+
    +
  • What is your story?
    • +
  • RSE careers
    • +
  • RSE and academia
    • +
  • ...
    • +
+
+

Questions and comments

+
    +
  • +

    Comment: In Sweden within the UPPMAX hpc facility (I dont know how it is handled at other centers within the SNIC org) and NBIS organisations Application experts and RSE (devlopers) are now mainly hired fulltime and not temporary while there are still people hired with shorter contracts as exception. It has been recognized that its very hard to retain talent if you only hire shortterm/temporary contracts.

    +
    • +
  • +

    Comment: really liked the point about having and getting time for "pet project". not only to have something to show later on CV but also to stay current and motivated and to learn "for free".+5

    +
      +
    • I started one early this year and told my boss about it a few months later. He enjoyed the initiative, then told me a heartwarming story about investing in projects that just might become a big thing one day. Plus, I also think that this sort of initiative can bring in ideas for an RSE to apply for funding, which is always welcome. +
        +
      • yes! a number of established projects started as side projects and these can often open up funding opportunities and cross-discipline collaborations.
        • +
      +
      • +
    • There is a good model at my work: 70+20+10. spend 70% on regular work, 20% learning something new that will make your work better, 10% learning something new that is good for you but does not have to be directly work/project related.+1
      • +
    +
    • +
  • +

    Comment: perhaps another way to make scientific software as "important" as research papers is to always try to publish it in a popular repository (CRAN, PyPI, etc.). Not sure how applicable that would be for software that are not R or Python packages, though.

    +
      +
    • yes, also connecting to yesterday's talk. this can really help using standard practices. publishing packages always felt/sounded difficult/scary until I tried it.
      • +
    +
    • +
  • +

    Comment : Excellent point Patric about the standards to which we need to hold resarch software to be able to keep it at the same level as experimental setups and methodologies +3

    +
      +
    • May we get more details about such standards so we can register them on this document? +
        +
      • Recognizing methodology development: I'm thinking for example of my colleagues building or working on experimental setups and detectors (e.g. at CERN, GSI and other institutes). They spend the majority of their PhD/Postdoc building setups and developing methodology, similar to how others might spend a lot of their time developing and building software. They have several journals where they can publish their work and get recognized for their contribution, which they base their PhD thesis/project upon. There are of course many journals where software and research software can be published, but at least in my experience, I could not build my PhD thesis or project on this work, since there is a complete focus on the research. The attitude is generally that code is just methodology, "it should just work" and it is not important how it works. I think that this viewpoint is wrong. If you do significant contributions, maybe even breakthroughs, this should be recognized and valued.
        • +
      • Testing: Nobody would trust experimental equipment that has not been calibrated or tested. Building an experimental setup, it is therefore assumed that you will have to spend time on calibrating and testing. Sadly, the same cannot in general be said about research codes (again, this is in my experience, but I've heard others commenting the same in this conference). As an example, I took over a large code that was lacking testing and proper documentation. As I started adding unit tests, regression/physics tests, the senior PI was starting to get impatient because they wanted to see research. Even though several important bugs had been discovered that put the validity of results in jeopardy, I was told "enough tests already". An issue is that PIs might be more focused on research and know very little about writing sustainable codes; they just want them to work. I have a hard time believing that the same would happen in the building of an experimental setup (sure, there are horror stories from experiments, but this is far from the norm).
        • +
      • Reproducibility: Reproducibility is another issue. It is often completely acceptable to neglect mentioning implementation/code etc in methods sections, as long as you describe e.g. the physics theory you are using. Even if the code is mentioned, it is rarely made open access, and when it is made open access, it is often hard to use it to reproduce the results. This goes against the core tenet that research should be reproducible. There needs to be more acceptance for the time it takes to make a code re-usable. Of course, everyone cannot re-build a detector for the Large Hadron Collider at home, but at least a great deal of time and effort in spent in describing how said detector works and can be built. +1
        • +
      • TL;DR: So these are some of the main points (recognition of code/methodology development, testing, reproducibility) when I make the comparison between experiments and "numerical experiments", and when I say that they should be held to the same standards. If we make this analogy, it might be easier to promote RSE-related work as not just important but crucial, and to have a greater acceptance of time spent doing these tasks for e.g. PhDs and postdocs.+1
        • +
      +
        +
      • Excellent point to compare software development with experimental method development. How can something lead to good data if bugs are in the code and nobody verifies them? Reproducibility is also the key to prevent wrong conclusions. I like to mention PyFAI. It is an anlysis tool, it is published on github, and is developed by a core team, but users, scientist can contribute to its development. It was published also in traditional publications.
        • +
      +
      • +
    +
    • +
  • +

    Comment: great point about mentoring groups and connecting to others. +1

    +
    • +
+ +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ 10:00 (CET) + + Morning break/ free-form conversation +
+ 10:30 (CET) + + Talks + + (Chairing this session: Naoe Tatara) + + +
    + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
  • + R <-> Python transpiler + + (15 min) + + (Dmitrii Borisevich) + + +
    +

    Python and R are two major programming languages used for research software development and data analysis in bioinformatics. It is not a symbiotic relationship, but a cold war between the fans of both.

    +

    Different tools are available to use R in python and vice versa, but they demand learning both languages. This is not easy, and thus rarely adopted.

    +

    This talk will pitch an idea of using AST to build a transpiler between two languages and showcase a simple demo of converting code written in one language directly into another.

    +

    The talk will present:

    +
      +
    • the R vs python problem and its consequences in bioinformatics,
      • +
    • the idea of a transpiler,
      • +
    • some examples of existing transpilers,
      • +
    • a demo of R <-> python PoC transpiler.
      • +
    +
    +

    Questions and comments

    + + +
    + +
    • + + + + + +
  • + Ericsson Research and Distributed Applications in the Cloud + + (15 min) + + (Andrew Williams) + + +
    +

    Ericsson has a long history in the telecommunications industry dating back more +than a hundred years, but with traditional network infrastructure becoming +increasingly virtualized and software defined, and the rise of the cloud, both +the way we work and the skills we require is rapidly changing. This change is +being rapidly driven by the need to collaboratively develop code that can be +meaningfully shared with stakeholders.

    +

    This talk illustrates the inspiration that Ericsson Research Cloud Systems and +Platforms (CSP) is taking from the Research Software Engineering community and +provides an introduction to one concept for a distributed application runtime +that we are working on.

    +

    Slides: https://github.com/nordic-rse/meetups/blob/main/2020/ericsson-distributed.pdf

    +
    +

    Questions and comments

    +
      +
    • There are already long-standing software stacks to do distributing computing. How are you interacting with these existing projects? I do hate to continual pound this drum but HTCondor written by the folks in Wisconsin have been doing this sort of platform agnostic distributed computing for a long time now.
      • +
    • Any plans for running on HPC and how that would work? +
        +
      • A: Currently looking for stakeholders write now for research projects. Under discussion and debating whether the software should be open sourced.
        • +
      +
      • +
    • In the era of GDPR and sensitive data how are you seeing the ocean of computing working with localisation requirements that these regulations impose? +
        +
      • A: Not working with the infrastructure but specifying locations where stuff should run.
        • +
      +
      • +
    • Comment: We have quite currious application at particle accelerators: the guys making "particle re-energiteze" devices for the particle accelerator started using networks/clouds of smart-devices. So instead of well-defined dedicated networks the control system is running over wifi.
      • +
    • Where does Ericsson see potential benefits in building links with the RSE community? Would this, for example, ultimately be as a route to build users of specific codes, would it be as a route to get/share technical expertise and input from the RSE community, etc? Are there other drivers? +
        +
      • This has to be a two-way partnership, giving back. Trying to get people to better communicate both internally as well as across stake-holder groups. The Met-Office showed how training is important for getting researchers up to speed on making production code and the unique requirements this entails. An on-boarding program for getting new hires acclimatized to the standards of the projects is very important. All code should be group-code. Beware of personalized ownership.
        • +
      +
      • +
    • Code ownership is a particularly tricky point, both in Sweden and elsewhere. +
        +
      • This is a very interesting topic that is getting more attention recently. Who owns the intellectual property for e.g. the code developed to do research at a university? Universities have a policy that can seem quite aggressive in the way they claim ownership. It was discussed that teachers can fall under a special clause, but that researchers and students do not. I'm not sure if the latter is true, students (from bachelor up to and including postdocs) also have a special clause, and the tools they develop to "conduct their studies" (including thesis work and postdoc work) are their own. At least this seems to be the case at my university. For researchers and other staff, the situation looks different. Please comment if you have any experience or encountered a different policy.
        • +
      +
      • +
    • Patents & Papers as measures for success, but are these actually good measures for progress and in particular the value of collaborative work?
      • +
    + +
    + +
    • + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+
+ 11:00 (CET) + + Discussions based on the talks (participants can move between breakout rooms) +
+ 11:30 (CET) + + Lunch break/ free-form conversation +
+ 12:30 (CET) + + Discussion sessions/workshops/events + + +
    + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
  • + Is it possible to make code quality more important than the number of published papers in academia? + + (Sunniva Indrehus) + + +
    +

    The code quality in academia has a bad reputation. A global measure of the quality of a computational-oriented research group is typically based on the number of published papers and not a stable and well organized code. The latter is crucial for the further development of the scientific quality of the group. Is it possible to make code quality more important than the number of published papers in academia?

    +

    Interesting questions that are closely related to my title:

    +
      +
    • How to construct a sustainable workflow for groups working where someone has a user and someone a developer perspective? Where goes the line between what type of knowledge is expected from the users and the maintainers?
      • +
    • Who has the responsibility to teach the academic staff about best software practices? Is it the individual doing computational stuff he(r)self?
      • +
    • How can the studying programs at the universities speed up and keep track of the “standard” developments in the business? For instance: in 2020 everybody doing some kind of development should be aware of version control and testing.
      • +
    +

    Slides: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lnveZ3flvTixgIDv2kwKDIhL0saXFE1b/view?usp=sharing

    +
    +

    Questions and comments

    +

    Follow-up questions:

    +
      +
    • Does it make sense to move in this direction?
      • +
    • Better coding culture and education ?
      • +
    • Incentivisation ?
      • +
    +
      +
    • code quality vs code volume: Is it worth putting effort in going open source? -> ongoing debate in many places
      • +
    • github: a representation of the university towards the world, should be showcasing the good
      • +
    • we may not be experts but we should be using the tools provided (version control, testing) +-> "you wouldn't trust an uncalibrated thermometer"
      • +
    • pressure form funding agency to produce research results and not code, hard to try to find excuses to make good code an output
      • +
    • code should be a part of research proposal, otherwise there is 'not enough time'
      • +
    • often severity of the problem is not seen by professors
      • +
    • people get by by producing adequate code and get by and get funding, that does not motivate people to do testing etc
      • +
    • professors need to know and understand the problem (often they do not do any coding (anymore) and forget)
      • +
    • later additions to 'bad code' leads to problems which get noticed -> explanation to the 'higher level' how we could now save time with better code from the beginning
      • +
    • Lots of time pressure in research projects where improving and making code reproducible is not focussed on
      • +
    • no courses on how to write research code :( or not many
      • +
    • stuff like software engineering is often one of the first courses to be dropped when money runs out. Often because 'higher levels' do not know about the importance
      • +
    • new field: not much old stuff to build on top, no real need for sharing. But not anymore the case.
      • +
    • Catchin up takes time, no time to reproduce everything
      • +
    +

    How can we find the 'paper' of coding?

    +
      +
    • github stars
      • +
    • https://joss.theoj.org/ +https://openresearchsoftware.metajnl.com/ +https://www.journals.elsevier.com/softwarex, software wrapped in paper for traditional metrics, good start but does not solve the problem
      • +
    • one citable paper for many years of developing the software? -> need to be judged on different scale
      • +
    • Standard research outputs are not the only thing that research is measured by anymore, need to 'jump on the train'
      • +
    • continuous necessity for novelty, all metrics problematic, potential metrics: how many people are using your product? -> if many people use it, it is valuable to maintain and update software, supporting a large community
      • +
    • usage metrics as a way of demonstrating impact -> hard to make funding bodies recognize that
      • +
    • in ok it is now pushed to be recognized, slowly building up now, took several years to build evidence base of usage
      • +
    • UK’s Research Excellence Framework: https://www.ref.ac.uk/
      • +
    • importance of being able to read documentation, you need to know where to look and how to do (not everyone can do that)
      • +
    • what about promoting the importance of releasing often? It is a measure of continuous effort, something that writing one-off papers doesn't do, and even small, bug-fixing patches are important IMO. The flip side is it could encourage busy-work, but I still think it's worth it.
      • +
    • all metrics can break -> wide variety of metrics for value is important
      • +
    • some people work in a field where software is not used much by other people, but may be very useful for your colleagues -> citation supports more novelty than quality
      • +
    • no tasks anymore that can be solved by one person. As a researcher, pair up with an RSE to solve a problem, paper together. win-win. can also help your career.
      • +
    • people are rewarded for bad code by keeping their job through being the only person who can actually read and work with their code, no incentive to make code better -> better long term management needed
      • +
    • today no one is indispensible, dont hire people who think they are
      • +
    • make sure multiple people can 'keep the server running', collaborate
      • +
    • -> culture change needed
      • +
    • need for basic education (version control etc) of students, code review
      • +
    • but people do not like to find out / being pointed put as having written bad code, creates high barrier, but one one need to get over
      • +
    • when sharing code, poeple will get used to it, as its part of development
      • +
    • Coderefinery as a good place to send new phds students to learn version control and how collaborative coding works -> no merge without someone else reading the code first
      • +
    • it's all research, you never know which part will become part of your codebase, turns into something big -> hard to go back later, so its important to start early with reviewing, version control etc
      • +
    • So maybe we should have some sense of "continual review" like "continuous integration"
      • +
    • writing test framework takes time but is worth it in the long run
      • +
    • do what you want in your own code,but you will need to 'act like a software engineer' when working with others
      • +
    • compared to how long it takes to make things work, test implementation does not take too much time
      • +
    • courses such as coderefinery are not appealing to some people who think of themselves knowing git* enough for current use, 'bubble workers', so they never learn how it could be also with branches in own code
      • +
    • 'onboarding package' as in how we do things here is lacking in academia, not everywhere though: example: https://scicomp.aalto.fi/aalto/welcomeresearchers/
      • +
    + +
    + +
    • + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
  • + ResearchSoftwareHour live from Nordic RSE: Rust for science + + (Richard Darst, Anne Fouilloux, and Radovan Bast) + + +
    +

    Research Software Hour is an online +stream/show about scientific computing and research software. It is designed to +provide the skills typically picked up via informal networks: each week, we do +some combination of exploring new tools, analyzing and improving someone's +research code, and discussion.

    +

    In this show which we will stream during the Nordic RSE get-together, we will +have a look at the Rust programming language.

    +

    This can only be joined via Twitch, not breakout rooms. Join at +https://www.twitch.tv/RSHour. Questions can be asked via a HackMD +link at that page, no account necessary.

    + + +
    + +
    • + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
  • + European Environment for Scientific Software Installations (EESSI) + + (Thomas Röblitz) + + +
    +

    We will do a presentation of the EESSI (European Environments for Scientific Software Installations) project including a demo of its current pilot software stack.

    +

    In a nutshell, EESSI develops an infrastructure/service which will eventually allow you to use the same scientific software stack on any machine (e.g., Raspberry Pi, laptop, server, cluster, cloud, supercomputer) running on various operating systems (Linux, macOS, Windows) and the software stack is built from sources and can thereby be optimised for the CPU/GPU/interconnect at your machine. Even better you don't even have to install (almost) any software package as the stack will be delivered to you via CernVM-FS a proven solution to distribute software in the WLCG (Worldwide LHC Computing Grid).

    +

    The current pilot stack can be easily tested via Singularity, supports ARM, Intel and AMD processors and includes scientific software packages such as GROMACS, OpenFOAM, bioconductor, TensorFlow as well as all their dependencies.

    +
    +

    Questions and comments

    +
      +
    • Question: Is it possible to test the whole stack, please add links? +
        +
      • Yes, see https://eessi.github.io/docs/pilot/
        • +
      • To get help, join the EESSI Slack, see https://www.eessi-hpc.org/join/
        • +
      +
      • +
    +
      +
    • Question: Will you also support AMD Rocm and AMD ecosystem overall? +
        +
      • Yes, eventually. Right now there already are optimized installations for AMD Zen2 (Rome). +OpenMPI is included and is installed on top of UCX & libfabric, so should properly support AMD Rocm interconnect, but this is currently untested.
        • +
      +
      • +
    • Comment: I like this idea as for us it is important people can use it in their laptops. +Personally I not much loosing time in setting up sw at my laptop but I see for the users it is important +to have an option to install/use it also in their lab. They like it more. +
        +
      • Yes, this could allow people to literally write a job script that just works on the HPC cluster. Same modules, same software. +(and no need to build containers, or copy them over, etc.)
        • +
      +
      • +
    • Question: This builds on existing projects so it has some content from the begining. +
        +
      • Thanks to EasyBuild we can easily provide 1000s of installations. +Right now we limit what we provide, so we can focus on solving the problems we're hitting first.
        • +
      +
      • +
    • Question: Why European in the name? +
        +
      • Because it started with European sites. +We're already thinking about changing the first E to "Easy" :) +"EESSI is the Easy Environment..."
        • +
      +
      • +
    • Question: Question: what are the possibilities to add “own dirty module”, is it like same as e.g. with EasyBuild itself? +
        +
      • You can easily install additional software on top, for example in your home directory on in /tmp, just like you can with any other software stack built with EasyBuild).
        • +
      +
      • +
    • Question: Sensitivity of central Stratum-0 component, in terms of resilience? +
        +
      • The CernVM-FS design is very robust. If the Stratum-0 dies, the only impact is that you can't add new software to the repositories. +As long as one Stratum-1 server is still alive, the software remains available (all Stratum-1 servers have a full copy of the provided software). +So it comes down to having enough Stratum-1 servers, spread across the world, in different sites and cloud providers.
        • +
      • W.r.t adding software: we plan to fully automate the workflow of adding software to the EESSI repository, such that adding software comes down to opening a pull request on GitHub. When the PR is approved by a reviewer, the software gets built automatically on all supported CPU architectures, and added to Stratum-0, fully automatically. Ideally we also have (small) test cases to verify that the installations are functional before deploying them.
        • +
      +
      • +
    • Question: You mentioned that CernVM-FS only relies on HTTP connections. Shouldn't that be HTTPS for security reasons? +
        +
      • No, switching to HTTPS has no added value in terms of security, we've discussed that with the CernVM-FS developers. +CernVM-FS has built in security checks between server and clients, so HTTPS doesn't provide any additional security (I think, should be checked in CernVM-FS documentation).
        • +
      +
      • +
    • How would this work for large jobs across multiple nodes, can a lot of network traffic to pull in the software be avoided? +
        +
      • Yes, you can set up a shared CernVM-FS cache on a shared filesystem. +If there's no internet access on the cluster workernodes, you can use a squid proxy in the cluster network (on a login node for example). +This setup has been tested with the EESSI pilot stack at the Jülich Supercomputing Centre, worked really well!
        • +
      +
      • +
    • Comment: Detection of CPU architecture is a very nice feature. This is a big issue with containers where generic binaries are often, which can have a big impact on performance. +
        +
      • Yes, indeed! Containers are also very rigid: what if you want to add additional software? +The EESSI environment is way more dynamic, easy to add software on top of it (without paying for it in terms of performance), etc.
        • +
      +
      • +
    • Comment: This would also work really well in heterogenous environments with a mix of old/new CPUs, thanks to the auto-detection mechanism. +
        +
      • Yes, very correct, this is an interesting use case!
        • +
      +
      • +
    + +
    + +
    • + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
  • + Lessons learned from procuring a fairly large HPC system + + (Thor Wikfeldt and Gert Svensson) + + +
    +

    Procuring an HPC system - a.k.a. a supercomputer - is a complex and +multifaceted task. Before sending out the Request For Proposals the +procurer needs to quantify requirements along several dimensions and +decide on an acceptable level of risk. Should the tendered system +maximize benefit for existing users and use cases, or should possible +future user communities and emerging HPC workloads be factored in? Do +you prioritize throughput capability or minimizing time to solution +for given workloads? How important are acquisition and running costs +compared to other measures? Are you willing to invest in future +technologies which would require significant refactoring of commonly +used HPC simulation software? Which HPC software should be included in +the benchmarking suite, and how should benchmark results be scored?

    +

    This session will start with a walk through of several aspects of an +HPC procurement and will be followed by an open discussion where +participants can share their own experiences. A goal of the discussion +can be to arrive at a set of best practices in HPC procurements.

    +

    Slides: https://hackmd.io/@KTW/HPC-procurement-lessons#/

    +
    +

    Questions and comments

    +
      +
    1. Are you monitoring your cluster usage? What tools?
      2. +
    2. Do you regularly run regression tests? Which tools?
      3. +
    3. How did you select application benchmarks?
      4. +
    4. How did you design the scoring system?
      5. +
    5. Was there anything that surprised you during the procurement process?
      6. +
    6. What was particularly challenging?
      7. +
    7. Do you think the procurement could have been more successful if you had done anything differently? If so, what?
      8. +
    8. Should we score the quality of benchmark reports?
      9. +
    9. Is it worth all the work to use real application benchmarks? Or use only synthetic or kernels--benchmarks?
      10. +
    10. How should we estimate the "real" power usage of the system?
      11. +
    11. Do we need to run a job mix to evaluate how different users affect each other?
      12. +
    12. Is benchmarks a good way to evaluate the "competence" of the vendor?
      13. +
    +
      +
    • +

      Q: How did your requirements gathering procedure work, how did you implement risk assesment to requirement process?

      +
      • +
    • +

      Q: Is the benchmark list exhaustive for the application benchmarks? Can you elaborate on why you chose such narrow scope of the benchmarks?

      +
        +
      • 7 benchmarks are probably at the upper end and is approaching painful for vendors.
        • +
      • including more benchmarks leads to overall worse results
        • +
      • one often ends up benchmarking the vendor benchmark teams +
          +
        • is this a good thing because we will need software support later? +
            +
          • benchmark teams (might) not the same group that does support
            • +
          +
          • +
        +
        • +
      +
      • +
    +
      +
    • +

      how much modification of benchmark codes should be allowed?

      +
        +
      • major refactoring not representative of typical future use, so might want to keep it minimal
        • +
      +
      • +
    • +

      performance for individual proxy benchmarks and application benchmarks can point in different directions, but often becomes robust after averaging

      +
      • +
    • +

      to eliminate small/less competent vendors, can require certain minimum placement on top500 or alternatively have requirements on vendor stability or financial aspects

      +
      • +
    +
      +
    • Q: did you have a dynamic rebalancing of scores for phase 1 and phase 2 depending on the bids? +
        +
      • we had minimum performance on each phase
        • +
      • turned out that it paid off for vendors to focus efforts on phase 2
        • +
      • we decided to have phase 2 with accelerators because that's where HPC is heading, even if all users were not in favor
        • +
      +
      • +
    + +
    + +
    • + + + +
+
+ 13:30 (CET) + + Afternoon break/ free-form conversation +
+ 14:00 (CET) + + Discussion sessions/workshops/events + + +
    + + + + + + + + + + + +
  • + How to explain containers are friends of scientists? Are they? + + () + + +
    +

    This was an unconference session, a discussion added to the agenda during the workshop.

    +
    +

    Questions and comments

    +
      +
    • Mentioning where containers are used and what are the the alternative and competing tools. Conda was mentioned many times.
      • +
    • A story of advertising Containers at an institution to scientists, in particular by organising a semminar giving overview of containers and brief intro into them, including documentation where and how can be used at the institute. But even such activities has not resulted in a serious adaption from the scientists side. On the other side it found other paplication, e.g. where isolation is needed for dividing conservative stable software for controlling scientific instruments and up-to-data data analysis environment. Mentioned that in early times, containers were presented in way expressing only limitted view and applications of them.
      • +
    • Mentioned that application in the instrument control, requiring isolation, are interesting.
      • +
    • There are different type of containers (docker, singularity, proto???mark) that are appropriate for different situations: service deployment, HPC, isolation etc. A proper one should be choosen depending on the application case.
      • +
    • There are many possible options how the given container technology can be adapted/used. One should think it is a versatile technology.
      • +
    • Other particular cases where containers were used: a) glibc issues, b) dot.net on CentOS
      • +
    • Expressing a thought that if containers (or other tools) are not widely used/adopted in the given community (scientists) it can die out.
      • +
    • View from BioInformatics: Conda was used a lot (Bioconda), nowadys many computing intensive pipelines are packed into Singularity
      • +
    + +
    + +
    • + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
  • + Problematic demographics within research computing and ways to rectify the problem + + () + + +
    +

    This was an unconference session, a discussion added to the agenda during the workshop.

    +
    +

    Questions and comments

    +
      +
    • Special interest groups exist. +
        +
      • Do they funnel people out of the main group?
        • +
      • Work with them and include the interest groups in the main group
        • +
      +
      • +
    • What leads to the imbalance at different levels on career / education?
      • +
    • Example: Gender balance in computational particle physics in Helsinki surprisingly good. Why? +
        +
      • Better balance among students than before
        • +
      • Hiring from earlier in the studies (batcherol's level)
        • +
      • If related fields are more biased, there are more qualified applicants
        • +
      +
      • +
    • Hard discussion to have, thanks to everyone who was involved
      • +
    • Sorry I forgot to take notes for most of it :(
      • +
    + +
    + +
    • + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
  • + Collecting ideas/suggestions for Nordic RSE conference in May + + () + + +
    +

    This was an unconference session, a discussion added to the agenda during the workshop.

    +
      +
    • I haven’t prepared this and maybe it was discussed already somewhere
      • +
    +
    +

    Questions and comments

    +
      +
    • May 27 and 28, 2021, Stockholm
      • +
    • 1 auditorium (150-200), 2 workshop rooms for 30 people and a number of smaller rooms booked
      • +
    • common social area can be used
      • +
    +

    suggestions:

    +
      +
    • offer different tracks with a good balance
      • +
    • training tracks: RSE's role as a trainer and supporter
      • +
    • consider inviting persons from funding agencies ("how can we fund 'invisible' but important work?") +1 +
        +
      • also university HR/ management; to avoid a too one-sided discussion if only RSEs are in the room
        • +
      +
      • +
    • invite representatives from other "chapters" to share lessons learned +1
      • +
    • hearing about/from journals like JOSS +1
      • +
    • open science should be included as a topic
      • +
    • interface with CarpentryConnect conference (collocated)
      • +
    • invite managers and policy makers who have success stories in the RSE area +1
      • +
    +

    theme suggestions:

    +
      +
    • "software in research"
      • +
    +

    how to announce it outside of our "bubble":

    +
      +
    • consider calling the press (press offices at Unis)
      • +
    • at the places where startups advertize
      • +
    • unions for researchers and engineers
      • +
    • newsletters via computing centers
      • +
    +

    technical:

    +
      +
    • better many short hackmds rather one long hackmd
      • +
    + +
    + +
    • + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
  • + TBA - 'unconference' sessions + + (TBA) + + +
    +

    An "unconference" has events scheduled based on interest of +participants, not decided by organizers. We are leaving this time +open for ad-hoc events proposed by participants. If there is not much +interest, we will move the conclusion forward.

    + +
    + +
    • + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+
+ 15:00 (CET) + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + Closing Statements + (Jarno Rantaharju) + + +
+

Notes

+
    +
  • Thanks to all contributors, organizers and keynote speakers +
      +
    • Especially Samantha, Richard, Thor, Jeremy, Radovan, Naoe for technical setup
      • +
    +
    • +
+
    +
  • Highlights from the notes +
      +
    • Great intro to the international RSE movement and to RSEs on Monday, thanks Alys Brett, Richard and Samantha
      • +
    +
      +
    • Good introductions to groups and projects +
        +
      • several expanding RSE groups
        • +
      +
      • +
    • Several technical tools and topics +
        +
      • The further we go, the more we can focus on sharing experiences and tools
        • +
      • Great to see interest in these discussions!
        • +
      +
      • +
    • We will try to make all slides/contributions findable and accessible +
        +
      • authors: please send us the DOI or the pdf version
        • +
      +
      • +
    • Interesting and inspiring panels session.
      • +
    • What the Nordic RSE should do? +
        +
      • Build an identity. Create a network with local hubs. +
          +
        • About local hubs: multiple things need to happen on university level
          • +
        +
        • +
      • Build a network, connect RSEs who are currently only connected to researchers in a field +
          +
        • Have a more specific definitions of RSE
          • +
        • Job board (separate from CR chat?)
          • +
        +
        • +
      • Give feedback to national and Nordic organisations (funders, for example)
        • +
      • Collection of resources on the website (to hands of scicomp, citation file format …)
        • +
      +
      • +
    +
    • +
  • It is easy to see the problems. We should implement solutions. +
      +
    • Make good, well designed tools that also professors will use.
      • +
    • Use and advocate for best practices
      • +
    +
    • +
  • Ask for feedback
    • +
  • Invite everyone to +
      +
    • Biweekly meetings
      • +
    • Coffee breaks for more freeform chats
      • +
    +
    • +
+ +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ 15:15 (CET) + + Close +
+ +

Proposal submissions

+

The abstract submission form will +be kept open until approximately one week before the event but we encourage +you to submit as soon as possible - even if not perfect.

+

You can also submit an idea for a contribution to our +Proposal incubator +as GitHub issue where we can comment on it and collaboratively develop the +idea. This is also an opportunity to find co-authors.

+

Examples of types of events that can be proposed:

+
    +
  • +

    Lightning talks: (2 minutes)

    +

    Lightning talks are presentations that are limited to a maximum of 2 minutes and no more than 2 slides including +any title slide. They allow you to introduce your group or give a high-level overview of a project.

    +
    • +
  • +

    Talks: (20 minutes)

    +

    A regular talk provides the opportunity to go into more detail in presenting your work, a technical idea +or an example of using a software tool or library. There is also the opportunity to get feedback through +questions from the audience. The talk it self should be at most 20 minutes and 10 minute will be reserved for +question and discussion after the talk.

    +
    • +
  • +

    Reprohacks (120 minutes with break)

    +

    Propose a research paper and try to reproduce the results. There is no better way to learn what +is needed for reproducible research, and what you might be missing, than to pick a paper and try +to recreate it. At the workshop we will work in small groups on individual publications and see how far we get.

    +
    • +
  • +

    Crash Course (60 minutes)

    +

    Run a teaching workshop introducing a useful tool or an interesting theoretical topic. This could +be a combination of demonstrations, short talks, discussion, panel sessions and so on.

    +
    • +
  • +

    Discussions or panels (60 minutes)

    +

    Propose a topic of conversation to develop an idea or seek experiences and opinions. +The submitter should chair the conversation to keep it productive.

    +
    • +
  • +

    Collaborative blog post (60 minutes)

    +

    A more formal discussion that produces a blog post as an end result. +Topics would be pitched in advance.

    +
    • +
  • +

    Other

    +

    Do you have something in mind that does not fit easily into these categories? Suggest any other contributions here.

    +
    • +
+ + +
+ +
+ + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/events/2020-online-get-together/introduction/index.html b/events/2020-online-get-together/introduction/index.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..c150d937 --- /dev/null +++ b/events/2020-online-get-together/introduction/index.html @@ -0,0 +1,220 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + Introduction - Nordic RSE + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + +
+ +
+ back to the schedule + +

Introduction

+

Jarno Rantaharju

+ +
+

Welcome and introduction to the event and Nordic RSE.

+ +
+ +
+ + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/events/2020-online-get-together/my-first-r-package/index.html b/events/2020-online-get-together/my-first-r-package/index.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..81b29535 --- /dev/null +++ b/events/2020-online-get-together/my-first-r-package/index.html @@ -0,0 +1,232 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + My first R package - Nordic RSE + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + +
+ +
+ back to the schedule + +

My first R package

+

Tobias Busch

+ +
+

Writing an R package has helped me leave my comfort zone and level up my R +programming skills. The code I write as a researcher is mostly single-user and +single-use. Writing and publishing code meant for others has helped me break +old habits and acquire useful new software engineering skills. R has a +streamlined ecosystem for package development that supports understanding and +adhering to best practices. I will talk about the things I have learned while +writing my first R package, why I think writing a package should be a rite of +passage for any aspiring research software engineer, and why R is a great tool +for this.

+ + +
+ +
+ + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/events/2020-online-get-together/nordic-rse/index.html b/events/2020-online-get-together/nordic-rse/index.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..298e12cc --- /dev/null +++ b/events/2020-online-get-together/nordic-rse/index.html @@ -0,0 +1,343 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + What do you expect from Nordic RSE? - Nordic RSE + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + +
+ +
+ back to the schedule + +

What do you expect from Nordic RSE?

+

Jarno Rantaharju

+ +
+

The Nordic RSE group is new. This is a great time to take part in the +active development of the organization by making sure your voice is heard. +We need your help in deciding what is important for the organization to do +and what kind of an organization we should aim for.

+

For inspiration, you can check out the websites of other RSE associations:

+ +

The purpose of this discussion is to solicit input from prospective members +of the Nordic RSE group.

+

a) What kind of activities they think would be useful?

+
    +
  • Advocating for X (value of good software, ...)
    • +
  • Networking opportunities, workshops
    • +
  • Exchanging skills
    • +
  • Formalizing the profession (create career structure)
    • +
+

b) How the group should be organized?

+
    +
  • Registered association
    • +
  • Professional organization
    • +
  • Something else
    • +
+

Questions / discussion prods:

+
    +
  • Do you consider yourself an RSE? Who is an RSE?
    • +
  • Would you join the Nordic RSE organization? Are you a member?
    • +
  • Why would you join as a member?
    • +
  • If you have joined other professional associations, what have they done for you?
    • +
+

Questions and comments

+

Ice breaker:

+
    +
  • Are you an RSE? +
      +
    • RSE interested, with a plan of becoming one, some day, maybe
      • +
    • yes, leading a rse group
      • +
    • yes, working directly with reseachers (no RSE group, temporary employment, also just learned about the term)
      • +
    • yes, though only learned the term recently. In a bioinformatics group doing infrastructure projects
      • +
    +
    • +
  • What is an RSE? +
      +
    • research software engineer (duh)
      • +
    • supporting researcher through code/software development (but can be part of a researcher job)
      • +
    • A software engineer in the area of research (akin to a software engineer in the area of finance). Also to say that domain knowledge is important. Probably more focused on software as infrastructure.
      • +
    +
    • +
  • What an RSE is not? +
      +
    • Sysadmin/IT support (although there's typically a lot of IT support involved...?)
      • +
    • Can someone make a carreer as an RSE? or is it where you end up when everything else fails? +
        +
      • Hopefully it is a career path. There are (supposedly) RSE positions and openings, but in my experience they are hard to find. It is definitely not where you end up when everything else fails! It is an alternative path to regular academic research (and to software development in industry). It is typically suited for people who want to focus more on the hands-on problem solving rather than "selling" research and applying for grants, also with a more long-term focus on software usage and sustainability (which is hard to focus on when under academic pressure).
        • +
      +
      • +
    • For a lot of people the name "Research software engineer" is confusing and they only put emphasis on the word "research", thereby expecting the RSE do be some kind of (lower grade) researcher but with a more technical background than a "true academic researcher", and that bothers me (because in academia researchers are not supposed to be evaluated based on the number of scientific papers they produce). Maybe removing entirely the term "research" and replacing it by something like "Domain specific" or whatever else would make it easier for people to understand and better define their role? Add something to link it to science and perhaps to computing infrastructures (that could change the acronym from RSE to something like "Domain Specific Scientific Software and Computing Infrastructure Engineer" = DSSSCIE or DoSSSCIE or DoS3IE instead?)
      • +
    +
    • +
+

a) What kind of activities they think would be useful?

+

examples from abstract: Advocating for X (value of good software, ...) +Networking opportunities, workshops +Exchanging skills +Formalizing the profession (create career structure)

+

ideas that came up during discussion:

+
    +
  • build an identity on what is RSE, local communities: communication with others, sharing ideas
    • +
  • be more specific about what an RSE is and also what it is not (not a researcher, not a technician, not a handyman, etc.) +-> making it possible for people to label themselves as RSE
    • +
  • Sweden: Reasearch Engineer exists and gets confused with RSE
    • +
  • it should be pushed to make it possible to hire RSE +-> Nordic RSE should push to make it an official title
    • +
  • this has to happen also within universities
    • +
  • but RSE is not yet a field that professors could chose to hire and thats where Nordic RSE could start (big push from a lot of people) +-> association with members could do that
    • +
  • if Nordic-RSE grows to registered 500 members in the Nordics that call themselves RSE there would be more weight behind what we do. One could write letters and influence
    • +
  • Nordic RSE as place for feedback (eg for Norwegian Reasearch Council)
    • +
  • building understanding (people should know the idea) and not fully focus on formal job title (since this may take long). Make groups and PIs aware that a person with a RSE role could solve many common problems faced in research
    • +
  • defining the RSE: how much research? how much software? how much engineer? ->check what UK has done, one definition on nordic RSE website https://nordic-rse.org/#what-is-a-research-software-engineer
    • +
  • knowledge sharing in meetups etc
    • +
  • permanence: RSE often first position to get cut, importance of position has to be highlighted
    • +
  • service / research
    • +
  • jobboard: help finding RSE jobs (that are not mentioning RSE specifically), currently done on coderefinery chat -> better to have on webpage
    • +
  • acknowledgement for RSE work, writing documentation could be as important as writing a paper, attempts happening in international RSE +
      +
    • As a new RSE, I want to ask if acknowledgements is a metric that is typically tracked and used throughout an RSE career? How important is it (apart from being fair in acknowledging work done)?
      • +
    +
    • +
  • Hackathon type of event to get advice on publishing code and related topics
    • +
  • joining forces to organize (online) workshops similar to coderefinery (so that community can link to it) -> setting up a list of these on nordic RSE website that we can recommend
    • +
  • use nordic-rse.org to build up list of recommended training material and resources.
    • +
  • networking: https://coderefinery.zulipchat.com/
    • +
+

b) How the group should be organized?

+

ideas from discussion: +Should we have official association?

+
    +
  • necessary to receive money +
      +
    • for eg workshops (continuation of Coderefinery, software carpentry)
      • +
    +
    • +
  • could also be done via some university
    • +
  • will probably need to be done at some point
    • +
+

How could NordicRSE association be useful for us:

+
    +
  • how to attract also researchers doing RSE in addition to RSEs +-> highlight that we also want researchers doing RSE work to join NordicRSE
    • +
  • acknowledgement also for their RSE work (even if they do not identify as RSE (yet)) +-> continue to teach how code can be made citable +-> how else to help with this? +-> public guidelines on how to cite research software -> community shows how the ideal should be +-> list journals which take software publications on Nordic RSE website (similar to UK RSE)
    • +
  • advocate for that software should be cited
    • +
  • create career-path or make more public that there is one; if there is no path, people are maybe not interested
    • +
  • adding open source research software as merits for universities (making it more likely they will spend money on hiring RSEs)
    • +
+ +
+ +
+ + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/events/2020-online-get-together/oslo-centre-for-biostatics-epidemiology/index.html b/events/2020-online-get-together/oslo-centre-for-biostatics-epidemiology/index.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..1de8a10e --- /dev/null +++ b/events/2020-online-get-together/oslo-centre-for-biostatics-epidemiology/index.html @@ -0,0 +1,228 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + RSE work done at the Oslo Centre for Biostatistics and Epidemiology - Nordic RSE + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + +
+ +
+ back to the schedule + +

RSE work done at the Oslo Centre for Biostatistics and Epidemiology

+

Waldir Leoncio Netto

+ +
+

Abstract

+

The Oslo Centre for Biostatistics and Epidemiology (OCBE) is a scientific center integrating the activities of the Department of Biostatistics, University of Oslo, and the Section of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, Oslo University Hospital. Our 70+ scientists work together to provide research, teaching, and advising to the scientific community.

+

In this lightning talk, I share a bit of my experience as the first (and currently only) hired RSE professional.

+

Some links for the curious

+ + +
+ +
+ + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/events/2020-online-get-together/panel/index.html b/events/2020-online-get-together/panel/index.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..6d5b963f --- /dev/null +++ b/events/2020-online-get-together/panel/index.html @@ -0,0 +1,279 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + Panel discussion: RSE careers and their position in academia - Nordic RSE + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + +
+ +
+ back to the schedule + +

Panel discussion: RSE careers and their position in academia

+

moderated by Samantha Wittke

+ +
+

Panelists:

+
    +
  • Gudrun Lotze
    • +
  • Patric Holmvall
    • +
  • Keijo Heljako
    • +
  • Ella Bingham
    • +
  • Konstantin Stadler
    • +
  • Peter Schmidt
    • +
  • Jeremy Cohen
    • +
+

Topics:

+
    +
  • What is your story?
    • +
  • RSE careers
    • +
  • RSE and academia
    • +
  • ...
    • +
+
+

Questions and comments

+
    +
  • +

    Comment: In Sweden within the UPPMAX hpc facility (I dont know how it is handled at other centers within the SNIC org) and NBIS organisations Application experts and RSE (devlopers) are now mainly hired fulltime and not temporary while there are still people hired with shorter contracts as exception. It has been recognized that its very hard to retain talent if you only hire shortterm/temporary contracts.

    +
    • +
  • +

    Comment: really liked the point about having and getting time for "pet project". not only to have something to show later on CV but also to stay current and motivated and to learn "for free".+5

    +
      +
    • I started one early this year and told my boss about it a few months later. He enjoyed the initiative, then told me a heartwarming story about investing in projects that just might become a big thing one day. Plus, I also think that this sort of initiative can bring in ideas for an RSE to apply for funding, which is always welcome. +
        +
      • yes! a number of established projects started as side projects and these can often open up funding opportunities and cross-discipline collaborations.
        • +
      +
      • +
    • There is a good model at my work: 70+20+10. spend 70% on regular work, 20% learning something new that will make your work better, 10% learning something new that is good for you but does not have to be directly work/project related.+1
      • +
    +
    • +
  • +

    Comment: perhaps another way to make scientific software as "important" as research papers is to always try to publish it in a popular repository (CRAN, PyPI, etc.). Not sure how applicable that would be for software that are not R or Python packages, though.

    +
      +
    • yes, also connecting to yesterday's talk. this can really help using standard practices. publishing packages always felt/sounded difficult/scary until I tried it.
      • +
    +
    • +
  • +

    Comment : Excellent point Patric about the standards to which we need to hold resarch software to be able to keep it at the same level as experimental setups and methodologies +3

    +
      +
    • May we get more details about such standards so we can register them on this document? +
        +
      • Recognizing methodology development: I'm thinking for example of my colleagues building or working on experimental setups and detectors (e.g. at CERN, GSI and other institutes). They spend the majority of their PhD/Postdoc building setups and developing methodology, similar to how others might spend a lot of their time developing and building software. They have several journals where they can publish their work and get recognized for their contribution, which they base their PhD thesis/project upon. There are of course many journals where software and research software can be published, but at least in my experience, I could not build my PhD thesis or project on this work, since there is a complete focus on the research. The attitude is generally that code is just methodology, "it should just work" and it is not important how it works. I think that this viewpoint is wrong. If you do significant contributions, maybe even breakthroughs, this should be recognized and valued.
        • +
      • Testing: Nobody would trust experimental equipment that has not been calibrated or tested. Building an experimental setup, it is therefore assumed that you will have to spend time on calibrating and testing. Sadly, the same cannot in general be said about research codes (again, this is in my experience, but I've heard others commenting the same in this conference). As an example, I took over a large code that was lacking testing and proper documentation. As I started adding unit tests, regression/physics tests, the senior PI was starting to get impatient because they wanted to see research. Even though several important bugs had been discovered that put the validity of results in jeopardy, I was told "enough tests already". An issue is that PIs might be more focused on research and know very little about writing sustainable codes; they just want them to work. I have a hard time believing that the same would happen in the building of an experimental setup (sure, there are horror stories from experiments, but this is far from the norm).
        • +
      • Reproducibility: Reproducibility is another issue. It is often completely acceptable to neglect mentioning implementation/code etc in methods sections, as long as you describe e.g. the physics theory you are using. Even if the code is mentioned, it is rarely made open access, and when it is made open access, it is often hard to use it to reproduce the results. This goes against the core tenet that research should be reproducible. There needs to be more acceptance for the time it takes to make a code re-usable. Of course, everyone cannot re-build a detector for the Large Hadron Collider at home, but at least a great deal of time and effort in spent in describing how said detector works and can be built. +1
        • +
      • TL;DR: So these are some of the main points (recognition of code/methodology development, testing, reproducibility) when I make the comparison between experiments and "numerical experiments", and when I say that they should be held to the same standards. If we make this analogy, it might be easier to promote RSE-related work as not just important but crucial, and to have a greater acceptance of time spent doing these tasks for e.g. PhDs and postdocs.+1
        • +
      +
        +
      • Excellent point to compare software development with experimental method development. How can something lead to good data if bugs are in the code and nobody verifies them? Reproducibility is also the key to prevent wrong conclusions. I like to mention PyFAI. It is an anlysis tool, it is published on github, and is developed by a core team, but users, scientist can contribute to its development. It was published also in traditional publications.
        • +
      +
      • +
    +
    • +
  • +

    Comment: great point about mentoring groups and connecting to others. +1

    +
    • +
+ +
+ +
+ + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/events/2020-online-get-together/personal-htc-pool/index.html b/events/2020-online-get-together/personal-htc-pool/index.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..14dbe3fe --- /dev/null +++ b/events/2020-online-get-together/personal-htc-pool/index.html @@ -0,0 +1,237 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + Intro to the HTCondor Python API on a laptop cluster - Nordic RSE + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + +
+ +
+ back to the schedule + +

Intro to the HTCondor Python API on a laptop cluster

+

Matthew West

+ +
+

Abstract

+

The philosophy of HTCondor is to allow researchers to easily automate and scale their workflows for greater overall throughput with minimal changes to the analysis code itself. The objective is to run jobs as efficiently as possible wherever there are available resources. CHTC's HTCondor software suite provides not just the batch system but a toolset that includes workflow pipeline automation, performance evaluation, and containerized environments. This demo will cover:

+
    +
  • Running a cluster within a Docker container on Windows
    • +
  • Using the Python API to construct and submit a multi-layer workflow
    • +
  • Parsing log-files for performance information
    • +
+

Prior knowledge

+
    +
  • Some experience with a cluster batch scheduling system
    • +
  • Familiarity with the Python programming language
    • +
+

References

+
    +
  • Github repo for scripts
    • +
  • DockerHub link for HTCondor-Scipy container
    • +
  • HTCondor Python API documentation page
    • +
+ +
+ +
+ + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/events/2020-online-get-together/prace-best-practice-guide/index.html b/events/2020-online-get-together/prace-best-practice-guide/index.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..d2d07779 --- /dev/null +++ b/events/2020-online-get-together/prace-best-practice-guide/index.html @@ -0,0 +1,225 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + PRACE Best Practice Guide - Modern-Processors - Nordic RSE + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + +
+ +
+ back to the schedule + +

PRACE Best Practice Guide - Modern-Processors

+

Ole Saastad

+ +
+

The just released PRACE - Best Practice Guide for Modern processors (ARM +Kunpeng & THX2, Intel Skylake and AMD Rome) is just released. A short +introduction to the guide will be given. Topics cover architecture, programming +environment, tuning, performance libraries, performance and introduction to +European systems using these processors. A couple of hands on examples and +tricks to some of the tools in an optimal way will also be presented.

+ +
+ +
+ + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/events/2020-online-get-together/r-python-transpiler/index.html b/events/2020-online-get-together/r-python-transpiler/index.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..ae798cf0 --- /dev/null +++ b/events/2020-online-get-together/r-python-transpiler/index.html @@ -0,0 +1,264 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + R <-> Python transpiler - Nordic RSE + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + +
+ +
+ back to the schedule + +

R <-> Python transpiler

+

Dmitrii Borisevich

+ +
+

Python and R are two major programming languages used for research software development and data analysis in bioinformatics. It is not a symbiotic relationship, but a cold war between the fans of both.

+

Different tools are available to use R in python and vice versa, but they demand learning both languages. This is not easy, and thus rarely adopted.

+

This talk will pitch an idea of using AST to build a transpiler between two languages and showcase a simple demo of converting code written in one language directly into another.

+

The talk will present:

+
    +
  • the R vs python problem and its consequences in bioinformatics,
    • +
  • the idea of a transpiler,
    • +
  • some examples of existing transpilers,
    • +
  • a demo of R <-> python PoC transpiler.
    • +
+
+

Questions and comments

+ + +
+ +
+ + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/events/2020-online-get-together/rse-growth-of-a-movement/index.html b/events/2020-online-get-together/rse-growth-of-a-movement/index.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..e557f24e --- /dev/null +++ b/events/2020-online-get-together/rse-growth-of-a-movement/index.html @@ -0,0 +1,273 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + Research Software Engineering: the growth of a movement - Nordic RSE + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + +
+ +
+ back to the schedule + +

Research Software Engineering: the growth of a movement

+

Alys Brett

+ +
+

The importance of Research Software Engineering as a role, a discipline and a +community is becoming more and more widely recognised because it is essential +for harnessing the opportunities and of modern, computational research. Alys +Brett is head of the Software Engineering Group at the UK Atomic Energy +Authority and founding president of the Society for Research Software +Engineering. She has just handed over the leadership of the Society after +several years in that role. In this talk she will share the experience from the +UK of building recognition for the RSE role and developing groups, career +structures and communities, and reflect on where we are now with this +international movement.

+

Slides: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4298589

+
+

Questions and comments

+
    +
  • Can a research software engineer be also a "research data engineer" or do you think we will need a new "RDE" role? +
      +
    • I think RSEs often need to do a bit of everything so in some projects they will be the data engineer and will probably need to be able to navigate the basics and research the rest. There definitely are distinct roles relating to research data engineering and management though and we should promote recognition of and collaboration with these complementary roles too. I have an RSE team and a research data engineering team in my group and there is a lot of overlap in skills but some greater emphasis on devops and data management over numerical modelling and statistical methods in the data-systems-focussed team.
      • +
    +
    • +
  • Related to the above, how does RSE relate to many other 'support staff' kind of role, even if software is not their main focus? +
      +
    • In the UK, some RSE groups are part of Research IT services departments and some are within academic departments. Similarly, individuals will have different kinds of contract. In some places the distinction between researchers and support staff is very rigid and limits what you can do, and in others it is more flexible. We have found there is no one size fits all approach to how to make it work which is one of the reasons starting such a group is hard as you have to get into the specific way finances, contracts, HR etc work in your institution. The words "support staff" can be a bit controversial, partly because of the hierarchical culture in research (which is a problem in itself). I prefer to talk about "specialist roles" and "professional collaborators/consultants" in various fields to set the expectation that RSEs and researchers are collaborating as equals with complementary skills. There can definitely be a similar model in non-software but research-related specialist roles and common cause in developing the culture and the structures to support those careers and skills.
      • +
    +
    • +
  • What might the value be for an RSE group to hire a software engineer that has not worked with researchers before? +
      +
    • [name=a] I think there is value in there. As an RSE you naturally tend to split your time between doing, teaching and learning. Having a dedicated Software Engineer with experience churning out good quality code and familiar with the necessary concepts can be very useful. I've generally had people like that close to me and it's useful to bring them in to give talks, help with course material, workshops and so on. They also get something out of it - experience in working with researchers.
      • +
    +
    • +
  • For the researches who were not exposed to software engineering in a formal way, there are very little opportunities to get the best practices. There are no university course for such things either. How do we fill this vaccume? +
      +
    • Software Carpentry Workshops aim to introduce "basic lab skills for research computing" in a 2-day workshop (eg programming, version control and Unix shell)
      • +
    • CodeRefinery! More advanced for practicing researchers.
      • +
    • Increasingly part of Researcher training programmes. RSE groups in UK often run training and some teach parts of undergrad and postgrad courses
      • +
    • On the job... Richard is covering this well :-) pair programming and informal interaction with people who have the skills along with workshops/online courses etc, but need the culture in research to value and support this
      • +
    +
    • +
  • Whats the relationship between RSE and the more narrow "Bioinformatician" role that has gotten more traction and recognition over the last couple of years? +
      +
    • I think about it in terms of overlapping communities, so bioinformatics is a possible specialism for an RSE and some (most?) bioinformaticians will regard themselves as RSEs. I have heard the term "pet bioinformatician" used by people who were the sole person doing the programming for a group and feeling a bit isolated/unsupported so I think they can benefit from a wider community and the strong overlaps with methods and tools used in other research fields.
      • +
    +
    • +
  • Is there a "career path" for RSE in UK now? +
      +
    • It's not a completely solved problem, but the larger RSE groups will often have RSEs at multiple grades so there is scope for progression. In my group there are four levels: graduate RSE, RSE, Senior RSE and team/group leaders which are the same as levels in research groups. For RSEs in research roles
      • +
    • Depends very much on the group. For example, I was employed as an RSE but to get promotion I was treated like a PostDoc and required to publish papers. I think it needs a department head who understand the problem and who they have, otherwise they lose them.
      • +
    +
    • +
  • In my department people (i.e., professors, researchers, managers, etc.) do not understand the difference between RSE, post-doc or teaching-assistant: they treat everybody in the same way (although we all have different salaries, duties, etc.) and expect all of them to support them, their research and their teaching, in the same way. How can I/we make them understand what RSEs are? +
      +
    • Influencing professors is possibly the hardest part of this whole effort. I don't think there is a magic answer but when RSEs are in demand from multiple groups they are in quite a strong position to explain how they can best use their skills to collaborate and to prioritise projects where they can make the most effective contribution. Some groups have written down criteria for accepting projects that include the ability of the research group to work with them effectively and the opportunity to transfer skills to the researchers. Also, they sometimes listen more when they hear it from outside so getting talks (or a couple of slides in a talk) about what RSE is into big domain conferences can be good.
      • +
    +
    • +
+ +
+ +
+ + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/events/2020-online-get-together/rse-supporting-equality/index.html b/events/2020-online-get-together/rse-supporting-equality/index.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..3f042c47 --- /dev/null +++ b/events/2020-online-get-together/rse-supporting-equality/index.html @@ -0,0 +1,315 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + RSE: supporting software or supporting equality? - Nordic RSE + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + +
+ +
+ back to the schedule + +

RSE: supporting software or supporting equality?

+

Richard Darst

+ +
+

Research Software Engineering: it's obviously about software, right? +It could be, but I believe we can adopt a broader viewpoint. We have +all heard countless times about the systematic factors affecting +inequality in science, but how much does access to computing, or +computing training, contribute to this? In this talk, I will first +outline some factors contributing to inequality of computing which I +have noticed after years of supporting researchers. I will relate +this to the services which can be provided by RSEs, and present a +vision for addressing this by developing our own skills and promoting +RSE services to our institutions.

+

Slides

+
+

Questions and comments

+
    +
  • +

    Perhaps getting sympathy from more traditional professionals in academia might not be easy because the RSE career path is not nearly (yet?) as "hard-coded" as that for, say, a professor.

    +
      +
    • I agree with this. As an RSE, will I just need to leave academia sooner or later as all other "non professors" or do I just become the old IT staff member? insert steve buscemi meme "hello fellow kids"
      • +
    • [name=a] A lot of people do leave, like me, but I don't think that's necessarily a problem. There needs to be people industry to work with RSEs and a goal I'd like to see is a good industry/RSE collaboration with RSEs being the people speaking the common language in partnerships. Quick plug for my talk on Wednesday containing some information on both sides of industry partnerships!
      • +
    +
    • +
  • +

    Apprenticeship can also happen by reading how others work (read their code, watch their code review, watch the tools they use)

    +
      +
    • [name=speaker] yes! I've learned plenty by reading the right blogs, for example.
      • +
    +
    • +
  • +

    Suggestion: using equality of opportunity for competent knowledge/skill rather than simply saying equality. e.g. we want to achieve equality of opportunity for everyone to be able to acquire knowledge rather than equalizing everyone's knowledge in a certain field.

    +
      +
    • [name=speaker] Yes, that's correct. We can't make the same outcome, but hopefully people have the same opportunity, without implicit prerequisites that some people don't have.
      • +
    +
    • +
  • +

    What is your take on implications of cultural differences on the topic of "supporting equality of opportunity". for example, many of your ideas seem to be easier to apply in a collectivist society as opposed to an individualist society which probably most of the Nordic could be categorized as.

    +
      +
    • [name=speaker] This is not my speciality, but I think most of the points I make come about because we are very individualist and assume that everyone can make their own way. That breaks down when not everyone has the network to do that. Perhaps you could even say, those who think they succeed as individualists often happen to have these implicit networks that make that possible, yet doesn't get recognized.
      • +
    +
    • +
  • +

    So true! I learned so much when sitting down with a RSE or with a software engineer in their offices. We had really good sessions. The software engineer did not have a background in physics, I did not have a background in computer science. But I think we made a pretty good team learning from each other. No chance to do this in the open space where I had my office.

    +
      +
    • Indeed. Learned so much by somebody telling/showing me: "hey look at this cool thing I found out"
      • +
    +
    • +
  • +

    Re computer skills, I also notice some researchers seem shy to share the code they wrote because they think it's "sloppy". I always try to remind them that programming is a secondary skill to them (as it was for many RSEs)!

    +
      +
    • Important to consider code a 'group ownership', to try and take the personal pain out of showing code. Code reviews are great to learn this kind of separation of person from code. You critique the code not the author!
      • +
    +
    • +
  • +

    Suggestion for a substitude to the "academic vs vocational skills": actionable vs non-actionable skills. The latter creates less stereotypical or stigmatic bias against the academia or likewise against the industry/practice. moreover, actionable and none-actionable skills could occur on both sides, it's just that academia is more prune to it since there is more room for theoretical material.

    +
      +
    • [name=speaker] Thanks, nice idea. We'll have to make sure that they terms are also clear, without other elaboration, but this is a good start.
      • +
    +
    • +
  • +

    I do wonder if we should call ourself "engineers" if we don't really have the solid technical skils I associate with an Engineer.

    +
      +
    • At Lund University physicists etc are just hired as "research engineers" because they are not hired as scientists, postdocs, professors, but they have a permanent position. Here engineer seems to be just job description.
      • +
    +
    • +
  • +

    I like the idea of making services fairly available for making/contributing to equality. On the other hand, I have seen some cases that distributing time and efforts of RSEs to one project/researcher could be really time consuming and at some point, researchers/research projects need to buy-out such a service by RSEs. Then the "rich gets richer" happens again. How to tackle this type of problems?

    +
      +
    • [name=speaker] We can't solve everything, so there is a tiered system: some basic resources for everyone, long-term is paid. It's up to us to convince our funders to make the best balance.
      • +
    +
    • +
  • +

    What about publishing code, papers and credits? Should a RSE be included as an author in papers wher he(r) contributions are crucial for the result?

    +
      +
    • Only if it makes a difference to the RSE. Hopefully he has no pressure to publish. Maybe the RSE team/program should be attributed.
      • +
    • I strongly think that if code is fundamental to the results, i.e. if you're modelling some physical process, the author should be credited. After all, that person is contributing to the quality of the results.
      • +
    • I argue he/she should be included!
      • +
    • [name=speaker] When you realize there can be separate software authorship from paper authorship, there is more flexibility to do the right thing in each case. Is the RSE doing creative work about the science or the software? Is the software the science? +
        +
      • [name=w] This is a good point, maybe the CFF initiative can help with that.
        • +
      +
      • +
    +
    • +
  • +

    I think some universities are still in the awkward situation that they do not acknowledge the importance of RSE. Would be good to find ways to highlight such importance with the help of the RSE network.

    +
      +
    • There are various sources of material about this online, and was proposed to be a topic of this event or the conference next year. Hopefully someone can link it here
      • +
    • [name=a] The UK-RSE community have been and are still struggling with this but it's improving a lot over time. Pointing Nordic Universities at the UK and demonstrating what has been happening there demonstrates what RSEs can bring, why they are required, and the path to follow.
      • +
    +
    • +
  • +

    I saw a brief note about gender balance. Like to point out that it is nice when everyone feel welcome and equally participating, not only male and female but also non-binary.

    +
      +
    • thank you for pointing this out. Indeed we need to improve this to create a welcoming environment for everybody.
      • +
    +
    • +
+ +
+ +
+ + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/events/2020-online-get-together/rsh/index.html b/events/2020-online-get-together/rsh/index.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..2bb5b63c --- /dev/null +++ b/events/2020-online-get-together/rsh/index.html @@ -0,0 +1,233 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + ResearchSoftwareHour live from Nordic RSE: Rust for science - Nordic RSE + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + +
+ +
+ back to the schedule + +

ResearchSoftwareHour live from Nordic RSE: Rust for science

+

Richard Darst, Anne Fouilloux, and Radovan Bast

+ +
+

Research Software Hour is an online +stream/show about scientific computing and research software. It is designed to +provide the skills typically picked up via informal networks: each week, we do +some combination of exploring new tools, analyzing and improving someone's +research code, and discussion.

+

In this show which we will stream during the Nordic RSE get-together, we will +have a look at the Rust programming language.

+

This can only be joined via Twitch, not breakout rooms. Join at +https://www.twitch.tv/RSHour. Questions can be asked via a HackMD +link at that page, no account necessary.

+ + +
+ +
+ + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/events/2020-online-get-together/tba-3-4/index.html b/events/2020-online-get-together/tba-3-4/index.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..2d65dc2b --- /dev/null +++ b/events/2020-online-get-together/tba-3-4/index.html @@ -0,0 +1,223 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + TBA - 'unconference' sessions - Nordic RSE + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + +
+ +
+ back to the schedule + +

TBA - 'unconference' sessions

+

TBA

+ +
+

An "unconference" has events scheduled based on interest of +participants, not decided by organizers. We are leaving this time +open for ad-hoc events proposed by participants. If there is not much +interest, we will move the conclusion forward.

+ +
+ +
+ + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/events/2020-online-get-together/testing-software/index.html b/events/2020-online-get-together/testing-software/index.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..77f1967c --- /dev/null +++ b/events/2020-online-get-together/testing-software/index.html @@ -0,0 +1,225 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + Testing Software: From Unit Testing to Model-based Testing - Nordic RSE + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + +
+ +
+ back to the schedule + +

Testing Software: From Unit Testing to Model-based Testing

+

Cyrille Artho

+ +
+

Unit tests are fixed sequences of function calls that set up the software to the right state and test the outcome of one or a couple of functions. Unit testing has the advantage that if the functionality of the test is relatively clear, at the expense of generality. It is not feasible to create a diverse set of test cases by unit testing alone; we need higher levels of abstraction. +Model-based testing allows a developer to create a higher-level model of software, which models the functionality of an entire software module. A good test model is capable of generating diverse test cases with different API calls and parameters, while still having a relatively precise test oracle. +We will first present model-based testing and our experience with testing Apache ZooKeeper, where we found an unknown, complex defect. After that, we will give a tutorial where participants can create and modify models of Java collections.

+

Links: +Modbat github page +Modbat tutorial page

+ +
+ +
+ + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/events/2021-online-unconference/code-of-conduct/index.html b/events/2021-online-unconference/code-of-conduct/index.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..34422306 --- /dev/null +++ b/events/2021-online-unconference/code-of-conduct/index.html @@ -0,0 +1,283 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + Code of conduct - Nordic RSE + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + +
+ +
+

Code of conduct

+
+

This code of conduct is copied and adapted from the code of conduct used at the +2nd Intl. RSE Leaders Workshop 2020, adapted from +Collaborations Workshop 2020 +(CC-BY-NC 2.5 license) which was adapted from the example policy at the +Geek Feminism wiki, +created by the Ada Initiative and other volunteers (CC-0 license). +The procedure for reporting harassment has been adopted from the Ada Initiative's guide titled +"workshop anti-harassment/Responding to Reports".

+
+

We value the participation of each stakeholder and want all participants to +have an enjoyable and fulfilling experience. Accordingly, all participants are +expected to show respect and courtesy to other participants throughout the +event and through all communication channels.

+

To make clear what is expected, all participants, speakers, organisers and +volunteers at this online get-together are required to conform to +the following code of conduct. Organisers will enforce this code throughout the +event.

+

Summary

+

We are dedicated to providing a harassment-free workshop experience for +everyone. We do not tolerate harassment of workshop participants in any form.

+

All communication should be appropriate for a professional audience including +people of many different backgrounds.

+

Be kind to others. Do not insult or put down other attendees.

+

Behave professionally. Remember that harassment, unprofessional remarks and +messages, and exclusionary jokes are not appropriate at this event.

+

Participants violating these rules may be asked to leave the event +at the sole discretion of the organisers.

+

Thank you for helping make this a welcoming, friendly event for all.

+

Clarifications

+

Harassment includes offensive communication related to gender, sexual +orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, religion, sexual +images in public spaces, deliberate intimidation, stalking, following, +harassing photography or recording, sustained disruption of talks or other +events, inappropriate physical contact, and unwelcome sexual attention.

+

Participants asked to stop any harassing behaviour are expected to comply +immediately.

+

Be careful in the words that you choose. Remember that words can be offensive +to those around you. Offensive jokes are not acceptable at this event. +Excessive swearing is not appropriate at this event.

+

If a participant engages in behaviour that violates this code of conduct, the +workshop organisers may take any action they deem appropriate, including +warning the offender or expulsion from the workshop.

+

Procedure for reporting harassment

+

If you are being harassed, notice that someone else is being harassed, or have +any other concerns, please contact any member of the code of conduct committee +via email or direct message using the workshop Slack chat:

+
    +
  • Samantha Wittke (samantha.wittke@aalto.fi)
    • +
  • Jarno Rantaharju (jarno.rantaharju@aalto.fi)
    • +
  • Radovan Bast (radovan.bast@uit.no)
    • +
+

Report the harassment incident via email to a member of the code of conduct +committee. All reports are confidential.

+

When reporting the event to a code of conduct committee member, try to gather +as much information as available, but do not interview people about the +incident. The committee member will assist you in writing the report/collecting +information.

+

The important information we need consists of:

+
    +
  • Identifying information (name) of the participant doing the harassing
    • +
  • The behaviour that was potentially in violation
    • +
  • The approximate time of the behaviour (if different than the time the report was made)
    • +
  • The circumstances surrounding the incident
    • +
  • Other people involved in the incident
    • +
+

After the code of conduct committee receives a report, a decision will be made +as quickly as possible and any decisions made by the code of conduct will be +enforced immediately.

+ +
+ +
+ + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/events/2021-online-unconference/in-house-r-packages/index.html b/events/2021-online-unconference/in-house-r-packages/index.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..b6f273eb --- /dev/null +++ b/events/2021-online-unconference/in-house-r-packages/index.html @@ -0,0 +1,222 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + Nordic RSE + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + +
+ +
+

Developing and distributing in-house R-packages

+

Athanasia Monika Mowinckel (University of Oslo)

+

R is mainly a statistical programming language than has been around for more +than 20 years. In recent years, it has seen a large resurge in popularity, +especially amongst researchers, for its powerful statistical backbone and open +source practice. But R can be unfamiliar and intimidating for researchers used +to a purely GUI based statistical tool. This talk will center around how I have +developed in-house R tools to clean and handle in-house data, and how I have +distributed these to work on multiple platforms.

+ +
+ +
+ + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/events/2021-online-unconference/index.html b/events/2021-online-unconference/index.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..50c5d7ec --- /dev/null +++ b/events/2021-online-unconference/index.html @@ -0,0 +1,395 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + Nordic-RSE online unconference 2021 - Nordic RSE + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + +
+ +
+

Nordic-RSE online unconference 2021

+

June 29-30, 13-16 CET (3 + 3 hours with optional social time)

+
+
+ + + +
+ +
+

Registration is closed

+

Are you developing software or tools that are driven by research/engineering in either academia or industry? Need to network, share knowledge and experiences with your peers? Nordic-RSE invites everyone interested to join and shape the agenda of our lightweight get-together.

+

The program will consist mainly of your contributions and we encourage you to submit a short abstract for a +discussion topic, talk, demonstration, or any other type of program you would +like to run beforehand (instructions below). But we will also collect on-site suggestions for contributions. No need to plan ahead!

+

To kick off the event on 29th we also have invited some speakers. Stay tuned for updates!

+

Format and scope

+

We would like this event to be an informal space for exchanging ideas and experiences, learning something new, and networking with people of the same interest group. You do not have to be a Research Software Engineer or a Researcher or a Software Engineer nor do you have to be in or be related to the Nordics. Everyone interested in RSE activities is welcome and encouraged to participate and shape the event to what you would like it to be!

+

The Nordic-RSE team will provide support and infrastructure and give a short overview of the Nordic-RSE activities.

+

Contributing

+

You can contribute not only with sessions you would like to present or lead but +also by requesting what session you would like to happen and helping others organizing their sessions. +You can do this by commenting here.

+

As an informal event, we welcome any kind of contribution which respects the Code of Conduct. +If you have an idea you would like to discuss for the event, we encourage you to submit an issue here to discuss with the community and secure a place in the program. +No idea yet? - No problem, we will also accept last minute contributions during the event.

+

Please also have a look at our time slot suggestions.

+

Here are some examples to spark ideas:

+
    +
  • Discussion topics: is software, research software community or research software engineer something close to your heart? Come chatting with other enthusiasts!
    • +
  • Demonstrations: show us some tools or software that you like
    • +
  • Workshop or ReproHacks (only 3 hours in a day)
    • +
  • Talks: teach us something new
    • +
  • On-going projects: share with others something unfinished and almost working that you would like to get feedback on
    • +
  • Something else: is there something you would like to share with others that does not fit any of the previous points? We are looking forward to hearing about it!
    • +
+

Ready to submit your idea? - Please use the unconference contribution issue template to let us know. It does not have to be polished yet, but so that the community gets the idea. We can polish it together if you want to :)

+

You may also come and chat with us in the Zulip chat, where we can figure out contributions together.

+

If you want to be part of the published program, we kindly ask you to submit your idea by June 28th 2021 via any of the above mentioned channels. +And remember, no stress, if you cannot submit anything before the event, you will still have the chance to add your contribution live during the event. But the earlier we know, the easier it is for us to schedule the contributions.

+

By submitting a contribution you agree that:

+
    +
  • your name and abstract of the contribution will be published in our program
    • +
  • your contribution respects the Code of Conduct
    • +
+

Schedule

+

June 29

+

(all times in CEST)

+
    +
  • 13:00 : Welcome and introduction to the unconference format: HackMD, proposing sessions, scheduling (Richard Darst and Samantha Wittke)
    • +
  • 13:15 : Invited talks (Chair: Samantha Wittke) +
      +
    • 13:15 : Shahnawaz Ahmed (Wallenberg Centre for Quantum Technology) +"Keep your code alive - lessons from the QuTiP project" +(abstract)
      • +
    • 13:35 : Kristoffer Carlsson (JuliaComputing) +"Julia for research software engineers" +(abstract)
      • +
    • 13:55 : Break
      • +
    • 14:05 : Q&A
      • +
    • Athanasia Monika Mowinckel (University of Oslo) "Developing and distributing in-house R-packages" (abstract) +(due to unforseen circumstances, this talk will not be presented during this event and we will try to reschedule at a later stage as a regular RSE seminar)
      • +
    +
    • +
  • 14:20 : Introduction to Nordic-RSE (Patric Holmvall)
    • +
  • 14:30 : Anne Fouilloux (Nordic-RSE) +"Myths and misconceptions about research software development in academia" +(abstract)
    • +
  • 14:50 : Unconference scheduling (Richard Darst)
    • +
  • 15:05 : Break
    • +
  • 15:15 : Unconference session 1 (chair: Richard Darst): Further details and updates in the attendee HackMD.
    • +
  • 16:00 : Close
    • +
  • Zoom remains open for Social time until ~18:00
    • +
+

June 30

+

(all times in CEST)

+
    +
  • 13:00 : Introduction to the day and unconference scheduling (Jarno Rantaharju)
    • +
  • 13:10 : Unconference session 2 (chair: Jarno Rantaharju): Further details and updates in the attendee HackMD.
    • +
  • 14:20 : Break
    • +
  • 14:40 : Unconference session 3 (chair: Jarno Rantaharju): Further details and updates in the attendee HackMD.
    • +
  • 15:50 : Conclusion and follow-up (Patric Holmvall)
    • +
  • 16:00 : Close
    • +
  • Zoom remains open for Social time until ~18:00
    • +
+

Nordic-RSE provides

+
    +
  • Code of Conduct
    • +
  • Zoom (with breakout rooms for unconference sessions)
    • +
  • Collaborative documents (HackMD)
    • +
  • Streaming and recording (opt-in)
    • +
  • Continuing conversation on our Zulip chat +before, during, and after the event
    • +
+

The team behind the scenes of this event

+
    +
  • Radovan Bast
    • +
  • Richard Darst
    • +
  • Luca Ferranti
    • +
  • Anne Fouilloux
    • +
  • Patric Holmvall
    • +
  • Jarno Rantaharju
    • +
  • Naoe Tatara
    • +
  • Samantha Wittke
    • +
+

Share the event

+

Do you want to share the event with your colleagues/friends? Here are a few +texts that you can reuse, feel also free to modify them as you like.

+

Short teaser

+

Nordic-RSE invites everyone interested in "Research Software Engineering" +activities to join & shape the agenda of the Nordic-RSE unconference +(lightweight get-together) on June 29-30. See +https://nordic-rse.org/events/2021-online-unconference/ +for more details.

+

Longer teaser

+
    +
  • Are you developing software or tools that are driven by research/engineering in either academia or industry?
    • +
  • Need to network, share knowledge and experiences with your peers?
    • +
  • Maybe you have heard of something called research software engineers and you would like to know more?
    • +
+

Nordic-RSE invites everyone interested in such topics to join our online +unconference (lightweight get-together) on June 29 and 30, where we let the +participants shape the agenda ("birds of a feather"). To kick off the event, we +also have four invited speakers, including:

+
    +
  • Kristoffer Carlsson (JuliaComputing) +"Julia for research software engineers",
    • +
  • Athanasia Monika Mowinckel (University of Oslo) +"Developing and distributing in-house R-packages",
    • +
  • Shahnawaz Ahmed (Wallenberg Centre for Quantum +Technology) "Keep your code alive - lessons from the QuTiP project".
    • +
  • Anne Fouilloux (Nordic-RSE) +"Myths and misconceptions about research software development in academia".
    • +
+

Next, the floor is yours! Come sharing your work and/or listening what others +have been doing. Submit proposals and find out more at: +https://nordic-rse.org/events/2021-online-unconference/

+ +
+ +
+ + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/events/2021-online-unconference/julia-for-rse/index.html b/events/2021-online-unconference/julia-for-rse/index.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..5d603250 --- /dev/null +++ b/events/2021-online-unconference/julia-for-rse/index.html @@ -0,0 +1,218 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + Nordic RSE + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + +
+ +
+

Julia for research software engineers

+

Kristoffer Carlsson (JuliaComputing)

+

Julia is a dynamic programming language with a design which makes it a good +choice for research software engineers. This talk will present three areas +where Julia shine: productivity, performance, and reproducibility.

+ +
+ +
+ + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/events/2021-online-unconference/keep-your-code-alive/index.html b/events/2021-online-unconference/keep-your-code-alive/index.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..bbed92a2 --- /dev/null +++ b/events/2021-online-unconference/keep-your-code-alive/index.html @@ -0,0 +1,222 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + Nordic RSE + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + +
+ +
+

Keep your code alive - lessons from the QuTiP project

+

Shahnawaz Ahmed (Wallenberg Centre for Quantum Technology)

+

The Quantum Toolbox in Python (QuTiP) is a widely used tool for simulating +quantum physics. In this talk we will discuss QuTiP's journey from a Python +project started by two researchers, to a community of developers and users +spread all across the globe. The talk will focus on building an open-source +community and how QuTiP was kept alive through contributions from the +community, Google summer of Code and different academic and non-academic +funding opportunities.

+ +
+ +
+ + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/events/2021-online-unconference/rse-myths-and-misconceptions/index.html b/events/2021-online-unconference/rse-myths-and-misconceptions/index.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..a11a88b1 --- /dev/null +++ b/events/2021-online-unconference/rse-myths-and-misconceptions/index.html @@ -0,0 +1,227 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + Nordic RSE + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + +
+ +
+

Myths and misconceptions about research software development in academia

+

Anne Fouilloux (Nordic-RSE)

+

The goal is to explore and discuss myths and misconceptions about research +software development in academia and how these myths and misconceptions are +hindering the organization and recognition of Research software Engineers in +the Nordics. To initiate the discussion, we will provide a few examples such +as:

+
    +
  • Development of Research Software is not research.
    • +
  • Research software is any code that has been written by a scientist.
    • +
  • Anyone who has written (or even looked) at 3 lines of code is a qualified +Research Software Engineer.
    • +
  • Software is data so FAIR software==FAIR data.
    • +
+ +
+ +
+ + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/events/2022-online-unconference/digital-humanities/index.html b/events/2022-online-unconference/digital-humanities/index.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..fc9a1edf --- /dev/null +++ b/events/2022-online-unconference/digital-humanities/index.html @@ -0,0 +1,220 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + Digital humanities as a technical career path - Nordic RSE + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + +
+ +
+ back to the schedule + +

Digital humanities as a technical career path

+

Everyone

+ +
+

What career paths can digital humanities offer to technical people? Let us discuss it together current status, challenges and perspectives.

+ +
+ +
+ + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/events/2022-online-unconference/index.html b/events/2022-online-unconference/index.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..443d5d58 --- /dev/null +++ b/events/2022-online-unconference/index.html @@ -0,0 +1,759 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + Nordic-RSE online unconference 2022 - Nordic RSE + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + +
+ + + +
+

Nordic-RSE online unconference 2022 #NordicRSEunconf

+

October 18-19, 13:00 - 16:00 CEST (with optional social time)

+

Register +Submit idea

+

Scope

+

This is our second Nordic-RSE unconference, held online October 18-19, +2022, 13:00 - 16:00 CEST (with optional social time). We invite research +software engineers and everyone who develops software or tools and are +driven by research/engineering in either academia or industry. It is a great +opportunity to network, share knowledge and experiences with your peers. We +would like this event to be an informal space for exchanging ideas and +experiences, learning something new, and networking with people of the same +interest group.

+

Possible topics/formats (or check what we have done last year):

+
    +
  • Discussion topics: is software, research software community or research software engineer something close to your heart? Come chatting with other enthusiasts!
    • +
  • Demonstrations: show us some tools or software that you like
    • +
  • Workshop or ReproHacks (max 3 hours in a day)
    • +
  • Talks: teach us something new
    • +
  • On-going projects: share with others something unfinished and almost working that you would like to get feedback on
    • +
  • Something else: is there something you would like to share with others that +does not fit any of the previous points? We are looking forward to hearing +about it!
    • +
+

How it works

+

The program of the unconference will consist mainly of your +contributions and we encourage you to submit a short abstract for a +discussion topic, talk, demonstration, or any other type of program you would +like to run beforehand. But we will also collect on-site suggestions for +contributions. And of course we will all follow a Code of +Conduct.

+

You can also help us by sharing the announcement with others.

+ + +

Program

+

All times are in Central European Time

+ +

Tuesday, October 18th

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ 13:00 (CET) + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + Introduction + (Luca Ferranti) + + +
+
    +
  • Welcome and introduction to the unconference format: HackMD, proposing sessions, scheduling (15min)
    • +
  • Introduction to Nordic-RSE (15min)
    • +
+ +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ 13:30 (CET) + + + Keynote: + + + + + + + + + + How do a PhD's skills translate to industry? + (Richard Darst) + + +
+

A long time ago (~2013-2015), I was at some nice talk that explained how skills learned during a doctorate degree could translate to industry skills. There wasn't anything fancy, basically pointing out things like "As a reseacher you need to figure out how solve unknown problems yourself. Guess what, companies too. You have to learn how to communicate by writing papers and giving presentations. Guess what, companies too". Then going deeper into details, how to develop these skills, how to advertise yourself, and so on.

+

I've mentioned these lessons over the years, but haven't seen anything quite like it (but there must be). While not directly RSE related, I think this is an important lesson for many young researchers and starts them off thinking about non-academic tracks, and once that happens, we can bring their attention to RSE work

+ +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ 13:50 (CET) + + Break/ free-form conversation +
+ 14:20 (CET) + + + Keynote: + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + Research software development in an open science landscape: on reform, co-creation and opportunities for professional establishment + (Sanna Isabel Ulfsparre) + + +
+

As Europe transitions into open science and FAIR research data management, new infrastructures and possibilities for professional development emerge. Sanna Isabel Ulfsparre, librarian at Umeå university library, will talk about policy, trends and tendencies relevant to research software developers who want to further specialise in RSE.

+ +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ 14:40 (CET) + + Break/ free-form conversation +
+ 14:50 (CET) + + Unconference session 1 + + +
    + + + +
  • + Digital humanities as a technical career path + + (Everyone) + + +
    +

    What career paths can digital humanities offer to technical people? Let us discuss it together current status, challenges and perspectives.

    + +
    + +
    • + + + + + + + + + +
  • + RSEngineering, FAIR principles and the future of the profession + + (Matteo Tomasini) + + +
    +

    Sanna Isabel Ulfsparre will give an invited talk about policy, trends and tendencies in the optics of research, in particular with respect to FAIR research principles and open science. While the principles of open science are slowly becoming fundamental in publications and data management, in the future universities and institutions are expected to turn their attention to the production of open software, leading to an increased need of research software engineers. Following her talk, Sanna Isabel would like to lead a discussion / workshop. Matteo will be facilitating the organization of this activity.

    + +
    + +
    • + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+
+ 16:00 (CET) + + social time until ~18:00 +
+ +

Wednesday, October 19th

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ 13:00 (CET) + + Introduction to the day and unconference scheduling +
+ 13:10 (CET) + + Unconference Session 2 + + +
    + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
  • + Software papers and their role in academia + + (Luca Ferranti) + + +
    +

    Publications are the currency for researchers and number and distribution of publications can often be a tie-breaker for getting fundings, so let's talk about where to publish research software papers.

    +

    A few inputs to start the discussion

    +
      +
    • What are the forums that accept research software papers? There are e.g. JOSS, JORS, ACM transactions on mathematical software, do you know others?
      • +
    • What to publish there? When is a research software "good enough" to be published in a journal?
      • +
    • How do these journals compare to traditional journals? When should you choose a "traditional" forum and when a software forum, what are the advantages and disadvantages of each?
      • +
    • How are these journals ranked compared to other ones? Some countries (e.g. Finland and Norway) have a ranking system of publication forums. How are these forums ranked? How should they be ranked?
      • +
    • Is there enough awareness of these forums? Are all RSEs and researchers aware of these forums and related issues? What can we do to increase awareness (if needed)?
      • +
    + +
    + +
    • + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
  • + Lessons learnt from developing a multi-year RSE project + + (Ghislain Vaillant) + + +
    +

    Academia is operating on a set of constraints that makes sustained development of durable software particularly challenging, such as limited resources, frequent staff turnover and lack of training. In this presentation, I reflect on the journey of Clinica, a successful neuroimaging software project, which has been in development for 6 years and counting. First born as a side-project used internally at the Aramis Lab, Clinica has become a mature software project developed in the open and fostering a growing community of users. I will share the major lessons we have learnt during this successful journey and touch on various topics such as coding best practices, technical debt and project management. Although Clinica is developed in Python, most takeaways will be transferable to other projects written with a different software stack.

    + +
    + +
    • + + + +
+
+ 14:20 (CET) + + Break/ free-form conversation +
+ 14:40 (CET) + + Unconference Session 3 + + +
    + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
  • + Make model validation sexy again + + (Sunniva Indrehus) + + +
    +

    Code written to simulate real physical systems typically needs to provide an ensemble of input parameters to create a valid simulation. Writing logic for model validation is a repetitive and tedious task that needs to be handled with great care when performed manually.

    +

    This talk will show how the modern software stack can simplify model validation of a traditional finite element method. With the combination of pydantic, docker, and Fast-API we can even make Fortran77 sexy again.

    + +
    + +
    • + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+
+ 15:50 (CET) + + Concluding remarks +
+ 16:00 (CET) + + social time until ~18:00 +
+ +
+ +
+ + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/events/2022-online-unconference/introduction/index.html b/events/2022-online-unconference/introduction/index.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..dd2e4133 --- /dev/null +++ b/events/2022-online-unconference/introduction/index.html @@ -0,0 +1,223 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + Introduction - Nordic RSE + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + +
+ +
+ back to the schedule + +

Introduction

+

Luca Ferranti

+ +
+
    +
  • Welcome and introduction to the unconference format: HackMD, proposing sessions, scheduling (15min)
    • +
  • Introduction to Nordic-RSE (15min)
    • +
+ +
+ +
+ + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/events/2022-online-unconference/model-validation/index.html b/events/2022-online-unconference/model-validation/index.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..c04bde11 --- /dev/null +++ b/events/2022-online-unconference/model-validation/index.html @@ -0,0 +1,221 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + Make model validation sexy again - Nordic RSE + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + +
+ +
+ back to the schedule + +

Make model validation sexy again

+

Sunniva Indrehus

+ +
+

Code written to simulate real physical systems typically needs to provide an ensemble of input parameters to create a valid simulation. Writing logic for model validation is a repetitive and tedious task that needs to be handled with great care when performed manually.

+

This talk will show how the modern software stack can simplify model validation of a traditional finite element method. With the combination of pydantic, docker, and Fast-API we can even make Fortran77 sexy again.

+ +
+ +
+ + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/events/2022-online-unconference/phd-skills-2/index.html b/events/2022-online-unconference/phd-skills-2/index.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..8a243789 --- /dev/null +++ b/events/2022-online-unconference/phd-skills-2/index.html @@ -0,0 +1,221 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + How do a PhD's skills translate to industry? - Nordic RSE + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + +
+ +
+ back to the schedule + +

How do a PhD's skills translate to industry?

+

Richard Darst

+ +
+

A long time ago (~2013-2015), I was at some nice talk that explained how skills learned during a doctorate degree could translate to industry skills. There wasn't anything fancy, basically pointing out things like "As a reseacher you need to figure out how solve unknown problems yourself. Guess what, companies too. You have to learn how to communicate by writing papers and giving presentations. Guess what, companies too". Then going deeper into details, how to develop these skills, how to advertise yourself, and so on.

+

I've mentioned these lessons over the years, but haven't seen anything quite like it (but there must be). While not directly RSE related, I think this is an important lesson for many young researchers and starts them off thinking about non-academic tracks, and once that happens, we can bring their attention to RSE work

+ +
+ +
+ + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/events/2022-online-unconference/phd-skills-in-industry/index.html b/events/2022-online-unconference/phd-skills-in-industry/index.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..dd77628b --- /dev/null +++ b/events/2022-online-unconference/phd-skills-in-industry/index.html @@ -0,0 +1,223 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + Perspectives on working in industry with a PhD - Nordic RSE + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + +
+ +
+ back to the schedule + +

Perspectives on working in industry with a PhD

+

Sheema Kooshapur

+ +
+

What is it like moving from academic to industry if you are a +computational scientist? What should you keep in mind to prepare? +This talk will discuss some perspectives from someone who has made +that transition and has helped others make that transition, too.

+ +
+ +
+ + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/events/2022-online-unconference/rse-fair/index.html b/events/2022-online-unconference/rse-fair/index.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..46ed65a2 --- /dev/null +++ b/events/2022-online-unconference/rse-fair/index.html @@ -0,0 +1,220 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + RSEngineering, FAIR principles and the future of the profession - Nordic RSE + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + +
+ +
+ back to the schedule + +

RSEngineering, FAIR principles and the future of the profession

+

Matteo Tomasini

+ +
+

Sanna Isabel Ulfsparre will give an invited talk about policy, trends and tendencies in the optics of research, in particular with respect to FAIR research principles and open science. While the principles of open science are slowly becoming fundamental in publications and data management, in the future universities and institutions are expected to turn their attention to the production of open software, leading to an increased need of research software engineers. Following her talk, Sanna Isabel would like to lead a discussion / workshop. Matteo will be facilitating the organization of this activity.

+ +
+ +
+ + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/events/2022-online-unconference/rse-landscape/index.html b/events/2022-online-unconference/rse-landscape/index.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..3e7ca4d9 --- /dev/null +++ b/events/2022-online-unconference/rse-landscape/index.html @@ -0,0 +1,220 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + Research software development in an open science landscape: on reform, co-creation and opportunities for professional establishment - Nordic RSE + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + +
+ +
+ back to the schedule + +

Research software development in an open science landscape: on reform, co-creation and opportunities for professional establishment

+

Sanna Isabel Ulfsparre

+ +
+

As Europe transitions into open science and FAIR research data management, new infrastructures and possibilities for professional development emerge. Sanna Isabel Ulfsparre, librarian at Umeå university library, will talk about policy, trends and tendencies relevant to research software developers who want to further specialise in RSE.

+ +
+ +
+ + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/events/2022-online-unconference/rse-lessons-learnt/index.html b/events/2022-online-unconference/rse-lessons-learnt/index.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..3b33bc6e --- /dev/null +++ b/events/2022-online-unconference/rse-lessons-learnt/index.html @@ -0,0 +1,220 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + Lessons learnt from developing a multi-year RSE project - Nordic RSE + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + +
+ +
+ back to the schedule + +

Lessons learnt from developing a multi-year RSE project

+

Ghislain Vaillant

+ +
+

Academia is operating on a set of constraints that makes sustained development of durable software particularly challenging, such as limited resources, frequent staff turnover and lack of training. In this presentation, I reflect on the journey of Clinica, a successful neuroimaging software project, which has been in development for 6 years and counting. First born as a side-project used internally at the Aramis Lab, Clinica has become a mature software project developed in the open and fostering a growing community of users. I will share the major lessons we have learnt during this successful journey and touch on various topics such as coding best practices, technical debt and project management. Although Clinica is developed in Python, most takeaways will be transferable to other projects written with a different software stack.

+ +
+ +
+ + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/events/2022-online-unconference/share/index.html b/events/2022-online-unconference/share/index.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..d10c2e04 --- /dev/null +++ b/events/2022-online-unconference/share/index.html @@ -0,0 +1,235 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + Nordic-RSE online unconference 2022 - share the event - Nordic RSE + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + +
+ +
+

Share the event

+

Do you want to share the unconference event with your colleagues/friends? Here are a few +texts that you can reuse, feel also free to modify them as you like.

+

Short teaser

+
Nordic-RSE invites everyone interested in "Research Software Engineering"
+activities to join & shape the agenda of the Nordic-RSE unconference
+(lightweight get-together) on October 18-19. See
+https://nordic-rse.org/events/2022-online-unconference/ for more details.
+
+

Longer teaser

+
- Are you developing software or tools that are driven by research/engineering in either academia or industry?
+- Need to network, share knowledge and experiences with your peers?
+- Maybe you have heard of something called research software engineers and you would like to know more?
+
+Nordic-RSE invites everyone interested in such topics to join our online
+unconference (lightweight get-together) on October 18 and 19, where we let the
+participants shape the agenda ("birds of a feather").
+
+Next, the floor is yours! Come sharing your work and/or listening what others
+have been doing. Submit proposals and find out more at:
+https://nordic-rse.org/events/2022-online-unconference/
+
+ +
+ +
+ + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/events/2022-online-unconference/software-papers/index.html b/events/2022-online-unconference/software-papers/index.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..e4cccd5a --- /dev/null +++ b/events/2022-online-unconference/software-papers/index.html @@ -0,0 +1,228 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + Software papers and their role in academia - Nordic RSE + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + +
+ +
+ back to the schedule + +

Software papers and their role in academia

+

Luca Ferranti

+ +
+

Publications are the currency for researchers and number and distribution of publications can often be a tie-breaker for getting fundings, so let's talk about where to publish research software papers.

+

A few inputs to start the discussion

+
    +
  • What are the forums that accept research software papers? There are e.g. JOSS, JORS, ACM transactions on mathematical software, do you know others?
    • +
  • What to publish there? When is a research software "good enough" to be published in a journal?
    • +
  • How do these journals compare to traditional journals? When should you choose a "traditional" forum and when a software forum, what are the advantages and disadvantages of each?
    • +
  • How are these journals ranked compared to other ones? Some countries (e.g. Finland and Norway) have a ranking system of publication forums. How are these forums ranked? How should they be ranked?
    • +
  • Is there enough awareness of these forums? Are all RSEs and researchers aware of these forums and related issues? What can we do to increase awareness (if needed)?
    • +
+ +
+ +
+ + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/events/2023-online-unconference/index.html b/events/2023-online-unconference/index.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..c4169f0e --- /dev/null +++ b/events/2023-online-unconference/index.html @@ -0,0 +1,285 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + Nordic-RSE online unconference 2023 - Nordic RSE + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + +
+ +
+

Nordic-RSE online unconference 2023 #NordicRSEunconf

+

October 25-26, 13:00 - 16:00 CEST (with optional social time after)

+

Register

+

What is an unconference?

+

An unconference is a conference in which the content is mainly provided +by the people who join the unconference on a voluntary and often improvised base. +The program of our unconference will consist mainly of your +contributions and we encourage you to submit a short abstract for a +discussion topic, talk, demonstration, or any other type of program you would +like to run beforehand. But we will also collect on-site suggestions for +contributions. And of course we will all follow a Code of +Conduct.

+

You can also help us by sharing the announcement with others.

+

Scope

+

This is our third Nordic-RSE unconference, held online October 25-26, +2023, 13:00 - 16:00 CEST (with optional social time). We invite research +software engineers and everyone who develops software or tools and are +driven by research/engineering in either academia or industry. It is a great +opportunity to network, share knowledge and experiences with your peers. We +would like this event to be an informal space for exchanging ideas and +experiences, learning something new, and networking with people of the same +interest group.

+

This year the focus will all be on us, the research software engineers themselves. So we decided to focus on two topics:

+
    +
  1. hidden gems: what are those tools and technologies that you use regularly and make your life easier, yet few people seem to know?
    2. +
  2. paper cuts: we wanna hear your big and small failures encountered in the profession, how you solved them (if you did). What went wrong?
    3. +
+

At an unconference, all formats of communication are welcome (or check what we have done last year):

+
    +
  • Discussion topics: is software, research software community or research software engineer something close to your heart? Come chatting with other enthusiasts!
    • +
  • Demonstrations: show us some tools or software that you like
    • +
  • Workshop or ReproHacks (max 3 hours in a day)
    • +
  • Talks: teach us something new
    • +
  • On-going projects: share with others something unfinished and almost working that you would like to get feedback on
    • +
  • Something else: is there something you would like to share with others that +does not fit any of the previous points? We are looking forward to hearing +about it!
    • +
+

Program

+

Day 1: 2023-10-25

+

All times are CET (convert to local time)

+
    +
  • 13:00 - 13:20 : Welcome and Intro to the unconference format (Matteo Tomasini)
    • +
  • 13:20 - 14:20 : Hidden gems presentations (5-15 min each; chair: Jarno Rantaharju) +
      +
    • Examples: data tools, VS Code plugins, efficiency hacks, programming +tools, libraries, containerized Conda, other 'life hacks', calendar via +GitHub, whisper for subtitles
      • +
    • Emphasis on accessibility to a wide audience
      • +
    +
    • +
  • 14:20 - 14:40 : Break
    • +
  • 14:40 - 16:00 : Hidden gems discussions / workshops (breakout sessions; chair: TBA) +
      +
    • Examples: more presentations, deeper dives from session 1 (planned or +spontaneous), tutorials, show each other our set-ups, information about Advent +of Code
      • +
    +
    • +
  • 16:00 - 18:00 : Optional social time (Zoom)
    • +
+

Day 2: 2023-10-26

+

All times are CET (convert to local time)

+
    +
  • 13:00 - 13:10 : Introduction to the day and unconference scheduling
    • +
  • 13:10 - 14:20 : Paper cuts presentations (5-15 min each; chair: Richard Darst)) +
      +
    • Examples: usability problems in computing, difficulty in support or +teaching and what we can do about this, Problems you have have seen but +don't have a solution for, Tell us about your coolest programming idea +which did not work, security
      • +
    +
    • +
  • 14:20 - 14:40 : Break
    • +
  • 14:40 - 16:00 : Paper cuts presentations discussions / workshops (breakout sessions; Matteo Tomasini) +
      +
    • Examples: more presentations, deeper dives from session 3 (planned or +spontaneous), tutorials. re-visiting the code skeletons in my (GitHub) +closet, Halloween session (share data/software horror stories), tell us +about your Advent of Code shenanigans
      • +
    +
    • +
  • 16:00 - 18:00 : Optional social time (Zoom)
    • +
+ +
+ +
+ + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/events/2023-online-unconference/share/index.html b/events/2023-online-unconference/share/index.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..33e6fad3 --- /dev/null +++ b/events/2023-online-unconference/share/index.html @@ -0,0 +1,235 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + Nordic-RSE online unconference 2023 - share the event - Nordic RSE + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + +
+ +
+

Share the event

+

Do you want to share the unconference event with your colleagues/friends? Here are a few +texts that you can reuse, feel also free to modify them as you like.

+

Short teaser

+
Nordic-RSE invites everyone interested in "Research Software Engineering"
+activities to join & shape the agenda of the Nordic-RSE unconference
+(lightweight get-together) on October 25-26, 2023. See
+https://nordic-rse.org/events/2023-online-unconference/ for more details.
+
+

Longer teaser

+
- Are you a research software engineer and want to share your successes and your failures?
+- Need to network, share knowledge and experiences with your peers?
+- Maybe you have heard of something called research software engineers and you would like to know more about who we are?
+
+Nordic-RSE invites everyone interested in such topics to join our online
+unconference (lightweight get-together) on October 25 and 26, where we let the
+participants shape the agenda ("birds of a feather").
+
+Next, the floor is yours! Come sharing your work and/or listening what others
+have been doing. Submit proposals and find out more at:
+https://nordic-rse.org/events/2023-online-unconference/
+
+ +
+ +
+ + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/events/2024-in-person-conference/Nordic-RSE-schedule-2024.pdf b/events/2024-in-person-conference/Nordic-RSE-schedule-2024.pdf new file mode 100644 index 00000000..8f0a01a2 Binary files /dev/null and b/events/2024-in-person-conference/Nordic-RSE-schedule-2024.pdf differ diff --git a/events/2024-in-person-conference/coc-info-for-organizers/index.html b/events/2024-in-person-conference/coc-info-for-organizers/index.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..5473cded --- /dev/null +++ b/events/2024-in-person-conference/coc-info-for-organizers/index.html @@ -0,0 +1,284 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + Code of Conduct Information for Organizers - Nordic RSE + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + +
+ +
+

Code of Conduct Information for Organizers

+
+

This code of conduct is copied and adapted from the example policy at the +Geek Feminism wiki, +created by the Ada Initiative and other volunteers (CC-0 license). +The procedure for reporting harassment has been adapted from the Ada Initiative's guide titled +"workshop anti-harassment/Responding to Reports".

+
+

Please read this before organizing a Nordic-RSE event. This page describes how we +enforce security and the code of coduct in a Nordic-RSE event.

+

Warnings

+

Any member of conference organizer or code of conduct committee member can issue +a verbal warning to a participant whose behavior violates the conference's +anti-harassment policy.

+

Warnings should be reported to secretary@nordic-rse.org as soon as practical. +This ensures that other organizers know about the warning and creates a record.

+

The report should include:

+
    +
  • Identifying information (name/badge number) of the participant
    • +
  • The time you issued the warning
    • +
  • The behavior that was in violation
    • +
  • The approximate time of the behavior (if different than the time of warning)
    • +
  • The circumstances surrounding the incident
    • +
  • Your identity
    • +
  • Other people involved in the incident
    • +
+

Presentations

+

Presentations or similar events should not be stopped for one-time gaffes or minor problems, +although a member of conference staff should speak to the presenter afterward. However, staff +should take immediate action to politely and calmly stop any presentation or event that +repeatedly or seriously violates the anti-harassment policy. For example, simply say "I'm +sorry, this presentation cannot be continued at the present time" with no further explanation.

+

Taking reports

+

When taking a report from someone experiencing harassment you should record what they say and +reassure them they are being taken seriously, but avoid making specific promises about what +actions the organizers will take. Ask for any other information if the reporter has not +volunteered it (such as time, place) but do not pressure them to provide it if they are +reluctant. Even if the report lacks important details such as the identity of the person +taking the harassing actions, it should still be recorded and passed along to the appropriate +staff member(s). If the reporter desires it, arrange for an escort by conference staff or a +trusted person, contact a friend, and contact local law enforcement. Do not pressure the +reporter to take any action if they do not want to do it. Respect the reporter's privacy by +not sharing unnecessary details with others, especially individuals who were not involved with +the situation or non-staff members.

+

The report should include:

+
    +
  • Identifying information (name/badge number) of the participant
    • +
  • The time you issued the warning
    • +
  • The behavior that was in violation
    • +
  • The approximate time of the behavior (if different than the time of warning)
    • +
  • The circumstances surrounding the incident
    • +
  • Your identity
    • +
  • Other people involved in the incident
    • +
+

Expulsion

+

A participant may be expelled by the decision of the conference organizers or code of coduct +committee member, for whatever reasons they deem sufficient. However, here are some general +guidelines for when a participant should be expelled:

+
    +
  • A [third] offense resulting in a warning from staff
    • +
  • Continuing to harass after any "No" or "Stop" instruction
    • +
  • A pattern of harassing behavior, with or without warnings
    • +
  • A single serious offense (e.g., punching or groping someone)
    • +
  • A single obviously intentional offense (e.g., taking up-skirt photos)
    • +
+

Venue security and local authorities should be contacted when appropriate.

+

Phone number for Aalto help line: 050 4646 462

+

Public statements

+

As a general rule, conference staff should not make any public statements about the behavior +of individual people during or after the conference.

+

In general, consult with other staff members when possible but act when necessary.

+ +
+ +
+ + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/events/2024-in-person-conference/code-of-conduct/index.html b/events/2024-in-person-conference/code-of-conduct/index.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..a5fdfdda --- /dev/null +++ b/events/2024-in-person-conference/code-of-conduct/index.html @@ -0,0 +1,303 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + Code of Conduct for In Person Conferences - Nordic RSE + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + +
+ +
+

Code of conduct for In Person Conferences

+
+

This code of conduct is copied and adapted from the example policy at the +Geek Feminism wiki, +created by the Ada Initiative and other volunteers (CC-0 license). +The procedure for reporting harassment has been adapted from the Ada Initiative's guide titled +"workshop anti-harassment/Responding to Reports".

+
+

We value the participation of each stakeholder and want our members and +participants to our events to have an enjoyable and fulfilling experience. +Accordingly, all members and participants are expected to show respect and +courtesy to other members and participants through all communication channels.

+

To make clear what is expected, all Nordic-RSE members as well as participants, +speakers, exhibitors, organisers and volunteers at Nordic-RSE events are +required to conform to the following code of conduct. Organisers will enforce +this code throughout the event.

+

Summary

+

We are dedicated to providing a harassment-free experience for everyone. We do +not tolerate harassment in any form.

+

All communication should be appropriate for a professional audience including +people of many different backgrounds.

+

Be kind to others. Do not insult or put down others.

+

Behave professionally. Remember that harassment, unprofessional remarks and +messages, and exclusionary jokes are not appropriate in Nordic-RSE.

+

Conference participants violating these rules may be sanctioned or expelled from +the conference without a refund at the discretion of the conference organizers. +Members of Nordic-RSE may have their membership revoked by the board.

+

Thank you for making the Nordic-RSE conference a welcoming and friendly event +for all.

+

Clarifications

+

Harassment includes offensive communication related to gender, sexual +orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, religion, sexual +images in public spaces, deliberate intimidation, stalking, following, +harassing photography or recording, sustained disruption of talks or other +events, inappropriate physical contact, and unwelcome sexual attention.

+

Participants asked to stop any harassing behaviour are expected to comply +immediately.

+

Be careful in the words that you choose. Remember that words can be offensive +to those around you. Offensive jokes are not acceptable in the Nordic-RSE. +Excessive swearing is not appropriate.

+

Enforcement

+

If a participant at a Nordic-RSE event violates this code of conduct, +organisers may take any action they deem appropriate, including a +warning the offender, removing them from the workshop with no refund, or +banning the offender from future Nordic-RSE events.

+

If a member of Nordic RSE engages in behaviour that violates this code of conduct, +the board of the association at the recommendation of the Code of Conduct committee +may take any action they deem appropriate, including warning the offender or revoking +their membership without refund of the membership fee.

+

Reporting

+

If someone makes you or anyone else feel unsafe or unwelcome, please report it +as soon as possible. Harassment and other code of conduct violations reduce the +value of our event for everyone. We want you to be happy at our event. People +like you make our event a better place.

+

You can make a report either personally or anonymously.

+

Anonymous Report

+

You can make this online form.

+

We can't follow up an anonymous report with you directly, but we will fully investigate +it and take whatever action is necessary to prevent a recurrence.

+

Personal Report

+

You can make a personal report by:

+
    +
  • Contacting any member of the Code of Conduct committee +
      +
    • Aurélie Vancraeyenest: aurelie.vancraeyenest@csc.fi
      • +
    • Viitanen Essi: essi.viitanen@aalto.fi
      • +
    • Krejci Ondrej: ondrej.krejci@aalto.fi
      • +
    +
    • +
  • Contacting any conference organizer
    • +
  • Contacting any member of the Nordic-RSE board
    • +
+

When taking a personal report, organizers will ensure you are safe and cannot be +overheard. They may involve other event staff to ensure your report is managed properly. +Once safe, we'll ask you to tell us about what happened. This can be upsetting, but +we'll handle it as respectfully as possible, and you can bring someone to support you. +You won't be asked to confront anyone and we won't tell anyone who you are.

+

Our team will be happy to help you contact hotel/venue security, local law enforcement, +local support services, provide escorts, or otherwise assist you to feel safe for the +duration of the event. We value your attendance.

+

Contact Information

+

In an emergency call 112. This includes medical, police and rescue services.

+

Organizers: secretary@nordic-rse.org +Venue help line: 050 4646 462

+

Emergency (Medical, police or anything else urgent): 112 +Non-emergency medical care: 116117 +Local law enforcement (Non Urgent): 0295 438 031 +Crime victim support: 116 006 +Local sexual assault hot line: 0800 978 99, https://www.riku.fi/en/as-a-victim-of-crime/violence-against-women/

+

Local taxi company: 0100 7300, 0100 0700, 0100 6060

+ +
+ +
+ + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/events/2024-in-person-conference/index.html b/events/2024-in-person-conference/index.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..baffb239 --- /dev/null +++ b/events/2024-in-person-conference/index.html @@ -0,0 +1,358 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + Nordic-RSE in person conference 2024 - Nordic RSE + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + +
+ +
+

Nordic-RSE in person conference 2024 #NordicRSEconf

+

May 30-31, Aalto University, Espoo, Finland

+

Abstract call and registrations are now open!

+

Registrations are open! Please register by May 5th to ensure a place inclusive of lunches and extra-activities!

+

Register to Nordic RSE 2024 Conference See the accepted abstracts

+

What is it?

+

Do you enjoy talking software? Learning tricks about your favorite programming languages? Solving interesting coding +problems? Sharing your experiences with other likeminded people? Welcome to the first ever Nordic RSE in person +conference! We believe you might really like it here.

+

We are an association of professionals developing and using software for the needs of research. As such we aim to create +a community of researchers, engineers, developers, digital experts and more, to talk about topics that are often overlooked +in classical academic conferences. The focus of our conference is not on results of research, but rather on the tools that +underlie those results. Additionally, we hope to foster a rich network of exchanges and conversations surrounding the +practices of software development in research.

+

Most research is already built on a foundation of sofware tools and the quality and reliability of those tools is key to +producing reliable results. And the importance of software keeps growing. In this conference we want to talk about what +pipelines you develop and use for your research, and how you use it, the software you develop, and how you got about +developing it.

+

Where

+

On the campus of Aalto +University in Otaniemi, +Espoo, Finland (note: the address is Konemiehentie 1, Espoo, but +Google doesn't direct you to the right building if you enter this +address. See practical info).

+

How you can help

+
    +
  • Encourage your colleagues to submit a contribution and/or join our association. Since the term RSE is still fairly new, they might not know about it yet and be hesitant to submit something.
    • +
  • Share the announcement with others.
    • +
  • Do you want to volunteer and help us run our first in person conference? Join us or get in touch with us!
    • +
+

Contributions and themes

+

The call for contributions is now closed, and the program will be published soon, check this space! For now, you can take a look at the book of accepted abstracts.

+

We will have a plenary program including talks about some technical demonstrations of computational techologies, the future of research software engineers, breaking (programming) language barriers, and more! In particular, don't miss our invited speaker Martin O'Reilly, from the Software Sustainability Institute, who will talk about the growth of Research Software Engineering and its vital role in research!

+

We will also make sure to get enough time to network and enjoy our time as a community: our social times will include coffee breaks, a dinner and a sauna on the evening of Day 1.

+

And of course we will all follow a Code of Conduct.

+

Program

+

See the schedule including talks. For +directions see the map below.

+

Day 1: 2024-5-30

+

All times are EET (convert to local time)

+
    +
  • 9:00 - 11:00 : Arrival of participants, registration, mingling +(Update: U121a of first floor of the building)
    • +
  • 11:00 - 12:45 : Informal get-together on campus, group activities (Update: U121a of first floor of the building)
    • +
  • 13:00 - 14:00 : Lunch (Arvo)
    • +
  • 14:15 - 17:35 : Opening and conference sessions (Main rooms) +
      +
    • 15:25 - 15:55 : Break (with coffee)
      • +
    • 16:15 - 17:00 : Break (no coffee)
      • +
    +
    • +
  • 18:30 - 20:30 : Dinner (Fat Lizard)
    • +
  • 20:30 - xx:xx : Sauna
    • +
+

Day 2: 2024-5-31

+

All times are EET (convert to local time)

+
    +
  • 9:00 - 11:40 : Conference sessions (Main rooms) +
      +
    • 10:15 - 10:40 : Break (with coffee)
      • +
    +
    • +
  • 12:00 - 13:00 : Lunch (Mau-Kas) (Paid by Nordic-RSE. Buffet style.)
    • +
  • 13.15 - 16:30 : Conference sessions (Main rooms) +
      +
    • 14:15- 14:30 : Break (no coffee)
      • +
    • 15:5 - 15:35 : Break (with coffee)
      • +
    +
    • +
  • 16:30 - 17:00 : Closing
    • +
+

Funding

+

We thank the Software Sustainability Institute for funding our conference.

+Software Sustainability Institute logo +

We thank Aalto Scientific Computing for providing the venue and local support.

+Aalto Scientific Computing logo +

Practical information

+

Registration

+

Registration includes dinner both lunches, snacks, and coffee, and all +activities.

+

There is an evening sauna, but space is limaited to ~25 people. The +first registrants get priority and spots will be allocated later.

+

The registration fee is 50€. +You can register at this link.

+

Financial support

+

Nordic-RSE strives to be an inclusive and supportive community. If you would like to attend the event, but find yourself unable for economical reasons, contact us at secretary@nordic-rse.org to ask about financial support. While we cannot offer travel grants, we might be able to offer small financial aid, e.g. in the form of a ticket waiver.

+

To apply for financial support, include in the email the following information:

+
    +
  • why you would like to attend the event
    • +
  • how attending would benefit you and your career
    • +
  • what you would need to be able to attend
    • +
+

Note that decisions will be made individually on a per-case basis.

+

Arrival time

+

If you arrive before or during Thursday morning, we have a informal +session until 12:45 noon, which may include demonstrations, social +activities, hack time, getting to know each other, or more. If you +arrive before 13:00, you can join us for lunch. Main talks begin at +14:00.

+

If you arrive Wednesday evening, some organizers will be around and +we'll try to arrange some activity together.

+

You can see all locations on this +map.

+

Venue

+

Main venue: Aalto University, Konemiehentie 1, Espoo, Finland.

+

Thursday morning, before noon: Update: room U121a on the first floor, Otakaari 1, Espoo, Finland +(building name: Undergraduate Center).

+

Lunches are in the campus area, a short walk to other buildings. All areas have step-free access.

+

For details, see this map (and click on labels for details):

+

See full screen

+

Finding our buildings/rooms

+

Click on the respective marker on the map for arrival instructions/map +app links. Check your email for a contact phone number if you need +help.

+

Other activities

+

Our plan includes lunches, conference dinner, sauna.

+

Wikivoyage Helsinki is +usually pretty accurate and has information about the area and other +sights to see.

+

Hotels

+

There are various hotels within easy walking distance. We don't have +any particular discounts. "Radison Blu Otaniemi" is the default +location for university visitors. Other hotels in Helsinki downtown +are fine also, the metro trip is 11 minutes (and costs ~3 euros).

+

Transportation

+

tldr: Aalto University is at the "Aalto University" metro stop. An "ABC" +ticket manages the train from airport AND metro (and trams, busses, +etc).

+

Air: Helsinki Airport. Between the airport +and Aalto University, plan for max 1.5 hours (less than one hour is +possible if you are efficient). From the airport, follow signs to the +train station. Buy a ticket for zones ABC, this will get you all the +way to the university (see public transport). Take the first train +that comes (either way gets to downtown in about the same time). Walk +to the main station and down to the metro station. Take a metro +to the stop Aalto University (direction Tapiola or Kivenlahti), then +continue in section "public transport"

+

Ferry: From Tallinn or Stockholm, there are ferries. Expect well +under an hour to get from the ferry harbors to Aalto University. Take +trams to the metro, but from each harbor walking to the metro is +reasonable (not too far and nice walks). +(Some attendees are also attending the Nordic e-infrastructure +Conference in Tallinn on 27-29 May, they will be taking ferries from +Tallinn the evening of 29 May. More info to be announced)

+

Bus, Train, etc. within Finland: You probably know how to get to +the center of Helsinki. Follow public transit below.

+

Private vehicle: There isn't free parking, but there are paid lots +around.

+

Public transport: The public transport system is good and easy to +use. The metro stop name is "Aalto University", and the A entrance may be +slightly easier to use. Tickets can be bought at ticket machines, or +via the "HSL App". Aalto University is in the zone B, downtown is in +the zone A, the airport in zone C, and tickets last a bit more than an +hour and work on any public bus, train, metro, or tram (and as many +transfers as you need). AB zone tickets cost 2.95€.

+

If coming from airport: use single tickets, day tickets not worth it +even with one extra trip to/from downtown.

+ +
+ +
+ + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/events/2024-in-person-conference/nordic-2024-book-of-abstracts.pdf b/events/2024-in-person-conference/nordic-2024-book-of-abstracts.pdf new file mode 100644 index 00000000..d0c060e7 Binary files /dev/null and b/events/2024-in-person-conference/nordic-2024-book-of-abstracts.pdf differ diff --git a/events/advent-of-code-2021/index.html b/events/advent-of-code-2021/index.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..f8529fb5 --- /dev/null +++ b/events/advent-of-code-2021/index.html @@ -0,0 +1,221 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + Nordic RSE + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + +
+ +
+

Advent of Code 2021

+

This year we will work on the advent of code +challenges together. Join us on the Zulip chat and in a Zoom meeting each Tuesday from 14 to 17 CET, or 15 to 18 EET (Meeting ID: 697 4843 1728).

+

The advent of code is a great way to learn a new programming language tohether +or brush up your software development skills. Each week we will chat about our +solutions, give some tips if you are stuck (provided at least one of us has +solved the problem) and just chat and have some fun.

+

See you on the Zulip chat and in the Zoom meeting.

+ +
+ +
+ + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/events/advent-of-code-2022/index.html b/events/advent-of-code-2022/index.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..0e6a5a78 --- /dev/null +++ b/events/advent-of-code-2022/index.html @@ -0,0 +1,222 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + Nordic RSE + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + +
+ +
+

Advent of Code 2022

+

This year we will again work +advent of code +challenges together. Join us on the Zulip chat.

+

The advent of code is a great way to learn a new programming language tohether +or brush up your software development skills. Each day we will chat about our +solutions, give some tips if you are stuck (provided at least one of us has +solved the problem) and just chat and have some fun.

+

See you on the Zulip chat and in the Zoom meeting.

+ +
+ +
+ + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/events/coffeebreak/coffeebreakpicture.jpg b/events/coffeebreak/coffeebreakpicture.jpg new file mode 100644 index 00000000..80d9f5a1 Binary files /dev/null and b/events/coffeebreak/coffeebreakpicture.jpg differ diff --git a/events/coffeebreak/index.html b/events/coffeebreak/index.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..c264c6cc --- /dev/null +++ b/events/coffeebreak/index.html @@ -0,0 +1,224 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + Nordic RSE + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + +
+ +
+

Weekly virtual coffee break

+

The RSE Finland group invites all interested in research software engineering +to the weekly online coffee break at 10:00 (Europe/Helsinki) every Thursday. Convert to your time zone +The coffee break is an informal meeting, open for everyone to discuss with and listen to +others interested in research software engineering. We currently have +no pre-decided topics, but never run out of things to say.

+

Language: English

+

Host: Jarno Rantaharju (Aalto University)

+

To participate, join our +Zoom chat: https://aalto.zoom.us/j/62426845282 (Zoom ID 624 2684 5282).

+coffee break picture + +
+ +
+ + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/events/index.html b/events/index.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..4bd4bf3a --- /dev/null +++ b/events/index.html @@ -0,0 +1,235 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + Nordic RSE + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + +
+ +
+

Upcoming Events

+

Research Software Seminar Series

+
    +
  • Currently on break. Full schedule here
    • +
+

Conference

+

The first Nordic-RSE in person conference happened May 30-31, 2024 in Espoo, Finland! +In 2025 we will most likely meet in Sweden. Stay tuned for more information!

+

Advent of Code

+

Every year we try to do the +advent of code +challenges and discuss their implementation in different languages. Join us on the Zulip chat.

+

The advent of code is a great way to learn a new programming language tohether +or brush up your software development skills. Each day we will chat about our +solutions, give some tips if you are stuck (provided at least one of us has +solved the problem) and just chat and have some fun.

+

Virtual coffee break - weekly

+

An free form coffee break +open to everyone every Thursday at 9 CET/CEST (10 EET/EEST).

+

Calendar

+

Add to your calendars

+ + +
+ +
+ + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/events/international-rse-day/index.html b/events/international-rse-day/index.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..d75e7af0 --- /dev/null +++ b/events/international-rse-day/index.html @@ -0,0 +1,302 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + International RSE day in the Nordics - Nordic RSE + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + +
+ +
+

International RSE day in the Nordics

+

October 14, 9-15 CEST / 10:00 - 16:00 EEST

+
+
+ + + +
+ +
+

The International RSE Day is to celebrate Research Software Engineers around the world and raise awareness for the increasingly relevant discipline of Research Software Engineering.

+

The Nordic-RSE association is contributing to the International RSE day with an exciting program around community building and raising awareness for RSEs!

+

Schedule

+

October 14th

+

(all times in CEST)

+
    +
  • +

    All day, at anytime come and say hello in https://coderefinery.zulipchat.com in our nordic-rse/international RSE day Oct 14 stream. We do not have any registration form for this event but we would like to encourage our community to come along in zulip to say hello!

    +
    • +
  • +

    09:00 Introduce yourself (2 hours come along helpdesk session in zulip chat) +The goal of this session is to provide support to prepare a 1 min video about yourself:

    +
      +
    • your name, institution, RSE project you are working on e.g. what software are you contributing to (language, topic and whatever you can say in less than 1 minute!)
      • +
    +

    All the videos will be published in our youtube channel and we will also make a "wall of fame" on the nordic-RSE website.

    +

    Nordic-RSE staff will provide helpdesk in our nordic-rse/international RSE day Oct 14 stream so they can support you to prepare the video but of course, feel free to skip this session and send us directly the link to your 1 minute video!

    +

    If you want to see an example of what you can have in your 1mn video, have a look here. Once your video is ready, share the link with us on our nordic-rse/international RSE day Oct 14 stream.

    +
    • +
  • +

    11:00 Lunch break

    +
    • +
  • +

    13:00 TIL ('Today I Learned') session

    +
      +
    • This session is all about sharing the small things that we learn now and then, that others may also find useful.
      • +
    • You can find a growing collection of TIL on our Zulip #help/TIL channel that can serve as inspiration.
      • +
    • The idea for this afternoon is to write blogs/documents about them to share them with the community via the Nordic-RSE website.
      • +
    +
    • +
  • +

    15:00 Wrap up and thank you to everyone!

    +
    • +
+

Nordic-RSE provides

+
    +
  • Code of Conduct
    • +
  • Zoom (with breakout rooms for unconference sessions)
    • +
  • Collaborative documents (HackMD)
    • +
  • Continuing conversation on our Zulip chat +before, during, and after the event
    • +
+

Share the event

+

Do you want to share the event with your colleagues/friends? Here are a few +texts that you can reuse, feel also free to modify them as you like.

+

Short teaser

+

Nordic-RSE invites everyone interested in "Research Software Engineering" +activities to join the Nordic-RSE International RSE day on October 14. +See https://nordic-rse.org/events/international-rse-day/ +for more details.

+

Longer teaser

+

The International RSE Day is to celebrate Research Software Engineers around the world and raise awareness for the increasingly relevant discipline of Research Software Engineering.

+

The Nordic-RSE association is contributing to the International RSE day and we have prepared for you an exciting program!

+

See https://nordic-rse.org/events/international-rse-day/

+ +
+ +
+ + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/events/meeting/index.html b/events/meeting/index.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..91f57249 --- /dev/null +++ b/events/meeting/index.html @@ -0,0 +1,244 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + Nordic RSE + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + +
+ +
+

Nordic-RSE meetings

+

We meet virtually for the following occasions:

+

Virtual coffee break - weekly

+

We have a weekly informal coffee break at 9:00 CET/CEST (10 EET/EEST) every Thursday. Convert to your time zone +The coffee break is an informal meeting, open for everyone to discuss with and listen to +others interested in research software engineering. We currently have +no pre-decided topics, but never run out of things to say.

+

RSE Finland invites

+

Community discussions - biweekly

+

On every other week, or as needed, we have a community planning meeting during the coffee break time, 9:00 CET/CEST (10 EET/EEST) every Thursday. The time +for the next meeting is added to the agenda on HackMD when decided. You can also find minutes of previous meetings there.

+

Zoom chat: https://aalto.zoom.us/j/62426845282 (Zoom ID 624 2684 5282).

+ +

Taskforce meetings - randomly

+

Once in a while we have larger projects that would be too much to discuss in the community meetings. Then we form taskforces that meet separately. Lately we for example formed taskforces on the topics of website redesign and organization of the Research Software Seminar Series.

+

Boardmeeting - when needed

+

The board of the association meets when required. The board handles necessary +official actions, paperwork and budgeting. The board also officially represents +the association.

+

Association meeting - yearly

+

Once every year all members of the Nordic RSE association are invited to the +annual meeting. The annual meeting chooses the board and other officials, and +decides the annual membership fee. The annual meeting may also decide other +matters, but these will be introduced in the invitation.

+

The next Nordic-RSE annual meeting will be October 19 2023 at 14:00 -- 15:30 CEST. Agenda and connection details on hackmd https://hackmd.io/@nordic-rse/annual_meeting_2023.

+ +
+ +
+ + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/events/past/index.html b/events/past/index.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..6a22f134 --- /dev/null +++ b/events/past/index.html @@ -0,0 +1,225 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + Nordic RSE + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + +
+ +
+

Past Events

+ + +
+ +
+ + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/events/seminar-series/index.html b/events/seminar-series/index.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..9f769aee --- /dev/null +++ b/events/seminar-series/index.html @@ -0,0 +1,419 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + Research Software Seminar Series - Nordic RSE + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + +
+ +
+

Research Software Seminar Series

+

+
+
+ + + +
+ +
+

Are you developing software or tools that are driven by research/engineering in +either academia or industry? Do you need to network, share knowledge and +experiences with your peers? Then you came to the right page: Nordic-RSE +invites everyone interested to participate in Research Software Seminar Series:

+

Timing

+

We aim at having a talk every month. +The time for each seminar will be set by the speaker. +We are inviting everyone to suggest topics and/or speakers for this series here.

+

Format

+

As an example, events can be 60 min (40+20 discussion) or 30 min (15+15 +discussion). Events could be talks, demos, discussion, debates, and so on. +Events are hosted with HackMD for public asynchronous discussion. We will +provide mentoring for speakers.

+

We would like this series to be an informal space also for exchanging ideas and +experiences, learning something new, and networking with people of the same +interest group. You do not have to be a Research Software Engineer or a +Researcher or a Software Engineer nor do you have to be in or be related to the +Nordics. Everyone interested in RSE activities is welcome and encouraged to +participate!

+

The Nordic-RSE team will provide support and infrastructure.

+
+

Upcoming seminars

+

We will publish upcoming seminar topics and abstracts here as soon as they are confirmed. +You can see topics in planning and add your own suggestions on our Issues page.

+

Past seminars

+

We will publish past seminar topics and their recordings here as soon as they are available.

+

May 2023: AI Regulation in the EU – challenges and latest developments

+ +

April 2023: What a Research Software Engineering group at a Nordic university looks like

+
    +
  • Speaker: Richard Darst, Aalto Scicomp
    • +
  • 2023-04-05, 13:00 CET convert to your time zome
    • +
  • Hackmd (contains connection details): https://hackmd.io/@nordic-rse/seminar-march-2023
    • +
  • Abstract: What does a Research Software Engineering (RSE) group at a Nordic university look like? Aalto RSE supports the whole university, and Richard Darst and other Aalto RSE members will discuss the history behind their team, the way it works, future prospects, and lessons for others. This talk will focus on the administrative side of things, and discussion will focus on what one should know to reproduce this work at other universities. +Aalto University is the leading technical university in Finland. Started in 2020, Aalto RSE now serves the entire university in computing, data, and software problems. They work as part of Science-IT, which is effectively the local "HPC team". They have good connections to the local IT Services, Data Agents, and other research services.
    • +
+

November 2022: Chapel: Making Parallel Programming Productive, from laptops to supercomputers

+
    +
  • Speaker: Brad Chamberlain, HPE
    • +
  • 2022-11-30, 16:00 CET convert to your time zome
    • +
  • Hackmd (contains connection details): https://hackmd.io/@nordic-rse/seminar-november-2022
    • +
  • Abstract: +Over the past few decades, a gulf has existed between 'mainstream' programming languages—like Python, Java, C++, Rust, or Swift—and technologies used in practice for programming supercomputers—like MPI, OpenSHMEM, OpenMP, CUDA, OpenCL, or OpenACC. +This gulf results in making High Performance Computing something of a specialized skill that may not be readily available to the general programmer or applied computational scientist. +In some ways, the problem has even gotten worse over time, as the end of Moore's law has led to building supercomputers using manycore processors and computational accelerators like GPUs.
    • +
+

In this talk, I will introduce Chapel, an open-source language created to bridge this gulf. +Chapel strives to support code that is similarly readable/writeable as Python, yet without sacrificing the portability and scalable performance required to utilize supercomputers effectively. +Specifically, I will provide motivation for Chapel, present some of its unique features and themes, introduce flagship applications of Chapel, and give a glimpse into our team's current priorities.

+

April 2022: Journal of Open Source Software – Developing a Software Review Community

+
    +
  • Speaker: Arfon Smith
    • +
  • 2022-04-27, 13 -- 14 CEST convert to your time zone
    • +
  • recording
    • +
  • Hackmd (contains connection details): https://hackmd.io/@nordic-rse/joss-talk
    • +
  • Abstract: In this presentation, I'll introduce the Journal of Open Source Software, a community-run diamond open access journal for publishing open source software packages. I'll share some of the motivations behind the journal, how it works, and how the journal has evolved over the last six years of operations.
    • +
+

April 2022: Motivating specialist services in universities (or, "Starting a RSE group")

+ +

February 2022: The importance and role of community in open source

+ +

Open Source is more than code. In order for an Open Source project to thrive, it must put in place mechanism to attract and reward non-code contributions. In this talk, we will go over how the Julia community attracts and rewards these contributions as well as how other projects can learn from our experience.

+

January 2022: Developing and distributing in-house R-packages

+ +

R is mainly a statistical programming language than has been around for more than 20 years. In recent years, it has seen a large resurge in popularity, especially amongst researchers, for its powerful statistical backbone and open source practice. But R can be unfamiliar and intimidating for researchers used to a purely GUI based statistical tool. This talk will center around how I have developed in-house R tools to clean and handle in-house data, and how I have distributed these to work on multiple platforms.

+

November: Blurring the lines: Singularity containerisation of SLURM orchestrators

+ +

While SLURM itself provides tools for job +orchestration like job arrays, high level tools like +Snakemake and Ray are +cluster agnostic and can either make use of SLURM or run on a laptop. To make +Snakemake and Ray to run within Singularity, I present +singreqrun, which works by requesting +the host runs programs on behalf of the container.

+

The talk doubles as an introduction to Snakemake and Ray. After some brief +background on the main tools (Singularity, SLURM, Snakemake and Ray), we +proceed to shell code-along to run the following examples:

+
    +
  • Snakemake for heterogeneous (mixture of CPU and GPU nodes) video corpus +processing + quick porting across HPC clusters
    • +
  • Snakemake for text corpus processing including using extra Singularity +containers for utilities
    • +
  • Ray for hyperparameter search
    • +
+

I end the talk by opening for discussion. Is this a good approach? Can we +improve upon it?

+

October 2021: I/O profiling and optimization.

+
    +
  • Speaker: Simo Tuomisto, Aalto Scientific +Computing
    • +
  • Abstract: In computing, I/O bandwidth is just as much of a +consumable resource as CPU and memory. While on an individual scale +on one's own computer, this is often not the most pressing +consideration, on a cluster with shared storage (or very intensive +individual projects) it is actually very important to consider. +This talk presented lessons and tools that RSEs should have in +their toolbox, as we have learned at Aalto Scientific Computing over +the years.
    • +
  • HackMD notes: https://hackmd.io/@nordic-rse/io-monitoring-optimization
    • +
+ +

September 2021: Combining Rust and Python: Why and How?

+ + +

August 2021: Package development in Julia

+ +

Julia is constantly gaining popularity both in academia and industry and it is thus an appealing programming language for research software engineers. This session will be a hands-on tutorial, which will cover the typical package development workflow in Julia. Topics covered include

+
    +
  • Creating a package from scratch
    • +
  • Contributing to existing packages
    • +
  • Tools to test and debug your packages
    • +
  • Tools to document your packages
    • +
+

Moreover, Luca will share tips and tricks that have helped him making his workflow more efficient and hopefully will help you too. +The workshop will involve a lot of live coding and you are encouraged to follow along, check the setup instructions here.

+ + +
+ +
+ + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/img/favicon.ico b/img/favicon.ico new file mode 100644 index 00000000..4b7a9fea Binary files /dev/null and b/img/favicon.ico differ diff --git a/img/nordic-rse-logo.png b/img/nordic-rse-logo.png new file mode 100644 index 00000000..4fffcbf4 Binary files /dev/null and b/img/nordic-rse-logo.png differ diff --git a/img/wise-1.png b/img/wise-1.png new file mode 100644 index 00000000..e1f6ca19 Binary files /dev/null and b/img/wise-1.png differ diff --git a/img/wise-2.png b/img/wise-2.png new file mode 100644 index 00000000..9fd9ebaf Binary files /dev/null and b/img/wise-2.png differ diff --git a/img/wise-3.png b/img/wise-3.png new file mode 100644 index 00000000..95e21b17 Binary files /dev/null and b/img/wise-3.png differ diff --git a/img/wise-4.png b/img/wise-4.png new file mode 100644 index 00000000..816ed412 Binary files /dev/null and b/img/wise-4.png differ diff --git a/index.html b/index.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..80df8a14 --- /dev/null +++ b/index.html @@ -0,0 +1,304 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + Nordic RSE + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + +
+ + +
+
+

Nordic-RSE in a nutshell

+
+
+ +

Who we are

+

Non-profit organisation to bring together everyone interested in Research Software Engineer activities

+ +
+
+ +

Events

+

We have seminars and conferences for you to network and develop your software skills.

+ +
+
+ +

Success stories

+

Learn how your organisation can benefit from an RSE group

+ +
+
+ +

Get involved

+

Learn how to get in touch

+ +
+ +
+ +

Become a member

+

Join the association

+ +
+ +
+ +

Blog

+

Read what we have been up to

+ +
+
+ +
+

News

+ +

Who we are

+

A Research Software Engineer (RSE) is someone in between research +and technology (software, computing, data). Perhaps they work as a +expert within a research group, or perhaps they work as a specialist +in a service that supports other researchers. Does this sound like +you? Read on...

+

The Nordic Research Software Engineers association hopes to +promote the careers of RSEs and the advancement of science by:

+
    +
  • being a networking platform for specialized research supporters,
    • +
  • provide a community and professional development network for RSEs +(in particular supporting career development),
    • +
  • organizing events to bring RSEs and related people together, and
    • +
  • support whose who want to bring RSE services and skills to their +community (in other words, provide a RSE service).
    • +
+

We are a young organization and there is plenty of room to get +involved with your own ideas - please get in +touch.

+

Many of us are active in CodeRefinery, +which focuses on teaching RSE-like skills to researchers.

+
    +
  • Nordic HPC was an attempt to +bring together people from computing facilities in the Nordics (not +just HPC). It is not very active now, and also a separate +activity.
    • +
+

Want to know more?

+ +

Sponsors

+ + +
+ +
+ + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/join/index.html b/join/index.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..650aa6f0 --- /dev/null +++ b/join/index.html @@ -0,0 +1,226 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + Nordic RSE + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + +
+ +
+

Nordic research software engineers

+

A research software engineer is someone involved in research, but +more focused on the computational skills than publications. +Nordic-RSE is the network of these people in the Nordics and Baltics. We +currently focus on building a network of RSEs and highlighting their +importance in the academic system. For RSEs or people who might want to be one, +we offer opportunities for professional development and career +advancement.

+

We are modeled on similar international networks in the +UK, Germany, +Netherlands, United +States, and other countries.

+

To join us, fill in our membership form and then pay the membership fee.

+ +
+ +
+ + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/js/map.js b/js/map.js new file mode 100644 index 00000000..83c35d17 --- /dev/null +++ b/js/map.js @@ -0,0 +1,125 @@ +'use strict'; + +function add_icon(service, account, instance) { + if (service === 'email') { + var href = `mailto:${account}` + } else if (service === 'mastodon') { + var href = `https://${instance}/@${account}`; + } else if (service === 'gitlab') { + var href = `https://${instance != undefined ? instance : 'gitlab.com'}/${account}`; + } else if (service === 'gitea') { + var href = `https://${instance}/${account}`; + } else { + var href = `https://${service}.com/${account}`; + } + + return ` + + `; +} + + +function popup_text(person_or_group) { + var s = '' + + if (person_or_group.homepage != undefined) { + s += `${person_or_group.name}`; + } else { + s += person_or_group.name; + } + + if (person_or_group.github != undefined) { + s += add_icon('github', person_or_group.github); + } + + if (person_or_group.gitlab != undefined) { + s += add_icon('gitlab', person_or_group.gitlab, person_or_group.gitlab_instance); + } + + if (person_or_group.gitea != undefined) { + s += add_icon('gitea', person_or_group.gitea, person_or_group.gitea_instance); + } + + if (person_or_group.twitter != undefined) { + s += add_icon('twitter', person_or_group.twitter); + } + + if (person_or_group.email != undefined) { + s += add_icon('email', person_or_group.email); + } + + if (person_or_group.mastodon != undefined) { + s += add_icon('mastodon', person_or_group.mastodon, person_or_group.mastodon_instance); + } + + return s; +} + + +function coordinates_of_places(places) { + var dict = {}; + for (const place of places) { + dict[place.name] = [place.lat, place.lon]; + } + return dict; +} + + +function add_marker(markers, places, person_or_group, place, color) { + var lat = (place != undefined) ? places[place][0] : person_or_group.lat; + var lon = (place != undefined) ? places[place][1] : person_or_group.lon; + + var marker = L.circleMarker([lat, lon], { + radius: 10 + }).setStyle({ + color: color + }); + marker.bindPopup(popup_text(person_or_group)); + + markers.addLayer(marker); +} + +function add_markers(markers, places, person_or_group, color) { + if(Array.isArray(person_or_group.place)) { + for (const place of person_or_group.place) { + add_marker(markers, places, person_or_group, place, color); + } + } else { + var place = person_or_group.place; + add_marker(markers, places, person_or_group, place, color); + } +} + + +function load_map(args) { + axios.get(args.data_url) + .then(function(response) { + var _data = jsyaml.load(response.data); + var persons = _data.persons; + var groups = _data.groups; + var places = coordinates_of_places(_data.places); + + var markers = L.markerClusterGroup({ + iconCreateFunction: function(cluster) { + return new L.DivIcon({ + html: '
' + cluster.getChildCount() + '
', + className: 'cluster', + iconSize: new L.Point(40, 40) + }); + } + }); + + var leaflet_map = L.map(args.id).setView([63.0, 15.0], 4); + L.tileLayer('https://{s}.tile.openstreetmap.org/{z}/{x}/{y}.png', {}).addTo(leaflet_map); + + for (const person of persons) { + add_markers(markers, places, person, "#3383ff"); + } + + for (const group of groups) { + add_markers(markers, places, group, "#dc33ff"); + } + + leaflet_map.addLayer(markers); + }) +}; diff --git a/other/tmp-aalto-success/index.html b/other/tmp-aalto-success/index.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..88bd27f1 --- /dev/null +++ b/other/tmp-aalto-success/index.html @@ -0,0 +1,216 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + Nordic RSE + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + +
+ +
+

Success story: RSE group in Aalto

+

coming soon!

+

While waiting, you can check out Aalto RSE group website!

+ +
+ +
+ + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/processed_images/logo.799835b52e09c918.png b/processed_images/logo.799835b52e09c918.png new file mode 100644 index 00000000..4d6023c0 Binary files /dev/null and b/processed_images/logo.799835b52e09c918.png differ diff --git a/resources/index.html b/resources/index.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..65a009bd --- /dev/null +++ b/resources/index.html @@ -0,0 +1,233 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + Nordic RSE + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + +
+ +
+

Resources

+

Articles about Nordic-RSE

+ +

Podcasts about research software engineering

+

(please list others that you know of and like)

+ +

Streams

+

(please list others that you know of and like)

+ +

Youtube

+

You can now find recordings of the Nordic-RSE unconference 2021 and our Research Software Seminar Series on our Youtube channel.

+ +
+ +
+ + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/resources/workshops/index.html b/resources/workshops/index.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..3f03d635 --- /dev/null +++ b/resources/workshops/index.html @@ -0,0 +1,238 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + Nordic RSE + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + +
+ +
+

Workshops and Courses

+

This is a list of academic software workshops we are aware of.

+

Software Development

+

CodeRefinery

+

Link to coderefinery and upcoming workshops

+

Organizer:

+
    +
  • CodeRefinery
    • +
+

Prerequisites:

+
    +
  • Some programming experience.
    • +
+

Python for Scicomp

+

Organizer:

+
    +
  • Aalto Scientific Computing
    • +
+

Prerequisites:

+
    +
  • Python
    • +
+

High Performance Computing

+

Humanities

+

Machine Learning and AI

+ +
+ +
+ + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/robots.txt b/robots.txt new file mode 100644 index 00000000..4a3eada0 --- /dev/null +++ b/robots.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +User-agent: * +Disallow: +Allow: / +Sitemap: https://nordic-rse.org/sitemap.xml diff --git a/sitemap.xml b/sitemap.xml new file mode 100644 index 00000000..186fbf6a --- /dev/null +++ b/sitemap.xml @@ -0,0 +1,300 @@ + + + + https://nordic-rse.org/ + + + https://nordic-rse.org/about/ + + + https://nordic-rse.org/about/code-of-conduct/ + + + https://nordic-rse.org/about/getinvolved/ + + + https://nordic-rse.org/about/governance/ + + + https://nordic-rse.org/about/governance/contact/ + + + https://nordic-rse.org/about/governance/privacy/ + + + https://nordic-rse.org/about/governance/sponsor/ + + + https://nordic-rse.org/about/membership-fee/ + + + https://nordic-rse.org/about/membership/ + + + https://nordic-rse.org/about/rse/ + + + https://nordic-rse.org/about/timeline/ + + + https://nordic-rse.org/blog/ + + + https://nordic-rse.org/blog/first-finnish-rse-meetup/ + 2023-06-12 + + + https://nordic-rse.org/blog/getting-funding/ + 2021-08-11 + + + https://nordic-rse.org/blog/git-evangelist/ + 2021-09-02 + + + https://nordic-rse.org/blog/international-rse-survey/ + 2021-11-30 + + + https://nordic-rse.org/blog/nrse-conference/ + 2024-07-12 + + + https://nordic-rse.org/blog/research-software-journals/ + 2021-08-11 + + + https://nordic-rse.org/blog/rse-on-mastodon/ + 2023-08-08 + + + https://nordic-rse.org/blog/sc-report/ + 2023-12-06 + + + https://nordic-rse.org/blog/seminar-report-julia-package/ + 2021-08-18 + + + https://nordic-rse.org/blog/unconference/ + 2021-08-11 + + + https://nordic-rse.org/blog/what-is-r-s-e/ + 2021-08-11 + + + https://nordic-rse.org/blog/why-rse/ + 2024-08-16 + + + https://nordic-rse.org/communities/ + + + https://nordic-rse.org/communities/local/ + + + https://nordic-rse.org/communities/map/ + + + https://nordic-rse.org/communities/members/ + + + https://nordic-rse.org/events/ + + + https://nordic-rse.org/events/2020-online-get-together/ + + + https://nordic-rse.org/events/2020-online-get-together/aalto-rse/ + + + https://nordic-rse.org/events/2020-online-get-together/about-get-together/ + + + https://nordic-rse.org/events/2020-online-get-together/academic-bioinformatics-and-startups/ + + + https://nordic-rse.org/events/2020-online-get-together/ai-based-sample-centering/ + + + https://nordic-rse.org/events/2020-online-get-together/closing-statements/ + + + https://nordic-rse.org/events/2020-online-get-together/code-of-conduct/ + + + https://nordic-rse.org/events/2020-online-get-together/code-quality/ + + + https://nordic-rse.org/events/2020-online-get-together/coderefinery/ + + + https://nordic-rse.org/events/2020-online-get-together/conference/ + + + https://nordic-rse.org/events/2020-online-get-together/containers/ + + + https://nordic-rse.org/events/2020-online-get-together/demographics/ + + + https://nordic-rse.org/events/2020-online-get-together/eessi/ + + + https://nordic-rse.org/events/2020-online-get-together/eosc/ + + + https://nordic-rse.org/events/2020-online-get-together/ericsson-research/ + + + https://nordic-rse.org/events/2020-online-get-together/eurocc-sweden/ + + + https://nordic-rse.org/events/2020-online-get-together/fair-principles/ + + + https://nordic-rse.org/events/2020-online-get-together/gromacs/ + + + https://nordic-rse.org/events/2020-online-get-together/hpc-procurement/ + + + https://nordic-rse.org/events/2020-online-get-together/introduction/ + + + https://nordic-rse.org/events/2020-online-get-together/my-first-r-package/ + + + https://nordic-rse.org/events/2020-online-get-together/nordic-rse/ + + + https://nordic-rse.org/events/2020-online-get-together/oslo-centre-for-biostatics-epidemiology/ + + + https://nordic-rse.org/events/2020-online-get-together/panel/ + + + https://nordic-rse.org/events/2020-online-get-together/personal-htc-pool/ + + + https://nordic-rse.org/events/2020-online-get-together/prace-best-practice-guide/ + + + https://nordic-rse.org/events/2020-online-get-together/r-python-transpiler/ + + + https://nordic-rse.org/events/2020-online-get-together/rse-growth-of-a-movement/ + + + https://nordic-rse.org/events/2020-online-get-together/rse-supporting-equality/ + + + https://nordic-rse.org/events/2020-online-get-together/rsh/ + + + https://nordic-rse.org/events/2020-online-get-together/tba-3-4/ + + + https://nordic-rse.org/events/2020-online-get-together/testing-software/ + + + https://nordic-rse.org/events/2021-online-unconference/ + + + https://nordic-rse.org/events/2021-online-unconference/code-of-conduct/ + + + https://nordic-rse.org/events/2021-online-unconference/in-house-r-packages/ + + + https://nordic-rse.org/events/2021-online-unconference/julia-for-rse/ + + + https://nordic-rse.org/events/2021-online-unconference/keep-your-code-alive/ + + + https://nordic-rse.org/events/2021-online-unconference/rse-myths-and-misconceptions/ + + + https://nordic-rse.org/events/2022-online-unconference/ + + + https://nordic-rse.org/events/2022-online-unconference/digital-humanities/ + + + https://nordic-rse.org/events/2022-online-unconference/introduction/ + + + https://nordic-rse.org/events/2022-online-unconference/model-validation/ + + + https://nordic-rse.org/events/2022-online-unconference/phd-skills-2/ + + + https://nordic-rse.org/events/2022-online-unconference/phd-skills-in-industry/ + + + https://nordic-rse.org/events/2022-online-unconference/rse-fair/ + + + https://nordic-rse.org/events/2022-online-unconference/rse-landscape/ + + + https://nordic-rse.org/events/2022-online-unconference/rse-lessons-learnt/ + + + https://nordic-rse.org/events/2022-online-unconference/share/ + + + https://nordic-rse.org/events/2022-online-unconference/software-papers/ + + + https://nordic-rse.org/events/2023-online-unconference/ + + + https://nordic-rse.org/events/2023-online-unconference/share/ + + + https://nordic-rse.org/events/2024-in-person-conference/ + + + https://nordic-rse.org/events/2024-in-person-conference/coc-info-for-organizers/ + + + https://nordic-rse.org/events/2024-in-person-conference/code-of-conduct/ + + + https://nordic-rse.org/events/advent-of-code-2021/ + + + https://nordic-rse.org/events/advent-of-code-2022/ + + + https://nordic-rse.org/events/coffeebreak/ + + + https://nordic-rse.org/events/international-rse-day/ + + + https://nordic-rse.org/events/meeting/ + + + https://nordic-rse.org/events/past/ + + + https://nordic-rse.org/events/seminar-series/ + + + https://nordic-rse.org/join/ + + + https://nordic-rse.org/other/tmp-aalto-success/ + + + https://nordic-rse.org/resources/ + + + https://nordic-rse.org/resources/workshops/ + +