Earlier this month, members of The University of Manchester’s Research Software Engineering (RSE) team joined peers from across the UK and beyond at RSECon25, held at the University of Warwick. The annual conference, now in its ninth year, is the flagship event for the RSE community.

Adrian Harwood, Head of Research Software Engineering, has announced that Chris Fullerton will take on the role of Deputy Head of Research Software Engineering starting in October 2025. Chris will also chair the new RSE Operational Excellence group.

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In collaboration with Visioning Lab, the Research Software Engineering team has developed Ontology Maker, an AI-powered platform that helps international teams manage key terminology across languages and disciplines. Initially focused on the temporary architecture sector, the tool simplifies the creation of multilingual glossaries to support faster, more effective disaster response.

Looking for an easy way to get starting with online data collection that doesn’t involve copying and pasting? Research Software Engineer Chris Lam has written a simple guide which introduces web scraping with Python.

The recent Collaborations Workshop (CW25), held at the University of Stirling, brought together researchers, developers, and educators for three dynamic days of collaboration, organised by the Software Sustainability Institute. With themes centred on future-proofing research software and fostering diversity, the event featured keynote speeches, panel discussions, lightning talks, a hack-day, and more. Read on for details about this inspiring gathering.

Research IT recently hosted Mike Croucher from MathWorks for a workshop demonstrating how MATLAB can go from sluggish to lightning-fast. Through smart code optimisations and GPU acceleration, Mike took a calculation from 80 days down to just over 4 minutes — showing that MATLAB can be a serious contender in high-performance computing.

Our Research Software Engineers, in close collaboration with the Department of Computer Science, teamed up with local SME, voxANN, to build an AI pipeline that links English and Spanish for smooth, high-quality dubbing — unlocking smarter, scalable media localisation.

Meet Martin Herrerias Azcue, Research Software Engineer in Research IT and one of the leads of the R User Group at The University of Manchester (R.U.M.). The group serves as a hub for R users, providing a lively, engaged community where everyone is welcome to ask questions and to share their R knowledge.

Discover how our Research Software Engineers have transformed a decision-making tool developed at the University’s Dalton Nuclear Institute. Previously based on large PowerPoint documents, the tool has been transformed into a sleek web application.

The Agile Methods for RSEs training course has evolved into a hands-on, department-wide learning experience that combines real-world agile practice with tailored tools and team collaboration. The 2025 workshop introduced new GitHub features, structured challenges, and personalised facilitation, serving as a valuable onboarding and team-building event for new and returning RSEs.

Recently, members of Research IT spent a day volunteering with PLANT-MCR, a local gardening co-operative that transforms neglected urban spaces into vibrant green areas. Supported by the University's volunteering leave policy, the team took part in garden maintenance and planting across several city sites, strengthening team bonds and inspiring a renewed commitment to community volunteering.