Research IT

Research IT News

ML Engineer vs. AI Engineer: Two Roles Shaping the Future of AI

Ettore Murabito,

Ever wondered what the difference is between an Machine Learning (ML) engineer and an Artificial Intelligence (AI) engineer is?  Research Software Engineer Ettore Murabito helps to explain the differences between the two roles.

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Research Applications – getting started

image of a keyboard
image of a keyboard
Anja Le Blanc,

Just arrived at the University as a new research student? Need some assistance with research software? Our Application Support team is here to help.

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RSECon25 Highlights: Innovation, Sustainability, and Community

Adrian Harwood, Andrew Rowley, Louise Lever,

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.

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Announcing the new Deputy Head of RSE

Adrian Harwood,

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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Funding Opportunity: Grow Leadership Skills within digital Research Technical Professions!

Adrian Harwood,

Are you committed to advancing leadership skills and careers within digital Research Technical Professions (dRTP)? Do you have a bold idea or an existing initiative that could make a real difference to your profession? Apply now for up to £10,000 from the DisCouRSE Network+ Flexible Fund!

The DisCouRSE Network + activity are seeking creative, community-led initiatives that encourage and support the development of leaders and managers across the profession.

🗓️ Apply by: Friday 14th November 2025, 16:00 GMT
👉 Everything you need to start your application is now live here, including the submission timeline, eligible project types and costs, and assessment criteria.

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Introducing Ontology Maker: A TIC Initiative Bridging Language Gaps in Disaster Relief

Jessica Symons, Mengmeng Tan, Erdem Atbas,

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.

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Web Scraping with Python – a guide

Grey sign saying data in capital letters.
Grey sign saying data in capital letters.
Chris Lam,

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.

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Exploring Research Software at the Collaborations Workshop 2025

The logo of the Collaborations Workshop 2025 on a flat rural landscape with a road disappearing at the horizon point.
The logo of the Collaborations Workshop 2025 on a flat rural landscape with a road disappearing at the horizon point.
Douglas Lowe, Andrew Gait, Aman Goel, Scott Archer-Nicholls,

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.

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From 80 days to 4 minutes: Supercharging MATLAB

Chris Fullerton,

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.

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Cross-Language Mappings: A TIC Collaboration with voxANN

Benito Matischen, Chandima Samarakoon Mudiyanselage,

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.

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Advancing R at the University

A head and shoulders photo of Martin.  A male with short brown hair and a short full beard wearing a collared shirt standing in a white walled office with vertical windows.
A head and shoulders photo of Martin.  A male with short brown hair and a short full beard wearing a collared shirt standing in a white walled office with vertical windows.
Martin Herrerias Azcue,

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.

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Transforming Decision-Making for Nuclear Power Systems

Lasse Schmieding,

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.

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