Research IT

Research Software Engineering Round Up

In July the Manchester Research Software Community (MRSC) held a lightning talk session with researchers and research staff from across the University sharing best practice, tips and information.


In continuation of our efforts to promote collaborative engagement across the University, the Manchester Research Software Community (MRSC) featured five insightful lightning talks covering a diverse range of topics. We extend our gratitude to all the speakers for their informative presentations and to everyone who attended the meeting!

The talks were delivered in a hybrid format, accommodating both in-person and online participants. The line-up included:

  • “Advancing AI education in GLAM: Lessons learned from the Library Carpentry code sprint” by Phil Reed, eScience Lab
  • “Single sign-on and federated authentication” by Dave Love, Research IT
  • “Office for Open Research - Open Research Skills Framework” by Justyna Pujszo, Office for Open Research
  • “RO-Crate - package your research outputs with their metadata” by Eli Chadwick, eScience Lab
  • “Modulise your research software for quick delivery and research outcomes” by Xiaoxue Zheng, School of Health Sciences

Similar to the previous meeting, the lightning talks were followed by a collaborative discussion session. Attendees were divided into four groups - two in person and two online - to explore subjects of community interest. Discussions spanned data inheritance, digitisation of archival field research, using AI tools in research, licensing, adjacent communities and workflows. The outcomes from the discussion sessions were collected in collaborative documents and participants have been encouraged to carry forward those conversations in the form of blog posts and presentations.

The session concluded with a reconvening of the smaller groups, where they shared their discussion highlights. We wrapped up the meeting with a feedback session aimed at understanding the community’s needs and ensuring we maintain our momentum and community buy-in. For example this lightning talk session was suggested by the community members! We are also exploring using discussion session topics as talks and we have a substantial list of talk topics as suggested by the community that we are currently arranging speakers for.

Materials from the July meeting, along with an archive of all the previous meetings, are now available on the CaDiR Teams space. The next community meeting will take place in October where there will be the opportunity for those involved in the July discussion session to share their thoughts with the wider community. We also hope to be joined by some of the new intake of PGRs!