Research IT

a stylised image of fireworks

Coming up in 2026 from Research IT

We didn’t quite make the end of January but there’s never a bad time to look at what's coming up in Research IT. We asked the three departments in Research IT what they are looking forward to this year.

Research Platforms

Relaunch of the RIT Condor Pool

This will provide a batch computational platform complementary to our main high performance compute (HPC) resource (the CSF). It will be ideal for running large numbers of relatively small jobs, such as a parameter sweep . We are expecting to link the Condor Pool to the AWS Cloud Spot Market providing a really cost-effective way of using Cloud-based resources.

Research Virtual Machines (VMs)

Research IT will start offering containers (e.g., Docker) to researchers, in place of VMs where it makes sense. This will be a more secure platform with, researchers will be pleased to hear, a lower admin overhead.

Other Developments

Other activities on the horizon are supported Ubuntu Linux laptops and the supported use of OneDrive (and SharePoint) via the Linux Gnome built-in utilities.

Research Software Engineering

Research Data Engineering

A new team will be formed which will introduce specialised services to research projects around research data. This includes the design of data pipelines, schemas, “extract-transform-load" operations as well as the visualisation and analysis of data with languages such as R. This work is currently handled by our RSE pool but demand is such that a more specialised unit would help us build resilience and excellence in this area in a cohesive way. The new team will include data engineers and data scientists.

Continue to Improve Ways of Working

The RSE team will be strengthening further their commitment to agile delivery with collaboration across the wider ITS team. Towards the end of the year they will be starting the final year of their 5 year levelling up programme, completing the RSE department evolution.

Knowledge Exchange

Through the UKRI funded DisCouRSE Network+ activity they will be sharing their agile delivery knowledge and project management expertise and tooling with the wider dRTP community.

Research Lifecyle Programme (RLP)

Over the next 12 months, RLP have strengthened the foundations that support research across the University. In the year ahead, they’ll be focusing on:

  • Accelerating work in the case and contract management space
  • Improving processes around award management
  • Developing secure, reliable and collaborative research environments

All to ensure University researchers and the teams who support them have the tools, systems and processes they need to thrive.

To keep up with all the latest news and developments from Research IT, follow us on LinkedIn, subscribe to our newsletter or follow us on BlueSky!