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.

An important announcement for any users for PATRAN/NASTRAN at the University.

PyCon UK will be held in Manchester for the first time this year. The University of Manchester will have a booth at the conference, organised by members of the eScience Lab, Software Sustainability Institute and Research IT. Find out how you can get involved!

If you are one of the many NVivo users at the University you can now update to versions 14 or 15. NVivo 12 codes will not be published next year so all users are strongly encouraged to update.

The Computation and Data In Research (CaDiR) community continues to grow! This is a new space for University staff and researchers who work with C++, whether they are experienced systems programmers or beginners. The group aims to create an inclusive community of practice for those involved in simulation codes, high-performance libraries, or object-oriented design.

Get a quick introduction to containerisation with Docker from one of our Research Software Engineers (RSE). Docker packages apps and their dependencies and are an ideal way to solve the "works on my machine" problem. Learn about Docker's main perks: consistency, portability, isolation, and scalability and there are links to extra resources if you want to learn more.