Newsletter: Feb 2025

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+---
+layout: post
+title: February 2025 Newsletter
+editor: Peter Heywood
+slug: 2025-02-07-newsletter
+date: 2025-02-07T12:00:00Z+0100
+tags:
+category:
+link:
+description:
+type: text
+---
+
+## The University of Sheffield Research Software Engineering Community Newsletter February 2025
+
+Welcome to the February 2025 newsletter for the research software community at The University of Sheffield, featuring news, opportunities, events and training for you.
+
+### University of Sheffield Research Software Survey
+
+Software is increasingly a vital part of research. Both the Research Software Engineering (RSE) and Research IT teams provide services at the university to support researchers in using and developing software. We are investigating how to improve our combined service offerings.
+
+The first step is to understand how software is being used by researchers, and their understanding of available technologies via **a short (e.g. 5 minute) survey**. We want to hear from everyone, not just those who use our existing services regularly! Everyone who completes the survey will have the option to take part in a **prize draw for one of three £50 Amazon vouchers**.
+
+Please complete the survey before the 1/3/2025: [https://rse.shef.ac.uk/survey](https://rse.shef.ac.uk/survey)
+
+### Events
+
+#### Upcoming Local Events
+
+- 2025-02-12 - [TUoS Data Stewards Network Launch event](https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/library/research-data-management/data-steward-network). Book via [myDevelopment](https://mydevelopment.csod.com/samldefault.aspx?returnurl=%252fDeepLink%252fProcessRedirect.aspx%253fmodule%253dlodetails%2526lo%253d94676f2d-6958-4ce0-ad3f-2a0046d896ff)
+- [Open Research Conversations: Spring 2025](https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/openresearch/events/open-research-conversations). Booking required.
+  - 2025-02-12: Spotlight on Data Journals
+  - 2025-03-05: Open research across different epistemic cultures: principles, practices, dis/junctions
+  - 2025-04-23: Early career researchers and open research
+  - 2025-05-28: Developing open research indicators - the UKRN Open Research Indicators Project
+  - 2025-06-11: Open data, indigenous data sovereignty and the CARE principles
+- 2025-03-03 12:30-13:30: [ReproducibiliTea Journal Club - Discussion of "The replication crisis has led to positive structural, procedural, and community changes | Communications Psychology"](https://reproducibilitea-sheffield.github.io/posts/2025-03-03/)
+- 2025-05-19 \- 2025-05-21: Pint of Science Sheffield - [applications for speakers closes 2025-02-14](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc02vK0KpC_NFmLJFKv4HpGSnovr4fUuO1D6_wwmU4fYvZC3A/viewform)
+
+#### Upcoming External Events
+
+- 2025-02-18: [EVERSE Network of Research Software Quality - Launch event (online)](https://indico.cern.ch/event/1501988/)
+- Software Sustainability Institute: [Research Software Practices in the Social Sciences: February & March Schedule](https://www.software.ac.uk/news/research-software-practices-social-sciences-february-march-schedule)
+  - 2025-02-24 \- 2025-02-25: WORKSHOP | [Reproducible Analysis: Python for Social Scientists](https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/reproducible-analysis-python-for-social-scientists-tickets-1207809283079?aff=oddtdtcreator)
+  - 2025-03-05: TALK | Unfinished Tales of academictwitteR
+  - 2025-03-12: TALK | Software, Supporting Staff, and Research: Enhancing Collaboration
+  - 2025-03-13: TALK | Managing Environments for Scientists Who Code
+  - 2025-03-19: TALK | Quarto for Python and R
+- 2025-03-05 \- 2025-03-06: [Research Data in the Physical Sciences: A Forum for Librarians and Research Support Professionals](https://www.psdi.ac.uk/event/research-data-forum-2025/).
+- 2025-03-17 \- 2025-03-18: [AI UK 2025](https://ai-uk.turing.ac.uk/)
+- 2025-05-05 \- 2025-05-08: [Sustainable Scientific Software Conference (S3C) [Denver, Colorado, USA]](https://s3c.sandia.gov/)
+- 2025-05-13 \- 2025-05-15: [Collaborations Workshop 2025 at the University of Stirling](https://www.software.ac.uk/workshop/collaborations-workshop-2025-cw25). Registration opens 2025-02-10.
+- 2025-05-14: [Peer Review in the Age of Large Language Models workshop (The University of Bath)](https://cdt-art-ai.ac.uk/news/events/peer-review-in-the-age-of-large-language-models-call-for-abstracts/). Call for abstracts open until 2025-02-14
+- 2025-06-09 \- 2025-06-10: [Open Research Conference University of Manchester](https://www.openresearch.manchester.ac.uk/conference/)
+
+### Articles, Blogs, Papers & Podcasts
+
+#### Surveys
+
+- [Researchers at the University of Southampton are conducting an innovative study to investigate the pivotal role of research software in academic publishing](https://www.software.ac.uk/news/new-study-aims-raise-profile-research-software-academia)
+
+#### Blogs/podcasts
+
+- [The University of Sheffield HPC Newsletter - January 2025](https://docs.hpc.shef.ac.uk/en/latest/newsletter/20250128.html#nl20250128)
+- The University of Sheffield: [Energy security and AI - New Government paper](https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/mps/news/energy-security-and-ai-new-government-paper)
+- GitHub Actions: [Ubuntu 20 runner image brownout dates and other breaking changes](https://github.blog/changelog/2025-01-15-github-actions-ubuntu-20-runner-image-brownout-dates-and-other-breaking-changes/)
+- GitHub Actions: [Linux arm64 hosted runners now available for free in public repositories (Public Preview)](https://github.blog/changelog/2025-01-16-linux-arm64-hosted-runners-now-available-for-free-in-public-repositories-public-preview/)
+- Blog: [How much research output is really open, and how can we tell?](https://blog.esciencecenter.nl/how-much-research-output-is-really-open-and-how-can-we-tell-422013cc93ab)
+- Blog: [How to Get Funding By Caring About Research Software (II)](https://heidiseibold.kit.com/posts/how-to-get-funding-by-caring-about-research-software-ii)
+- Blog: [Opensource.com: 30 best practices for software development and testing](https://opensource.com/article/17/5/30-best-practices-software-development-and-testing)
+- Blog: [Daniel S. Katz's: Funding and evaluating dynamic vs static research products](https://danielskatzblog.wordpress.com/2025/01/30/dynamic-vs-static-research-products/)
+- Blog: [Off-the-shelf governance models for small FOSS projects?](https://antonin.delpeuch.eu/posts/off-the-shelf-governance-models-for-small-foss-projects/)
+- Blog: [Death of a thousands nits - Bitfield Consulting](https://bitfieldconsulting.com/posts/code-review)
+- Video: [Carina Haupt - Basics of Software Publication](https://media.ccc.de/v/38c3-basics-of-software-publication). [Slides](https://elib.dlr.de/211486/)
+- Podcast: [Code for Thought [EN] ByteSized RSE: Gestalt and Data Visualisation - Kirsty Pringle](https://codeforthought.buzzsprout.com/1326658/episodes/16447917-en-bytesized-rse-gestalt-and-data-visualisation-kirsty-pringle)
+- Podcast: [Code for Thought [EN] An Emerging Voice - Deborah Udoh](https://codeforthought.buzzsprout.com/1326658/episodes/16408605-en-an-emerging-voice-deborah-udoh)
+
+#### Papers
+
+- Diehl, P., Soneson, C., Kurchin, R. C., Mounce, R. & Katz, D. S., (2025) “The Journal of Open Source Software (JOSS): Bringing Open-Source Software Practices to the Scholarly Publishing Community for Authors, Reviewers, Editors, and Publishers”, Journal of Librarianship and Scholarly Communication 12(2). [doi.org/10.31274/jlsc.18285](https://doi.org/10.31274/jlsc.18285)
+- Brand, C., Brady, D., & Stafford, T. (Lotty) ., Brady, D., & Stafford, T.  (2023, June 27). The Ideological Turing Test: a behavioural measure of open-mindedness and perspective-taking. [doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/2e9wn](https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/2e9wn)
+- Markowetz, F. Five selfish reasons to work reproducibly. Genome Biol 16, 274 (2015). [doi.org/10.1186/s13059-015-0850-7](https://doi.org/10.1186/s13059-015-0850-7)
+- Scarfe P, Watcham K, Clarke A, Roesch E (2024) A real-world test of artificial intelligence infiltration of a university examinations system: A “Turing Test” case study. PLoS ONE 19(6): e0305354. [doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0305354](https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0305354)
+
+<!-- #### Research software practice -->
+
+#### Open research
+
+- The University of Sheffield has a [Good Research & Innovation Practices (GRIP) Policy Refresh](https://sites.google.com/sheffield.ac.uk/goodresearchinnovationpractice/home?authuser=0) review running until 2025-02-28 17:00 which invites feedback on changes since the last policy which was introduced in 2011.
+
+### Opportunities
+
+#### [Tier 1 HPC/GPU Clusters (AIRR) for large scale AI workloads: access call is live](https://engagementhub.ukri.org/epsrc-researchinfrastructure/airr-eoi/)
+
+UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), on behalf of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), invites researchers and innovators from across the UK to express their interest in accessing large-scale AI compute, the new AI Research Resource (AIRR), in particular, the Isambard AI (Bristol) and Dawn compute services (Cambridge). This call is for testing phase access as aspects of the service are still being developed and for at least Isambard AI the bulk of the GPU node capacity is yet to be brought online. AIRR workloads are likely to include (but will not be limited to) large language models (LLMs), big data analytics, and data-driven predictions and equation discovery in areas such as climate research, green fusion energy development and healthcare.
+
+UKRI/DSIT state that expressions of interest in testing phase access must include info on:
+
+- the nature and history of your research and how it relates to Government priorities
+- the rationale and scope of your AI requirements, plus the technical ‘readiness’ of the project
+- the size and type of compute resources needed
+- the research team’s experience of using large-scale compute and what support they will need
+
+The Research and Innovation IT team in IT Services and the Research Software Engineering (RSE) teams are supporting and coordinating applications, and sharing knowledge to increase the success of applications. Not only will we provide technical input into applications, but we will apply experience of other access calls to strengthen your application and ensure it has the best chance of success. We can also provide technical, collaborative support to projects once access to AIRR has been granted. IT Services and the RSE team have prior experience of offering such support to TUoS users of the Bede and JADE2 HPC/GPU systems.
+
+#### [Call for DISKAH Fellowship Scheme 2025-2026](https://culturedigitalskills.org/diskah-call-25/)
+
+The DISKAH one-year long fellowships provide an opportunity to broaden engagement with large-scale computational methods via state-of-the-art national digital research infrastructure to support Arts and Humanities (A&H) research. DISKAH Fellows will gain access to resources and networks to develop their projects, build capacity, co-design training for A&H, as well as contributing to the DISKAH network.
+
+Application deadline 2025-03-03
+
+### Training
+
+#### FAIR<sup>2</sup> for research software
+
+This training curriculum offers a modular programme to support researchers in applying FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) principles and open research practices to their [research software](https://zenodo.org/records/6623556). The programme is aimed at researchers, including PhDs and postgraduate research students at the University of Sheffield, who create code (whether a few scripts or something more substantial) as part of their research and who want to make their research more open by applying the FAIR principles to their software or simply want to become more confident in the research code they are writing.
+
+To find out what the FAIR principles are and why they are crucial to make your research more open, you can watch the introductory talk by Head of Research Software Engineering, Romain Thomas, [_Better software for Better research: Introduction to the FAIR2 for Research Software training programme_](https://orda.shef.ac.uk/articles/media/Better_software_for_Better_research_Introduction_to_the_FAIR2_for_Research_Software_training_programme/27283239?file=49937889). You can also view the [slides](https://fair2-for-research-software.github.io/Better_software_for_better_research/#/title-slide) for this talk.
+
+The [FAIR<sup>2</sup> for research software training programme](https://rse.shef.ac.uk/training/fair4rs/) has been developed by the RSE, Data Analytics Service and Library teams and launched in October. The full syllabus is now live and places on upcoming courses can be booked via [MyDevelopment](https://mydevelopment.csod.com/ui/lms-learning-details/app/curriculum/06573f55-12e4-44f1-be4c-fac5ea9d6851) (requires login). The programme will be continuing over the next few months, with the following courses now scheduled:
+
+- 2025-02-17 &amp; 2025-02-18, 9.00am \- 1.30pm [Git Collaboration](https://rse.shef.ac.uk/training/fair4rs/#version-control)
+- 2025-03-06, 9.00am \- 1.30pm [Documentation](https://rse.shef.ac.uk/training/fair4rs/#documentation)
+- 2025-03-24, 9.00am \- 1.30pm [Reproducible computational environments](https://rse.shef.ac.uk/training/fair4rs/#reproducible-computational-environments)
+- 2025-04-11, 1.30pm \- 5.00pm [Packaging](https://rse.shef.ac.uk/training/fair4rs/#packaging)
+
+### Jobs
+
+Check for advertised RSE and RSE-adjacent roles at the [RSE society's vacancies
+board](https://society-rse.org/careers/vacancies/).
+
+- The University of Manchester is hiring [a Senior Research Platforms Engineer (HPC)](https://www.jobs.manchester.ac.uk/Job/JobDetail?JobId=31460). Applications close 2025-02-12.
+- The University of Birmingham Advanced Research Computing (ARC) is seeking to [appoint three Research Software Engineer (RSE) posts](https://blog.bham.ac.uk/bear/2025/01/13/recruiting-three-rses/). Applications close 2025-02-16.
+
+### Community
+
+#### Digital Research Practice Support Community
+
+The DRPS community is a group for people that support researchers in carrying out research in the digital age. Meetings
+are held monthly, with discussions around events, training and opportunities related to the field. You can join the
+[google group](https://groups.google.com/u/1/a/sheffield.ac.uk/g/digital-research-practice-support-community-group/about) to
+stay informed. Next meeting: Wednesday 29th January 2025 at 2pm.
+
+#### LunchBytes
+
+[LunchBytes](https://rse.shef.ac.uk/community/lunch-bytes/) are short talks from the research community on research
+software, data, and infrastructure.
+
+Due to capacity within the RSE team, there was very limited LunchBytes content over the past academic year.
+This should be changing soon, a new coordinator for LunchBytes has been found (Research IT's Farhad Allian), with a plan to reboot these lunchtime seminars in the spring semester.
+
+More information will be coming out over the coming months, so sign up to the [RSE mailing list](https://groups.google.com/a/sheffield.ac.uk/g/RSE-group) if you'd like to learn more about research software and associated practices, or get in contact with [Farhad](mailto:[email protected]) if you would like to share what you know at an upcoming session!
+
+### Support
+
+#### Code Clinics
+
+Why not come to a [Code Clinic](https://rse.shef.ac.uk/support/code-clinic/)? We're keen to help you.
+
+Code Clinics are fortnightly supported sessions run by the RSE team and IT Services’ [Research
+IT](https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/it-services/research) team. They are open to anyone at TUoS writing code for research to
+get help with programming problems and general advice on best practices.
+
+At each session, members of the RSE and/or Research IT teams will be available to review code, advise, troubleshoot, and
+suggest ways to improve your computational workflows.
+
+#### Research IT HPC Drop In
+
+HPC Drop-In sessions are providing assistance with HPC related user issues such as challenges in scaling an application
+from desktop to supercomputer. We are considering extending the number of our sessions to two or three weekly. These
+interactive sessions could provide a better interface with our users than our non-interactive ticketing system. These
+sessions are advertised on the [HPC mailing list](https://groups.google.com/u/1/a/sheffield.ac.uk/g/hpc).
+
+#### Research IT Consultations
+
+Alongside the HPC Drop-In sessions, Research IT are also running one to one consultations to solve in depth user
+specific problems. These consultations can be booked via our webpage. If you are interested please visit the following
+link: <https://students.sheffield.ac.uk/it-services/research>.
+
+## Sheffield RSE Team
+
+The Sheffield RSE Team aims to [collaborate](https://rse.shef.ac.uk/collaboration/) with you to help improve your
+research software. They can [provide dedicated staff](https://rse.shef.ac.uk/collaboration/provision/) to ensure that
+you can deliver excellent research software engineering on your research projects.
+
+## Research IT
+
+[Research IT](https://students.sheffield.ac.uk/it-services/research) directly supports research, both academic and
+commercial.  We provide large scale HPC systems, advice on everything from statistics to ML to data pipelines and
+training for both students and staff.
+
+Working with academics, our staff are embedded within research groups on both long and short term engagements.