Building a Sustainable Structure for Research Software Engineering Activities

TL;DR

This paper proposes a high-level model for supporting research software engineering activities, emphasizing the importance of structured pillars to enhance sustainable development and institutional support.

Contribution

It introduces a preliminary, conceptual framework based on key activities and processes to guide the development of effective research software engineering support structures.

Findings

Identifies the need for formal structures in research software engineering.

Proposes a model with key pillars for sustainable support.

Highlights the importance of institutional backing.

Abstract

The profile of research software engineering has been greatly enhanced by developments at institutions around the world to form groups and communities that can support effective, sustainable development of research software. We observe, however, that there is still a long way to go to build a clear understanding about what approaches provide the best support for research software developers in different contexts, and how such understanding can be used to suggest more formal structures, models or frameworks that can help to further support the growth of research software engineering. This paper sets out some preliminary thoughts and proposes an initial high-level model based on discussions between the authors around the concept of a set of pillars representing key activities and processes that form the core structure of a successful research software engineering offering.