This 2-hour NWU Research Conversation Session will focus on the topic of Research Software Engineers (RSE) – what this is, who they are, and how to join the international community of RSEs. If you are a researcher using and developing software or a staff member looking after IT and infrastructure, you will definitely find it interesting and applicable. We invite all NWU researchers, students, and support staff who are actively involved in software development for research purposes to join the conversation.Our guest speaker is Dr James Hetherington from the University College of London in the UK where the Research Software Engineering Association was formed. James leads Research Software Development at UCL and visited South Africa to teach a Software Carpentry workshop in conjunction with eResearch Africa 2014. He will talk about the career path for Research Software Engineers and their impact on the research quality and university rankings. Dr Aleksandra Pawlik from the New Zealand eScience Infrastructure will join the discussion to talk about the upcoming RSE AGM and the possibility to run a remote meeting site at NWU.
After the talk we want to hear back from you how your role with the university could align with RSE and what benefits you could gain aligning with this international community.