May 2022 Newsletter

The University of Sheffield Research Software Engineering Community Newsletter May 2022

Welcome to the monthly newsletter for the Research Software Engineering Community at The University of Sheffield.

Come to a Code Clinic

Why not come to a Code Clinic? We’re keen to hear from you.

Code Clinics are fortnightly supported sessions run by the RSE team and IT Services’ Research and Innovation IT (ITS R&I) 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 ITS R&I teams will be available to review code, advise, troubleshoot, and suggest ways to improve your computational workflows.

LunchBytes

LunchBytes are a monthly series of short talks from the research community on research software, data, and infrastructure.

In May’s edition of LunchBytes on the 19th of May, we’ll be getting together to show off our favourite tools that help with using git and GitHub. Think: command-line tools, IDE plugins, GitHub/Lab features, etc.

If you have a git tool you’d like to let others know about - get in touch with the host at d.wilby [at] sheffield.ac.uk

LunchBytes needs YOU!

LunchBytes are organised by and for the research software community at The University of Sheffield. If you’d like to curate a session on a topic or present something, get in touch by emailing lunchbytes-organisers-group@sheffield.ac.uk - Or suggest topics on the jamboard.

Join the RSE team!

We have a job advert out for an RSE! Here are six reasons to apply:

1. Varied projects. We work on research in areas such as astrophysics, healthcare, molecular biology, civil engineering and many more. Maybe you’ve been working on one area for years and you’re keen to work with researchers in diverse fields?
2. We don’t need an expert in everything right away. Lots of people have joined our team having developed coding skills working on research, and learned more software engineering once in the team. Our team is made up of people who specialise in sharing software engineering skills with researchers.
3. Make a difference. Our team works with public/private sector organisations, and charities to give our output the best chance of making a positive difference outside the university. We also enthuse about and participate in open research wherever possible.
4. Flexibility. We’re happy to discuss flexible and part time working options. One of our team has recently reduced their hours from 100% to 80%. Working as a pool makes this much more practicable. Furthermore, in contrast to most RA roles this position is open-ended.
5. Do useful stuff with code. We are most interested in your ability to do useful things with code and work with other people. We don’t tend to ask questions about the theory of computer science in interviews. The interest is in modern software technology, code you’ve written, how it was used and how it could be improved.
6. Reward and recognition. All of the Sheffield RSE team are employed within the academic careers pathway, a new flexible career development structure which recognises a broad range of research outputs including software. The pathway provides a clear route for promotion up to the level of professor.

Please view the advert to apply, and see contact details for enquiries about the job. General enquires about the team are welcome at rse@sheffield.ac.uk. Applications close on the 9th of June 2022.

News & Blogs

• PyScript - A framework that allows users to run Python and create rich applications in the browser.

• RSE Sheffield: A concise guide to reproducible MATLAB projects

• Mathworks: Exploring the MATLAB beta for Native Apple Silicon

Funding Opportunities

• Better methods, better research - Apply for funding to improve the methods used by others in biomedical and health research. The closing date is 15 June 2022.

Events

• SSI Research Software Camp: Next steps in coding - The Software Sustainability Institute runs free online Research Software Camps twice a year over the course of two weeks. Each Camp focusses on introducing and exploring a topic around research software, thus starting discussions among various research communities.
  • The event runs from the 16 to 27 of May 2022 and the Programme is available online
• SSI Software Surgery - The Software Sustainability Institute are running a free Software Surgery which aims to provide a safe and welcoming space for people to get advice on their software challenges.
  • The drop-in surgery is open Tuesday 17 to Thursday 19 May, and Tuesday 24 to Thursday 26 May, 10-11 am BST.
• Making the Magic Happen with research data, software & infrastructure - The aim of this event is to enable you to explore the opportunities and career pathways for Research Technology Professionals (RTPs), which focus on supporting research data, research software, and research computing facilities.
  • Thu, 26 May 2022 10:00–15:30 BST, Register via eventbrite
• RSECon22 - RSECon2022 will be held in the Frederick Douglass Centre at Newcastle University.
  • Calls for volunteers and mentors closes on the 18th of May, and registration opens on 8th of June.
• HPC and RSE Workshop - ExCALIBUR RSEs meet HPC Champions - In this hybrid (online and in-person) workshop we will hear about research software challenges in current ExCALIBUR projects, HPC developments from across the UK presented by the HPC Champions network, and discuss training and development for research software engineering in the high-performance computing space.
  • Friday 9 September 2022 09:00–16:00 BST co-located with RSECon22
  • In-person registration closes on the 25th of August, Online registration closes on the 9th of September

Training

Git & GitHub through GitKraken workshop - from Zero to Hero!

Visit the links below for more information. These events are now fully booked, but you can join the waiting list in case any spaces become available. If you sign up for a course, please make sure you either attend or cancel your booking. Bookings can usually be cancelled via eventbrite.

• Monday 6th and Tuesday 7th of June 12:30-16:30 - Register here.

• Tuesday 26th July 09:30-16:30 - Register here.

Introduction to Deep Learning Course with Tensorflow Keras (in Python), 8th June

A one-day introduction to deep learning with practical labs using Tensorflow in Python. The session is led by Twin Karmakharm and Fariba Yousefi. Register on eventbrite

Faster Matlab, 16th June

Do you write MATLAB code and wish it went a little faster? In this hands-on workshop, you will learn a range of techniques in how to make MATLAB go faster including modern MATLAB programming techniques, conversion and interfacing to C/C++, GPU and parallel computing.

The workshop is on Thursday 16th June, presented by Mike Croucher, Customer Success Engineer at MathWorks. It is free and exclusively for University of Sheffield PGRs, researchers and lecturers.

Hartree Centre EXPLAIN Training Programme

Part of the Hartree National Centre for Digital Innovation, the EXPLAIN training programme is fully-funded to upskill UK businesses and individuals to use supercomputing, data analytics & AI technologies for enhanced productivity and innovation. Events are running throughout May and June.

Sheffield RSE Team

The Sheffield RSE Team aims to collaborate with you to help improve your research software. They can provide dedicated staff to ensure that you can deliver excellent research software engineering on your research projects.

The Sheffield RSE Team provides free Code Clinics (in collaboration with IT Services), plus paid services that allow us to collaborate longer term.