Code Clinic

"Stop wasting valuable time trying to fix issues on your own."


Code Clinics are research software engineering (RSE) fortnightly support sessions run by RSE@Sheffield. They are open to anyone at TUoS writing code for research to get help with programming problems and general advice on best practice.

At each session, members of the RSE team will be available to review code, advise, troubleshoot and suggest ways to improve your computational workflows.


  • When: Every second Wed (14:00 - 16:00)

    Clinics launch on Wednesday, Oct 3rd, 2018 and run fortnightly after that. Check for scheduled dates on the RSE Code Clinic calendar.

  • Where: Room COM-G25

    Regent Court, Dept. of Computer Science, The University of Sheffield, 211 Portobello, Sheffield, S1 4DP.

  • Who: Are you...
    • Thinking of ways to improve your code?
    • Want to automate a task (e.g: series of scripts)?
    • Unsure of which software tools to use for your project?
    • You have a lot of data and need help organising, storing, accessing or visualising it?
    • Need some advice on optimising your code?
    • Want to know whether your code could run faster on multiple cores or GPUs?
    • Want to re-write your code written in one language (e.g: Excel) in another language such as Python?
    • Need help with version control?
    • Want to know more about making your code open and/or citable?
    We can help!


Book a session

Clinic sessions are split into 4 half-hourly slots, bookable for consultation. To book, please fill in this brief form. If there is time in between slots, we will also strive to accomodate drop-ins. However, to avoid disappointment and allow us to better allocate the most appropriate members of the team to help you, we strongly advise you book in advance.

Preparing for your session:

  • Organise and annotate your code with clarifying comments.
  • Try and restrict any materials you show us to those related to the specific matter at hand. Consider stripping your code or data down to a reproducible example of your problem.
  • If helping with the problem requires us to understand your data, please include at the very least a README with descriptions of data attributes.

On the day:

  • Please bring your laptop to work on.
  • Try and have your workflow set up, ready to demonstrate your issue.

We will always try and help as best as possible. The overarching aim of the sessions is to better equip you to solve your own computational problems. This may include directing you to relevant documentation, appropriate online forums and resources, relevant upcoming training sessions, etc.

Cancelling your session:

If you cannot attend the session, please give a No response on the calendar invite so we can proceed to remove your booking from the system.

Interested in getting involved?

If you would like to get involved as a helper, please contact Dr Mozhgan Kabiri Chimeh or Dr Anna Krystalli from the RSE Group.