Sustainable research software development for geo-information science and Earth observation

Research software play important role in addressing real-world problems related to environment and society. They also become more complex with the availability of advanced computing methods and infrastructure, such as deep learning, big data analytics, and cloud computing. This is especially the case for the Earth Observation and Geo-information Science domains that need to deal with a wide variety of large spatio-temporal data. Moreover, best practices not only in software development but also community development are required to comply with Open Science and FAIR principles that are crucial for modern research. Research software development is essentially evolving into a team effort of professionals with different expertise and skills, including researchers, research software engineers, technology advisors, and community managers.  

As a world-renown education, research, and capacity development institution, the Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC) has a long history and experience in research software development. Likewise, the Netherlands eScience Center builds and applies software in a collaborative manner to enhance the use of computing and digital technologies in academic research. The mini symposium aims to initiate a collaboration between ITC and the eScience Center on research software development by bringing the research and development communities of both institutions together to enable transfer of technical and practical know-how through presentations, open discussions, and networking activities. It will also help the eScience Center to better understand the specific needs of the Geo-Information and EO community. Based on the outcomes of the mini symposium, a series of hands-on training workshops on selected research software, as well as research software development best practices, will be co-organized to improve digital skills of ITC staff and students.