Research Software Alliance proposal

This proposal was successfully submitted to the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to support the continuation of the Research Software Funders Forum, a collaboration of funding organisations committed to supporting research software, and those who develop it, as fundamental and vital to research. 

Since its inception in 2022, the Funders Forum has provided a formal mechanism for funders to share practices and consider how to address common challenges to achieve the significant cultural change needed across the research sector globally. To date, more than 30 organisations have engaged in the Funders Forum. Members are generating knowledge and using it together to achieve the community’s goals through a variety of activities, including working groups on a multilateral funding call for research software; coordinated funder implementation of FAIR for research software principles; and sustainable and coordinated funding approaches. The International Funders Workshop: The Future of Research Software, which was co-hosted by the Research Software Alliance (ReSA) and the Netherlands eScience Center in Amsterdam in November 2022, grew out of the Funders Forum. An outcome of the workshop was a draft declaration on funding research software sustainability and a draft adoption plan. 

Continuing this collaboration is important, as funders can play a key role in changing practices in the research sector, and an increasing number of funders are now supporting the advancement of research software. Increased focus on research software can provide societal benefits that include accelerating innovation, reducing information-sharing gaps, encouraging innovation, and promoting reproducibility. 

ReSA’s focus aligns with the goals of the Sloan Foundation’s Technology program to develop practices, norms, and institutions that can better promote the development and adoption of discovery-enhancing software.