Research Directions for Multi-Disciplinary RSE Research to Impact RSE Practise

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With this panel, we intend to highlight the concept of RSE Research as a complementary approach to RSE Practise: conducting research to understand and improve how software is developed for research purposes. RSE Research should be a multi-disciplinary endeavour, involving disciplines such as software engineering, sociology, economics, and psychology, among others.

The overarching aim of research software engineering is to support and advance research fields by providing high-quality software that is reliable, efficient, and user-friendly. A distinctive aspect of RSE is that requirements are often not predetermined but emerge and evolve as research progresses. Understanding these requirements can be challenging without expertise in the relevant scientific field. Verification and validation are complex and adhere strictly to scientific standards.

RSE Research seeks to enhance the understanding of research software development and to devise methods, techniques, and tools to improve RSE Practise. Consequently, RSE Research addresses a range of research questions, which encompass not only the software as a product but also the provision of software development support for domain researchers, recognising their limited time and potentially improvable software development skills.

The objective of this panel is to explore the potential impact of RSE Research on RSE Practise, and the consequently emerging questions for RSE Research.

Panellists: Wilhelm Hasselbring (chair, Kiel University & University of Southampton), Michelle Barker (Research Software Alliance, Australia), Neil Chue Hong (University of Edinburgh), Simon Hettrick (University of Southampton), Inga Ulusoy (University of Heidelberg).