Project management beyond the process: How do RSE team leads learn what the role requires?

Research today cannot take place without Digital Research Infrastructure (DRI). But how are the teams that develop the research software which underpins DRI managed, and how do we ensure that those leading the teams have the right skills to make them effective and inclusive leaders?

There is a wealth of technical training material targeted at researchers, Research Software Engineers and other Research Technical Professionals (RTPs). Much of this material is open and freely accessible, and institutional RSE groups now play a large role in upskilling practitioners, as disseminated at RSECon. At the same time, through the UNIVERSE-HPC project, we are aware that this availability of training material doesn’t directly translate into a more skilled and capable workforce. 

A particular gap that has been identified is the lack of training materials aimed at teams developing research software, including helping those new to managing or leading diverse teams. There are a large number of resources on software project management, and general team management, but few which take into account the particular challenges of working in the research environment. 

This talk will present work that DRIFT (a follow-up to UNIVERSE-HPC) has done to identify the existing resources, approaches and audiences, and understand what adaptations might be required to be able to use existing materials in a research software engineering context. Starting with the goal of teaching project management skills as they can be applied to software development in research environments, we would like to get feedback from participants on a curriculum, in particular to identify any “hidden” objectives, such as enabling inclusive leadership and research integrity. This will contribute to an openly licensed course that will be piloted in 2026, focusing on the challenges of working with teams with different experience levels, promoting effective communication and knowledge transfer, and creating positive working environments.

This work has been funded by the UKRI Digital Research Infrastructure programme through grant UKRI298 for the DRI-focussed training for research facilitators and teams (DRIFT) project. We thank all the other members of the DRIFT team: including Weronika Filinger, Laura Moran, Anna Roubíčková, Darren White, Martin Robinson, Jeremy Cohen, and Eirini Zormpa, as well others working in the same area who have provided input and feedback: Tracy Teal, Toby Hodges, Sarah Jaffa and Steve Crouch.