Sustaining Research Software: Issues and Actions

A keynote talk for the 2022 NZ Research Software Engineers (RSE) Conference. 

Abstract: Research software is pervasive in research today; most research is dependent on software. Much of this research software is built and maintained by communities, typically comprising research software engineers and researchers. And most of the communities have or develop a strong voluntary aspect, at least over time, particularly because any one funding activity for research software is usually shorter term that the life span of the software itself. Additionally, software that is not maintained will eventually stop working or stop being useful, because of changes in the underlying hardware and software environment and changes in user needs. Therefore, sustaining the software requires ongoing human effort, and can be seen as balancing that human effort with the specific needs of the software project. This talk will discuss these issues and actions that effect and affect this balance that be taken by individual projects, communities, funders, and institutions.