## Sharpening the cutting edge: Research Computing at the University of Leeds <div> <img style="width:30%" src="https://arcdocs.leeds.ac.uk/_images/HPC1-1024x821.jpg"></img> </div> --- ## Whoami - Alex Coleman, Research Software Engineer at the University of Leeds - Background: Molecular Virologist, Data Scientist - Trustee of [RSE Society](https://society-rse.org/) - GitHub: [Sparrow0hawk](https://github.com/Sparrow0hawk) --- ## The problem ---- ### Software Sustainability Institute 2014 researcher survey <sup style="top:-0.0em">1</sup> found: - 92% of academics use research software - 69% say that their research would not be practical without it - 56% develop their own software (21% of those have no training in software development) - 70% of male researchers: 30% of female researchers develop their own software ---- ### ¯\\\_(ツ)\_/¯ ### It works on my machine... ---- <img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ARCLeeds/Techtalks/master/techtalk-OpenLunch/images/reproducibility-graphic-online1.jpeg" width="400"> <img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ARCLeeds/Techtalks/master/techtalk-OpenLunch/images/reproducibility-graphic-online3.jpg" width="400"> Images from [Nature](https://www.nature.com/news/1-500-scientists-lift-the-lid-on-reproducibility-1.19970)<sup style="top:-0.0em">2</sup> --- ## What is RSE? ----  <figcaption> Figure from <a href="https://slides.com/simonhettrick/why-we-need-careers-for-research-software-engineers-10-13-17-43-46#">Why we need careers for Research Software Engineers - Simon Hettrick</a> </figcaption> --- ## RSE at Leeds ---- - Team of 5 - Mixed backgrounds and skill sets - Central facility, part of IT Services ---- - Provide ad-hoc computational support to researchers - Manage and support the University High Performance Computing Systems - Deliver computational skills training to researchers - Provide software engineering consulting for research projects --- ## Case Studies ---- ### Supporting research projects software engineering best practice - Remote collaborative Rapid Assistance in Modelling the Pandemic project<sup style="top:-0.0em">3</sup> with researchers across UK (Leeds, Exeter, UCL) - Develop a COVID-19 disease model using novel methodology - Collaborative code development workflow, testing, documentation, reproducibility ----  ---- ## Supporting modelling and analysis on research projects ----  ---- ## Utilising cloud tools for research ----  <figcaption style="font-size:1rem;"> <p>Diego Delso, <a href="http://delso.photo/">delso.photo</a>, License <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode">CC-BY-SA</a></p> </figcaption> ---- ## [ResCompLeedsCon2022](rescompleedscon.github.io/conference2022/) - Conference for computational researchers - 2 days, 80 speakers, 140 attendees - Live streamed on [YouTube Channel](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcakxuKGW8bW9Dus-9OW4Tw) ---- ## And more... --- ## The future --- ## Thanks for listening --- ## References 1. [S.J. Hettrick et al, UK Research Software Survey 2014](https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1183562) 2. [Baker, M. 1,500 scientists lift the lid on reproducibility. Nature 533, 452–454 (2016).](https://doi.org/10.1038/533452a) 3. [Spooner, Fiona, et al. "A dynamic microsimulation model for epidemics." Social Science & Medicine 291 (2021): 114461.](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2021.114461) --- ## Acknowledgements This talk was inspired by: - [The Rise of the Research Software Engineer | Mike Croucher | JuliaCon2018 ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZSaAM8hhJ4&t=663s)