# SSI Fellows Community Call - November 2025

:::info
* Monday 24 November 2025, 15:00-16:00 BST (UTC)
* Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84441368282 (no registration required)
* Recording:
* Previous calls: [https://bit.ly/3eu7NjT](https://bit.ly/3eu7NjT)
* Summary: We will hear Fellows updates from Magesh Chandramouli and Gemma Turon.
:::

[toc]

## Agenda
Times in [BST (UTC +1)] (check your [time zone here](https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?msg=All+Fellows+Community+Call&iso=20251124T15&p1=302&ah=1)

15:00 - 15:05 Welcome and announcements
15:05 - 15:15 Finance updates
15:15 - 15:35 Fellows' updates
15:35 - 15:55 Breakout room discussions
15:55 - 16:00 Closing

## Roll call
_Name / Cohort year / Affiliation / Location / Pronouns / Social media_
* Phil Reed / 2025 / University of Manchester / West Yorks. / he-him / @PhilReedData
* Shoaib Sufi / SSI Fellows Management / University of Manchester
* Gemma Turon / 2022 / Ersilia / Barcelona / she,her / GemmaTuron on LinkedIn
* Sangeeta Bhatia / 2025 / Imperial College London/ She, her/
* Mike Simpson / 2025 Newcastle Universtiy / He/Him / https://linktr.ee/mdsimpson
* Saranjeet Kaur /
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* Aman Goel / 2023 / SSI, University of Manchester / Manchester / he, him / @amangoel.bsky.social • GitHub, LinkedIn: @amangoel185
*

### Check-in
_Include your name and answer any of the following prompts: How are you today? What are you working on? Where do you need support?_
* My next SSI fellowship task is to figure out the Google Sheets formula to make slugs from text. We have got rid of spaces, made it lower case, next is to remove punctuation :-)
* Sangeeta: Dealing with a second round of cold brought in my toddler from his nursery :( the weather is not helping.
* AG: Hope you feel better soon - it's freezing!
* Mike: Put together a DisCouRSE Bid with Sara Villa and Rowland Mosbergsen for a mental health/inclusion-focussed training course. Sadly, we didn't get approval in time and missed the deadline, but we'll submit to the next call! Did some data analysis on Mentimeter data from my talks at RSECon and the Turing (blog post awaiting approval). Had a few more volunteers to contribute to [ConveRSE](https://mdsimpson42.github.io/converse/), but everyone's busy. Some new content has been added.
* AG: We ended up skipping a DisCouRSE bid too but lots of other NetworkPlus bids coming up!
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* Aman: Doing well, getting back from a long trip so just getting back into the flow of things - been pretty hectic! Lots of teaching recently - Research Software Camp last 2 weeks and [Building Better Research Software](https://carpentries-incubator.github.io/better-research-software) this week. Officially full time SSI from this month, so enjoying that! :)
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## 1. Welcome - 5 min [15:00 - 15:05]

### General Guidance

* 🤝 Please follow the [Code of Conduct](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1eQu4EKHKbL-EMCwbwy7F_YGCOFhBcpBbwsET7QAvA1U/edit?usp=sharing), report any issues to [Catherine](mailto:[e-mail]) and / or [Oscar](mailto:[e-mail]).
* 📹 The Fellows updates are being recorded and the videos will be made available on the [SSI YouTube channel](https://www.youtube.com/user/SoftwareSaved) after the call.
* 📝 This document is for SSI Fellows only, so please do not share the link publicly. Feel free to take notes, ask questions, add friendly comments, +1, etc.
* Outputs such as blog posts or guides may result from the discussions and shared insights. We will not share any personal information, but if you would like to be contacted and included as a contributing author on any outputs, please include your full name as part of any shared insights.

### Goals of these Community Calls
* Facilitate community building and encourage collaboration within the SSI Fellows community.
* Check in with the Fellows and community care - What are the Fellows up to? How can the SSI Community team support them?
* Provide a welcoming and inclusive space for Fellows to share and explore topics of interest and network with others.

### Breakout room discussion topics
Feel free to add your own and include your name:
1.

## 2. Finance update - 10 min [15:05-15:15]

- [lowFAT Fellows Guidance](https://docs.google.com/document/d/16EsBzSsCEjrdg6ZnCSQUKj6wtT-J90lgTCeYLwsSMas/edit?usp=sharing)
- Q: When would we need 2 biog posts? Is there a specific threshold? (I made a claim of around £950 with 1 blog post.)
- A: We usually say £500 per blog post but it might also depend on how many blog posts you’ve already submitted.
- Q: Currently the claim forms are supposed to be uploaded in a .docx format. Does it change the formatting of the entries? Do you think a pdf would help there?
- A: Unfortunately, sometimes the documents need to be edited by the finance team so it would have to stay a docx for that reason.

## 3. SSI and Fellows' updates - 20 min [15:15 - 15:35]
_This is an opportunity for Fellows to share/show and tell during our community calls. During this call, we will hear from 1 member of the SSI team and 1 Fellow, who will each have 7 min (+ 3 min Q&A) to introduce themselves and share any updates to the network, such as:_
* _Your Fellowship plans, demos of projects, upcoming events or other activities_
* _Projects for which you are seeking support or collaboration_
* _Life after the Fellowship and how the Fellowship impacted your career_

Timer for speakers: [https://cuckoo.team/ssi-fellows-community-call](https://cuckoo.team/ssi-fellows-community-call)

### Gemma Turon - 7 min + 3 min Q&A
* Useful links:
* https://www.ersilia.io
* Notes:
* Probably this book could be translated into a Carpentries course?
* They applied for GSoC but were rejected multiple? times
* Maybe the fellowship network could help with advice!
* OLS and Turing Way has done Outreachy stuff too I think?
* Questions:
* Have you considered applying for google summer of code as an organisation?

### Magesh Chandramouli - 7 min + 3 min Q&A
* Useful links:
*
* Notes:
*
* Questions:
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## 4. Breakout room discussions - 20 min [15:35 - 15:55]
_Please take notes of your discussion while you are in your breakout rooms in the relevant section below for others to catch up with._

### Breakout Room 1: Gemma Turon
* Participants:
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* Notes:
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### Breakout Room 2: Magesh Chandramouli
* Participants:
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* Notes:
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### Breakout Room 3: All Fellows at CW26
* Participants:
*
* Notes:

### Breakout Room 4: Hangout room
* Participants:
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* Notes:
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## 5. Closing - 10 min [15:55 - 16:00]

### Next call: TBC
* We aim to schedule the next Fellows Community Call in December. Keep an eye on your email / Slack for a poll to find a date.
* Sign-up/register your interest to speak on a future call: https://forms.office.com/e/As1GrML5rA

### Upcoming events / calls
_Event name / date, time & venue / website / description_

* **CW26 Call for Proposals** - Deadline: Friday, 16th January 2026 - 23:59 GMT - [More information](https://www.software.ac.uk/news/take-stage-cw26-submit-your-proposals-now)
* **Workshop** - *Building a comprehensive and coordinated training landscape for dRTPs* - Thursday, 27th November, 2025 - London - [More information](https://www.tickettailor.com/events/stepupproject/1867117)
* **Call for Applications** - *DRI Knowledge Exchange Fellowships* - Deadline: Sunday, 30th November 2025 - [More information](https://www.cake.ac.uk/about/ke-fellowships)
* **Call for Applications** - *DRI Knowledge Exchange Placements and Visits* - Deadline: Rolling deadline of the 1st of each month - [More information](https://www.cake.ac.uk/about/placements)
* **Survey and Workshop** - *N8 Online Research Technical Professional Recruitment and Diversity Sandpit* - Tuesday, 20th January 2026 - [Fill the survey here!](https://www.qualtrics.manchester.ac.uk/jfe/form/SV_1QSwSJAvxqo30nc) - [More information](https://n8cir.org.uk/events/drtp-recruitment-and-diversity-sandpit)
* **Unconference** - *Open Science Retreat Global 2026* - April 7-11, 2026 - Wales - Deadline: Sunday, 30th November, 2026 - [More information](https://open.science-retreat.org/OSR26UK)
* **Call for Applications** – *The Carpentries Code of Conduct Committee* - Deadline: 28 November 2025 - [More information](https://carpentries.org/blog/2025/11/coc_membership_call)
* **CAKE has a good overview of events and calls in the DRI landscape** - [Funding Calls](https://www.cake.ac.uk/funds) - [Calendar](https://www.cake.ac.uk/events) - [Opportunities](https://www.cake.ac.uk/opportunities)
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### Requests for peer assists, collaboration and/or support
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*Note that there is now a recently launched channel in the Fellows slack workspace called #collaboration (another is #peer-review). This is a place to ‘find your people’ and support each other, so please join the channels, and make the most of it!*

### Other updates, shares and shout-outs
_Please feel free to add any updates or thank-yous that you wish to share with the community._

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### Feedback

* What did you enjoy about this call? What worked well?
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* What could be improved? What did not work well?
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* What topics would you like to explore on future calls?
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