---
# System prepended metadata

title: November 2023 SSI Fellows Community Call
tags: [SSIFellowsCommunityCalls]

---

# SSI Fellows Community Call - November 2023

:::info
* Tuesday, 21 November, 14:00-15:00 GMT (UTC)
* Zoom link - https://zoom.us/j/95274957905
* Recordings: [Daniele Procida](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrkGEcSaowQ), [Gemma Turon](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyssdPOrJmw), [Hannah Williams](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33y-0yJ6ZH8)
* Previous calls: [https://bit.ly/3eu7NjT](https://bit.ly/3eu7NjT)
* Summary: We will hear Fellow’s updates from Daniele Procida, Gemma Turon and Hannah Williams. 
:::

[toc]

## Agenda
Times in GMT (check your [time zone here](https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?msg=SSI+Fellows+Community+Call&iso=20231121T14&p1=304&ah=1))

14:00 - 14:05 Welcome
14:05 - 14:35 Fellows’ updates
14:35 - 14:55 Breakout room discussions
14:55 - 15:00 Closing

## Roll call
_Name / Cohort year / Affiliation / Location / Pronouns / Social media_
* Shoaib Sufi / SSI Staff / University of Manchester / @shoaibsufi
* Mario Antonioletti, SSI/EPCC, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, he/him
* Patricia Herterich / 2019 / OLS & Independent / Edinburgh, UK / she/her / @pherterich & https://openbiblio.social/@pherterich
* Gemma Turon / 2022() / Ersilia Open Source Initiative / Barcelona, Spain / she/her / @TuronGemma
* Sarah Gibson / 2020 / 2i2c / Corby, UK / she,her 
* Daniele Procida / 2021 / Canonical / Cardiff / he/him / https://mastodon.online/@EvilDMP 
* Riva Quiroga / 2022 / Programming Historian, Universidad Católica de Chile / Valparaíso, Chile / she, her / @rivaquiroga
* Ginestra Ferraro / 2022 / KCL Research Fellow / UI/UX Designer @ Proda AI / She/Her / :elephant: [@ginez_17](https://mastodon.social/@ginez_17)
* Matthew Bluteau / 2021 / RSE @ UK Atomic Energy Authority, Oxford / he,him / :elephant: [@mattasdata](https://fosstodon.org/@mattasdata)
* Iain Barrass / 2021 / University of Glasgow / Glasgow / he, him / 
* Melissa Black / 2023 / MetaDocencia / Brazil / she/her
* Dave Young / 2023 / Queen's University Belfast / Belfast / he,him / [@thespacedoctor](https://twitter.com/thespacedoctor) everywhere
* Eli Chadwick / 2021 / The Carpentries / he/they
* Meag Doherty / 2022 / National Institutes of Health / she/her
* Colin Sauze / 2021 / National Oceanography Centre / he/him
* Hannah Wiliams / 2021 / Dstl / Salisbury / she, her




### 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?_

* Patricia Herterich: I'm fine, trying to get organised for CW24 and in parallel doing a good chunk of end of year reflecting
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* Sarah Gibson: I am thinking about vision setting for the next year and improving how I check-in with myself and reflect on my accomplishments
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* Gemma Turon: I am good, working all week on a review on the State of Data Science in Africa
* Dave Young / Writing the data reduction pipeline for the [Son of XShooter](https://www.eso.org/sci/facilities/develop/instruments/SoXS.html) (SOXS) spectrograph / Soon to meet QUB middle management to discuss plans/vision for a QUB RSE group (RSENI community group is on its feet!)
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* Ginestra Ferraro: I'm fine, currerntly at the office, still fighting to get top management to follow proper design processes in software development. (Let's talk! - Meag) <- Yes, please. I'll be in touch!
* Matthew Bluteau: Fighting the end of autumn dip! Need the sun to come back :sun_behind_cloud: Today, writing up some slides for delivery of the [Intermediate Research Software Skills course](https://carpentries-incubator.github.io/python-intermediate-development/index.html)
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## 1. Welcome - 5 min [14:00 - 14:05]

### General Guidance

* 🤝 Please follow the [Code of Conduct](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1eQu4EKHKbL-EMCwbwy7F_YGCOFhBcpBbwsET7QAvA1U/edit?usp=sharing), report any issues to [Shoaib](mailto:shoaib.sufi@software.ac.uk) or [Mario](mailto:m.antonioletti@epcc.ed.ac.uk).
* 📹 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 we 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. Fellows’ updates - 30 min [14:05 - 14:35]
_This is an opportunity for Fellows to share/show and tell during our community calls. During this call, we will accommodate 3 Fellows 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) 

### Daniele Procida (2021) - 7 min + 3 min Q&A
* Useful links:
    * 
* Notes:
    * Visited Pycon Namibia
    * FAIRmat workshop at Humboldt University, Berlin - went very well
        * FAIRmat have developed a Nomad product
    * Did a workshp for documentation quality at scale - have run this several times
        * Edinburgh
        * Cardiff
        * ..
    * Treating documentation like a product
    * Have not had many encounters with people developing research software and want more interaction with these kinds of people.
* Questions:
    * 
### Gemma Turon (2022) - 7 min + 3 min Q&A
* Slides:
    * https://drive.google.com/file/d/1d20yM8923VUB8pvvCicy-XiLz9-i8T-R/view
* Useful links:
    * https://ersilia.io 
    * https://github.com/ersilia-os 
    * https://ersilia.io/model-hub
    * https://github.com/ersilia-os/ersilia 
    * https://ersilia.gitbook.io/ersilia-book 
    * https://twitter.com/ersiliaio
    * https://www.linkedin.com/company/ersiliaio
    * https://medium.com/ersiliaio
* Notes:
    * Founder and CEO of Ersilia (non-profit)
        * AI tools for infectious diseases
    * A lage world pop which have their health unmet - Erilia is trying to address this
    * prompote open data sharing
    * increasing the adoption of AI tools
    * Bridge the gap between research s/w and experimental scientists
    * Increase the usability of s/w by supporting open source implementations
    * Increasing the link between the UK/Spain to low income countries that have infectious diseases
    * Trying to build a large community 
    * Work fully open source - use GitHub issues, feedback welcomed
    * Trying to engage a wider community
    * Disseminate Ersilia's work
* Questions:
    * 
### Hannah Williams (2021) - 7 min + 3 min Q&A
* Useful links:
    * Slides: https://zenodo.org/records/10184927
* Notes:
    * Mathematical modeller at the start - more of an RSE at the end
    * Using Disney as an analogy after spending time recently
    * SSI fellowship driven by the COVID response
    * Wanted to bring together good practice within the org which was the basis for fellowship plans
    * it took a long time to get off the ground as still dealing with a response. The first six month was spent setting up a network, what information and channels were available. Set up a community of good practice
    * Linked in with various external organisations
    * Good to help people
    * Extras from the fellowship - lots of opportunities, personal development and increased network
    * Handed over the community into various different roles to make it sustainable.
    * Would have liked to do more for the impact assessment but thought of this late on.
    * Confessions:
        * Good: fun
        * Bad(ish): gaining momentum, spending money, etc
        * Ugly: made a mess of collaborative document
    * Two things did not achieve - reviewed code and did not spend all of my money
    * Got a new dog - highly recommended

* Questions:
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## 3. Breakout room discussions - 20 min [14:35 - 14:55]
_Please take notes of your discussion while you are in your breakout rooms in the relevant section below for others to catch up with._

### Main room: hangout
* Participants:
    * Sarah Gibson
    * Shoaib Sufi
* Notes: 
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### Breakout Room 1: Dealing with management
* Participants:
    * Colin Sauze
    * Dave Young
    * Iain Barrass
* Notes: Things can take time

### Breakout Room 2: RSE & Python (esp in LMIC)
* Participants:
    * Daniele
    * Eli Chadwick
    * Gemma
    * Meag
* Notes:
    * The funding question

### Breakout Room 3: Handing over things
* Participants:
    * Matthew Bluteau
    * Hannah Williams
    * Riva Quiroga
    * Patricia Herterich
    * Mario Antonioletti
 
* Notes:
    * It's better when you have a lot of notice to ease people into roles (almost without them noticing)
    * Having a budget to do this is motivation for people
    * Automate whatever is possible to leave fun tasks for folk to do
    * Break down tasks so people can pick up things they are interested in and want to learn

## 4. Closing - 5 min [14:55 - 15:00]

### Next call: `call date`
* Doodle poll to determine time: [`link to Doodle poll`](https://doodle.com/meeting/participate/id/bW8ok5Xd)
* Sign-up/register your interest to speak on a future call: 
    * Note that we already have 3 speakers who offered to speak at the November call, who we will aim to accommodate at the January meeting:
        * Jannetta Steyn
        * Magesh Chandramouli
        * Ugur Yilmaz

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

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### Requests for peer assists, collaboration and/or support

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### 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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