# SSI Fellows Community Call - January 2024

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* Monday 21st January 2024, 15:00-16:00 GMT (UTC)
* Zoom link:
* Recordings: [Jannetta Steyn](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XG_CKycFl6U&t=116s), [Magesh Chandramouli](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPL7lld6Bag&t=95s), [Ugur Yilmaz](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U45BX1NZKIw&t=28s)
* Previous calls: [https://bit.ly/3eu7NjT](https://bit.ly/3eu7NjT)
* Summary: We will hear Fellow’s updates from Jannetta Steyn, Magesh Chandramouli and Ugur Yilmaz.
:::

[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))

15:00 - 15:05 Welcome
15:05 - 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_

* Mario Antonioletti, SSI Staff, EPCC, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, he/him.
* Catherine Inglis / SSI staff / EPCC, The University of Edinburgh / Edinburgh / she/her / Twitter *(does anyone actually call it X?)*: @cafi_epcc
* Ugur Yilmaz / SSI 2023 Fellow / SKA Observatory Manchester / he/him
* Oscar Seip, SSI Staff, University of Manchester, He/Him, @OscarSeip
* Patricia Herterich / SSI Fellow 2019 / OLS & Independent consultant (CW24 Chair) / Edinburgh, UK / she/her/ @pherterich | @[e-mail]
* Jannetta Steyn / SSI Fellow 2022 / Newcastle University / she, her
* Colin Sauze / National Oceanography Centre / Aberystwyth/Liverpool / he,him /
* Abhishek Dasgupta / 2021 / University of Oxford / he,him
* Sarah Gibson / 2020 / 2i2c / Northants, UK / she,her /
* Jesper Dramsch / 2020 / ECMWF / Bonn, Germany / they|them / dramsch.net/links
* Kim Martin / 2022 / Stellenbosch University / South Africa / she, her, they, them / LinkedIn:kcmartin
* Iain Barrass / 2021 / University of Glasgow / Glasgow / he, him /
* Shoaib Sufi / SSI Staff / University of Manchester
* David Wilby / 2022 / British Antarctic Survey (newly!) / Sheffield / he,him
* Loïc Lannelongue / 2023 / University of Cambridge / Cambridgeshire / he,him
* Jez Cope / 2020 / The British Library / North Yorkshire / he, him, his / [@[e-mail]](https://digipres.club/@petrichor), <https://erambler.co.uk>
* Riva Quiroga / 2022 / Programming Historian + Universidad Católica de Chile / Valparaíso, Chile / she/her / @rivaquiroga
* Melissa Black / 2023 / MetaDocencia / she/her
* Aman Goel / 2023 / University of Manchester / Manchester / he,him / [Twitter - @mightaswellcode](https://twitter.com/mightaswellcode)
* Olexandr Konovalov / 2024 / University of St Andrews / St Andrews / he,him
* Nadine Spychala / 2023 / University of Sussex/King's College London / Brighton / she/her / https://hackmd.io/TKZ4gyDATg21nHZ82GohvA?both
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### 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?_

* Jannetta: knackered, working on loads of different things. Anybody know anything about HPCs?
* :heart: Sent you a Whatsapp
* Patricia: tired (not sleeping well with the wind howling) and busy wrapping up OLS-8 cohort finances and getting more CW24 things out!
* :heart: Many thanks for everything you do :)
* Jesper: tired (Performance review today, so prepped all morning), bit unrested (short weekend due to protests against fascism in Germany). We published [AIFS v0.2](https://www.ecmwf.int/en/about/media-centre/aifs-blog/2024/first-update-aifs) and I made a cool landing page for my newsletter: [late.email](https://late.email). I'm setting my annual goals, trying to be re-graded to Senior by end of year, wouldn't mind some advice how to phrase these in focus.
* :heart: Good luck!
* David: listening in to my first call after 2 years of fellowship :grimacing: , have recently moved from University of Sheffield to British Antarctic Survey.
* :heart: Welcome, and I hope the move treats you well :)
* Kim: flu-ey, but recovering; working on putting together a 'publication plan' to try to secure funding for 2024 - anyone want to chat to give me inspiration (including suggesting potential co-publications?)?
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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]), [Shoaib](mailto:[e-mail]) and / or [Mario](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 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 [15:05 - 15:35]
_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)

### Jannetta Steyn (2022) - 7 min + 3 min Q&A
* Useful links:
* https://carpentriesoffline.org
* Notes:
* CarpentriesOffline meetings, once a month on the first Wednesday of the month, at 15:30 UK time
* Questions:
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### Magesh Chandramouli (2023) - 7 min + 3 min Q&A
* Useful links:
* https://xreal-xperienz.org/
* Notes:
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* Questions:
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### Ugur Yilmaz (2023) - 7 min + 3 min Q&A
* Useful links:
* Slides: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1MkEM93V3m5ERfYzn3WTxxLf6h8lGXEwDaHpcBZ4WRY0/edit#slide=id.g2b1ca265ce1_0_85
* Notes:
* Kim recommended sharing on LinkedIn.
* Questions:
* Will you run it online?
* The survey recommended an in-person one (favoured by 32 of 40 people), so wanted to run that first. Running it online at a later date is much easier and can probably be arranged.

## 3. 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._

### Main room: hangout
* Participants:
*
* Notes:
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### Breakout Room 1:
* Participants:
* Jannetta Steyn
* Abhishek Dasgupta
* Colin Sauze
* Loïc Lannelongue
* Notes:
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### Breakout Room 2:
* Participants:
* Shoaib Sufi
* Magesh Chandramouli
* Kim Martin
* Notes:
* Good resource shared by Magesh: grants.gov
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### Breakout Room 3:
* Participants:
* Ugur Yilmaz
* Nadine Spychala
* Sarah Gibson
* Notes:
* Question: What are the main benefits of CI/CD for Research Software Engineers?
* The importance of having reproducible builds, automated security reporting and code quality but the updake of it is slow because people either do not have time or the learning curve is higher.
* These can be overcome with a focus on abstraction so that it just works and easy to use (which the workshops are aiming to raise awareness)
* And if they integrate especially with testing. This would turn all the implicit assumptions made during the research to explicitly mentioned/coded/documented to have the CI work. This way we can have reproducible software and do not find ourselves in a situtation where we try to replicate a paper but the code (if it's published) has changed a lot with being less clear on why and how

## 4. Closing - 5 min [15:55 - 16:00]

### Important financial deadlines
* The deadline for submitting new Funding Requests has now passed, with the exception of Funding Requests for CW24.
* **31 January:** Deadline for Funding Requests for SSI-funded places at CW24.
* After this date, we will review the requests received and the amount of funding still available, and will contact anyone for whom a funding decision is still pending.
* **30 April:** last day you can upload a claim for an event that was approved in lowFAT (not including CW24).
* **17 May:** Final deadline to submit all expense claims for CW24.
* As the SSI grant closes at the end of May, it will not be possible to process any expense claims received after this date.

* **Please remember that all expense claims should be submitted within 3 months of the event to which they correspond.**
* All claims for expenses incurred before 22nd October 2023 should now have been submitted.
* For expenses incurred between October 2023 and March 2024, the submission deadlines are below:
* October 2023 - the deadline for your claim is January 2024
* November 2023 - the deadline for your claim is February 2024
* December 2023 - the deadline for your claim is March 2024
* Expenses should be submitted no later than the corresponding day of the month in the deadline month, e.g. if you incurred expenses on the 1st of a month, your claim should be submitted no later than the 1st of the corresponding month (see below). It will have exceeded the 3-month policy if it is submitted after that time (e.g. expenses claimed on 1st November should be claimed by 1st February, and will be late if received on 2nd February).
* **All expenses incurred between 01 January 2024 and 31 March 2024 must be submitted on lowFAT by 30 April 2024**.
* No expenses incurred after 31 March 2024 can be claimed from your Fellowship funds or the communal pot, with the exception of CW24-related expenses.
### Next call: March 2024
* Poll to determine time: [`link to poll`](https://framadate.org/OvRUtundpyMXLLEq) (this poll has been created using framadate rather than Doodle, as the adverts in Doodle are now very intrusive - it works in a very similar way)
* Sign-up/register your interest to speak on a future call: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1MiNGH8ID_gtfBF7ddXenHGmZaoHelMqCBIjV-1jWKgg/edit### Upcoming events / calls
_Event name / date, time & venue / website / description_

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

* Kim Martin: I'm working on putting together a 'publication plan' to try to secure funding for 2024 - anyone want to chat to give me inspiration (including suggesting potential co-publications?)? Feel free to connect on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/KIMCMARTIN/
* Oscar Seip: Should you have any software development meetings you'd like to invite other fellows to or bring to their attention, please don't hesitate to share the details on the "running software project" channel on Slack.
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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._

* Sorry I couldn't join today. At UKCEH, we are advertising for six RSE posts at the moment. Please circulate and recommend suitable candidates:
Senior Research Software Engineer (2 posts): https://ceh.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/CEH_Careers/job/Senior-Research-Software-Engineer_JR1160,
Research Software Engineer (4 posts): https://ceh.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/CEH_Careers/job/Research-Software-Engineer_JR1165
* As you may have noticed, we have updated the SSI website. As part of this, we would also like to **update the fellows’ profiles**. For this, it would be great if you could update your profiles on lowFAT as soon as possible but **no later than 31st of January**. If this is a problem, please do not hesitate to contact me at [e-mail].
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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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