EnhanceR Symposium 2023

Research Software Engineering

Join our second edition of a yearly meeting of research IT specialists, organized by the EnhanceR association!

Date

EnhanceR Symposium is a full-day event on Oct 18th, 2023.

Event Format

An in-person event for members of the Swiss research IT community, this symposium provides a platform for professionals to meet, network, and exchange knowledge.

Dive deep into the trends of the field, collaborate on shared challenges, and present your innovative projects in engaging show-and-tell sessions.

Take the opportunity to share both success and failure stories, learn from your colleagues, and collaborate on shaping the future of research software engineering in Swiss academia.

Focus Areas

  • Research Software Engineering
    • Algorithm improvements
    • Security in research code
    • Usability challenges (UI/UX, APIs)
    • Code custodianship
  • Challenges and Opportunities
    • How to make research IT work
    • A day in the life of a research IT unit
    • Case analysis for success and failure stories
    • Effective outreach to the research community
This list is not exhaustive and serves only as examples of topics of interest.

How to participate

Registration for the 2023 event is now closed!

Number of places is limited and we're nearly at capacity. If you still wish to come to the event, please reach out first to office@enhancer.ch

The event is open to all research IT specialists and research software engineers in Switzerland, whether your organization is part of the EnhanceR network or not. Participation is free of charge. Lunch and coffee breaks for participants are sponsored by EnhanceR.

Place

The event will be hosted at the the main building of the University of Bern, taking advantage of its central location in Switzerland.

Address (Google Maps):
Kuppelraum (room 501)
Hochschulstrasse 4
3012 Bern

Target audience

The event's goal is to connect research IT specialists: experts who empower research by providing specific, advanced IT services.

Examples include research software engineers, high-performance and scientific computing experts, data and information scientists, as well as research data management experts and data analysis specialists in Swiss higher education institutions, Swiss research institutions and private companies that have a focus on serving public academic institutions (e.g. SWITCH).

Keynote speaker

Professor Simon Hettrick is Deputy Director of the Software Sustainability Institute and a Director of the Southampton Research Software Group.

Simon is a passionate advocate for Research Software Engineers. He orchestrated a campaign to gain recognition for this community, which has grown from a handful of people in 2013 to an international community numbering in the tens of thousands. He was the founding chair of the UK's Association of Research Software Engineers and a founding Trustee of the Society of Research Software Engineering.

Simon is the Chair of the Hidden REF: a national campaign that looks to recognises all research outputs and every role that makes research possible. In this role, Simon campaigns for a broader interpretation of how people can contribute to the conduct of research. The Hidden REF campaign takes some credit for the inclusion of all roles, including non-academic roles, in the 2028 REF.

He works with stakeholders from across the research community to develop policies that support research software, the people who develop that software and the researchers who rely on it. Simon's research focuses on the use of software in the research community with the aim of understanding practices and demographics. In this role, he conducted the first study of software reliance in academia.

Organizer

The EnhanceR association is a nationally and internationally recognized network for Swiss research IT expertise. As of 2023, it counts 9 Swiss higher education, infrastructure and research institutions as members. Its motto is "Enhancing research through IT expertise."

The association's goal is facilitating research excellence in Switzerland to ensure it maintains its leadership position. It achieves this goal by federating Research IT specialist groups at various academic institutions across Switzerland. It creates value by allocating its expertise where and when it is most needed, the interests of the community of users and support teams of scientific computing applications nationally and internationally.

For questions regarding EnhanceR or the event, reach out to us at office@enhancer.ch

Previous Events

Looking for EnhanceR Symposium 2022 materials? Visit the 2022 edition site.