Record £10.2m investment to continue improving research software practices
30 August 2024
The Software Sustainability Institute (SSI) has been awarded a record £10.2 million funding for a new project phase from 2024-2028 to continue its vital work as the first organisation in the world dedicated to improving software in research.
Transforming research software
This marks the fourth time the SSI has been entrusted with public funding to carry out its mission of transforming research culture by establishing the principle that reliable, reproducible, and reusable software is necessary across all research disciplines. It achieves this by working with, and investing in, individuals and organisations from across the research sector.
SSI Phase 4
The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) leads this fourth phase of the SSI. This project has received funding through the UKRI Digital Research Infrastructure Programme.
Phase 4 will focus on tackling the environmental sustainability of research software, investigating how to improve equality, diversity, inclusion and accessibility in the research software community, and addressing the rising interest in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML).
For this phase, the SSI is partnering with Open Life Science (OLS), a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to diversifying leadership in research, to amplify the impact of the SSI Fellowship Programme. OLS will consult on mentorship training to further develop the SSI Fellowship Programme. The SSI will also work closely with the University of Oxford to develop strategic activities to strengthen its link to the arts and humanities communities.
EPCC Director Mark Parsons, a member of SSI’s Advisory Board, said: “Over the past decade SSI has shown that reliable, reproducible and reusable software is vital across all research disciplines. I’m excited to see what SSI can achieve in this next phase as we look forward to continuing our work with our partners in crucial areas such as the environmental impact of software, the growing use of AI and, importantly, how we value software as a research output."
Neil Chue Hong, founding director of SSI, said: “Every modern societal advance is driven by research which relies on software. From weather forecasting to whether we can build new research narratives for the next decade, it’s important that we provide equitable access to the digital tools and skills enabling this. This grant - which will see the SSI into its 18th year - enables us to work with the research community to build capability and expertise, ensuring a sustainable future for research software.”
Christopher Smith Arts and Humanities Research Council executive chair“Software plays a fundamental role in all disciplines of research. That’s why it’s so important that we invest in supporting the development of research software that is top quality, meets the needs of our research communities, is environmentally sustainable and is ready for the future.”
About the Software Sustainability Institute
Led by EPCC at the University of Edinburgh, in partnership with the Universities of Manchester and Southampton, SSI was established in 2010 as the first organisation in the world dedicated to improving software in research. It was built on the premise that helping individuals and institutions understand the vital role that software plays in research would accelerate progress in every field of scientific and academic endeavour. It is now a world-leading organisation.