The Software Sustainability Institute Collaborations Workshop 2024

This year's themes are environmental sustainability, artificial intelligence (AI)/machine learning (ML) tools for science, and citizen science.

• Environmental sustainability: includes how to determine the environmental impact of hardware and code, training and education about environmentally sustainable behaviour, and activism highlighting potential improvements to existing infrastructure, processes and systems.

• Artificial intelligence (AI)/machine learning (ML) tools for science: includes the benefits and limitations of using AI/ML tools to write your code, ethical considerations when using these tools, and training and education around the usage and impact of AI/ML tools.

• Citizen Science: includes designing participatory research projects, training and education around citizen science, and the role of research software in citizen science projects.

Collaborations Workshop 2024 (CW24) will bring together various professionals such as researchers, developers, innovators, managers, funders, publishers, policy makers, leaders and educators. The event aims to explore best practices and the future of research software and offer the opportunity to form collaborations. On average, CW participants start two new collaborations by attending. The Collaborations Workshop is a great place to network and participants will meet many of the existing Software Sustainability Institute Fellows who are key ambassadors in various research domains.

Keynote talks

Among the highlights of CW24 are the keynote talks on each of this year's themes delivered by prominent figures in their respective fields. 

• Arfon Smith, product manager at GitHub, who works on integrating AI into the core GitHub experience, will deliver the keynote on AI/ML tools. 

• Lucy Robinson, an internationally recognised citizen science specialist with 15 years of experience developing and delivering citizen science projects for a broad range of public audiences, will deliver the keynote on citizen science. 

• Dr Kelly Widdicks, a Software Systems Architect at the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology who leads research on the responsible co-design of digital research infrastructure for environmental science, will deliver the keynote on environmental sustainability.

CW24 offers a range of engaging sessions and activities. Participants can attend mini-workshops and demo sessions to get an in depth look at a particular tool or approach and ask questions about how they may be applied in their own areas. There are also discussion sessions where groups of people can come together to explore topics of mutual interest and learn from one another. Collaborative idea sessions are a great way to share new project ideas, get help from others, and find solutions to problems. These sessions are particularly useful for generating ideas for the Hack Day, which is the final day of CW. During the Hack Day, participants form teams and work together on a project. They present their results at the end of the day in a friendly competition for a chance to win various prizes.

Further information about CW24 can be found on the dedicated page or by viewing the full agenda. 

Software Sustainability Institute

EPCC is a founding member of the Software Sustainability Institute. This leading international authority on research software sustainability works with researchers, funders, software engineers, managers, and other stakeholders across the research spectrum. For more information and for ways to become involved, see: https://www.software.ac.uk

^{The photograph above shows some of last year's participants.}