£10.2m to enable sustainable research software
A national initiative will seek to improve the environmental sustainability of software used in research, following fresh investment.
The Software Sustainability Institute (SSI) – led by EPCC at the University of Edinburgh in partnership with the Universities of Manchester and Southampton – also aims to address the rising interest in artificial intelligence in its next phase of work.
Reusable packages
The £10.2m funding through the UKRI Digital Research Infrastructure Programme marks the fourth period of public investment in SSI.
The new funding tranche will support the organisation to collaborate and invest across the sector to enable the use of reliable, reproducible and reusable software across all research disciplines.
The next phase in SSI’s work will focus on tackling the environmental sustainability of research software, investigating how to improve equality, diversity, inclusion and accessibility in the community, and address the rising interest in artificial intelligence and machine learning.
Partnership approach
During this phase, SSL will partner with Open Life Science (OLS), a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to diversifying leadership in research. It will also work with the University of Oxford in developing strategic activities that strengthen links to the arts and humanities communities.
The project will be led by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC).
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.
Every modern societal advance is driven by research which relies on software. From weather forecasting to whether we can build new 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.
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.
Related links
UKRI Digital Research Infrastructure Programme
Arts and Humanities Research Council