Advancing the global research software community through people, policy, and infrastructure.

1. Introduction to ReSA

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• Draft Strategic Plan 2025-28

(overview and full report)

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3. Discussion

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4. Other ways to give feedback

Agenda

Link to notes including slides

tinyurl.com/fb-resa1

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The Research Software Alliance (ReSA) is a global organisation that unites decision-makers and key influencers across the international research and innovation community.

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Through active community engagement, and inclusive and transparent practices, ReSA advances the agency and recognition of research software and research software professionals.

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Because research software is fundamental and vital to research worldwide.

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Research software is critical to scientific innovation, industry, and civil society, accelerating discoveries and ensuring reproducibility. Despite this, research software faces key challenges:

• Within the research software community: Lack of international coordination, standards, and principles; scarcity of research software social infrastructure; and underrepresentation.
• Within the broader research community: Research software is not yet fully recognised as a pillar of open science; has weak integration with open-source initiatives; and is underrepresented in research assessment and impact metrics.

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The Challenge

International cooperation to support research software is urgently needed to drive innovation and economic growth.

Why It Matters

Research software is a research output:

• The majority of current publications are software-intensive projects

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• ~50% of research produces research software

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• 90% of US/UK researchers use research software

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• ~50% of UK researchers develop software as part of their research

UNESCO recommendation

on open science

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ReSA Achievements

How We Work

ReSA’s mission is centered around community empowerment - fostering collaborations with decision makers and key influencers.

Our Partners

NASA

National Institutes of Health

Community aims

The outcomes that ReSA aims to achieve have been developed in close partnership with our community, and drive significant improvements in three key areas: people, policy, and infrastructure.

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• People: Enabling recognition and career paths for the personnel who create and maintain research software.

• Policy: Creating a supportive and sustainable environment for research software.

• Infrastructure: Facilitating coordination across services that support research software.

Strategic Plan Aims: People

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1. Support for social infrastructures that support communities such as national and regional RSE associations, and thematic communities (e.g., training), particularly in the Global South.
2. Recognition and reward of research software work in all research performing positions, and national research assessment activities. This includes increased awareness of the RSE career, supported by a more standardised career path.
3. Focus on increasing belonging and broadening representation in the research software community.

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1. Consideration within open science policies that include open software in their definition of how to implement support for research software (including resourcing).
2. Alignment of policies that support research software by stakeholders such as publishers (to support FAIRness and software citation), funders (to support FAIRness) and employers (to support career paths).
3. Stakeholder funding increasingly supports research software and its personnel (particularly with regard to software maintenance), and is provided by a range of stakeholders at different levels (from national governments and philanthropic funders through to research performing organisations whose staff develop research software assets).

Strategic Plan Aims: Policy

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1. Maturation of tools that enable rewards and recognition, and that assess compliance with standards and guidelines, such that they meet the needs of a range of stakeholders and are easily accessible.
2. Identification of needed infrastructure, including software repositories and registries, to enable support that provides sustainability.
3. Development and implementation of community-agreed standards in relevant areas.

Strategic Plan Aims: Infrastructure

Impact: 2025 & Beyond

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The ReSA Strategic Plan 2025-28 outlines goals and activities to address the critical needs of our community and drive significant improvements in research software over the next three years:

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• Exchange: Expand Knowledge and Awareness - ReSA will work to increase accessible and transparent knowledge flow.

• Engage: Deepen Community Collaboration - ReSA will increase international community collaborations to solve shared issues

• Evolve: Strengthen Global Leadership & Governance - ReSA will work to evolve a shared vision of research software leadership and governance to establish and advance shared priorities across the community.

Pillar 1: Exchange information to increase knowledge flow in community

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Ongoing activity:

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1. Co-author of position papers, responses to requests for information, blogs, etc., that provide the community with baseline data, identification of key issues, gaps, progress, etc.
2. Provide community resources including databases of research software funding and policies that support research software for research organisations,
3. Promotion of Amsterdam Declaration on Funding Research Software Sustainability. (ADORE.software) and updating of the ADORE.software toolkit that supports implementation.
4. Release a monthly newsletter that share news and resources, such as international recommendations, emerging best practice, impact metrics, and national strategies.
5. Use social media to broaden audience engagement.
6. Share targeted information to relevant stakeholders through ReSA forums.

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Pillar 1: Exchange information to increase knowledge flow in community

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Proposed activity:

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1. Identify priority areas where additional baseline data and analysis is needed to support recognition of research software and its personnel, and co-lead projects to fulfill these needs (ideally through a forum or task force with this focus).

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• Scope the viability of developing resources needed to support valuing of research software internationally, such as journal special issues (or a new journal if needed). Implement the recommendations of this scoping exercise.

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• Create an international research software and personnel awards program.

Pillar 2: Engage community collaborations to solve common issues

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Ongoing activity:

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1. Convene forums: Research Software Funders Forum, Research Software Infrastructure Forum, International Council of RSE Associations, ADORE.software Secretariat.
2. Facilitate task forces that enable parts of the community to address shared local challenges that will benefit from global solutions (currently Actionable Guidelines for Making Research Software FAIR, Code Availability, Policies in Research Organisations for Research Software (PRO4RS), Research Software Authorship and Contribution, FAIR4RS Review).

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Proposed activity:

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1. Create additional forums that enable new groupings of stakeholders to identify the community-wide issues that would benefit from increased collaboration.
2. Facilitate additional task forces on priority areas to solve specific challenges.

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Pillar 2: Engage community collaborations to solve common issues

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Proposed activity:

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1. Convene an annual, international research software community conference that engages key stakeholders within the research software community to improve collaboration and coordination (commencing in 2026), based on Towards an international research software conference.

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• Coordinate workshops/sessions on research software at multiple existing events to engage overlapping/new communities, to improve valuing of research software.

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• Lead creation and implementation of a champions program.

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New forums

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In mid-2025 ReSA will convene approx. 6 new stakeholder forums (to meet at least once annually); options include:

1. Research software-performing infrastructures (e.g. ELIXIR)
2. Policy makers
3. Publishers
4. Researchers on research software
5. Training communities
6. University consortia/universities
7. Other?

Pillar 3: Evolve governance of a global community to achieve shared vision

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Ongoing activity:

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1. Convene the Community Leaders Forum in late 2025 to bring together a representative group of research software leaders, decision makers and influencers, to function as a community body with a shared vision, making decisions about the community’s priorities and plans.

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Proposed activity:

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1. Support the Community Leaders Forum to identify shared vision and begin to function as a body that can identify community priorities (and ultimately assist in coordination to address these). The Forum could aim to create longer-term outcomes such as development of a decadal plan for research software (e.g. CODATA’s Decadal Programme for research data).

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Sli.do poll

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tinyurl.com/rs-poll

#4313 704

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Feedback

Photo by Annelies Verhelst

Questions in notes:

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1. What other stakeholder groups should the forums engage?
2. What proposed activities could your organisation/community support through in-kind (e.g., task force leadership) or financial support?
3. What are some of the local challenges that your organisation/community faces, that could be solved by international collaboration or coordination (such as new task forces)?
4. What are the global challenges that most significantly affect your organisation/community?
5. What are we missing - what else is needed to improve valuing of research software and its personnel?

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Feedback

Photo by Annelies Verhelst

Ways to provide feedback by 18 April:

• Comment directly on the draft executive summary or strategic plan
• Respond to this brief questionnaire
• Email questions or comments to info[at]researchsoft.org
• Schedule a chat with Michelle (Director of ReSA) via Calendly

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Share the news:

public feedback sessions 14-16 April, all welcome.

Draft

Strategic Plan 2025-28

Photo by Annelies Verhelst

Thank you!