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The UK digital Research Technical Professional (dRTP) skills landscape

RSE-HPC workshop @SC’25

Sunday, November 16, 2025

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James Richings - j.richings@epcc.ed.ac.uk

Weronika Filinger - w.filinger@epcc.ed.ac.uk

EPCC, The University of Edinburgh

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RSE-HPC workshop @SC’25

16 November 2025

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UK Compute Roadmap: Current state

“Our starting position: a fragmented system in need of direction and rejuvenation

The UK’s public research compute ecosystem is a critical national asset. Yet while the current landscape has pockets of excellence, the system is strained and incapable of supporting our ambitious research agenda.

Previous reviews of the UK’s public compute landscape and technological trends identified several factors that are holding the UK ecosystem back:

  • A lack of capacity and scale – today’s ecosystem lacks the power and bandwidth to serve our researchers. Systems are routinely oversubscribed resulting in researchers looking elsewhere to support their needs or choosing to limit their ambition.
  • Fragmentation and silos – the landscape is split between discipline-specific systems that operate in isolation. This limits efficiency, hinders collaboration, and prevents the UK from delivering on cross-cutting, mission-driven science.
  • Barriers to access and transparency – many users, especially from industry or interdisciplinary fields, struggle to navigate the system. Access is unclear, inconsistent, and often closed to new entrants.
  • Untapped strength in software, data and skills – the UK has a strong base in research software engineering, public data, and AI talent. But these assets are not well-integrated or utilised – missing an opportunity to utilise high value assets and supercharge innovation.

In addition, our public research compute infrastructure is also facing a cliff-edge, with the majority of systems reaching end of life over the next 18 months.”

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-compute-roadmap/uk-compute-roadmap

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UKRI DRI: Developing People and Skills

Interconnected DRI

  • We aim to break down silos and promote collaboration within the DRI landscape by creating a more interconnected, open, inclusive, and user-friendly infrastructure. This involves fostering community engagement, promoting the creation of federated infrastructure and ensuring that DRI funding addresses the technical challenges of operating across disciplines.

Human DRI

  • We understand that DRI starts with the people that build, maintain, and upgrade it. By recognising their crucial role within DRI, promoting their careers, and supporting their professional development, we aim to foster a supportive culture and ensure a skilled and diverse DRI workforce.

FAIR DRI

  • We will ensure that research infrastructure is easily accessible, interoperable, and reusable by driving adoption of the FAIR (findability, accessibility, interoperability and reusability) principles. This enhances research efficiency and fosters a more collaborative research environment.

Sustainable DRI

  • We focus on ensuring the long-term health of DRI by addressing efficiency, security, environmental and financial challenges to create a sustainable DRI ecosystem.

RSE-HPC workshop @SC’25

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Skills and training - Funded projects (2025-2029)

Network Plus projects:

  • CaSDaR - Careers and Skills for Data Driven research
  • CHARTED - FAIRfying training resources
  • DisCouRSE - Developing community of leaders in Digital Research
  • MInDS - Mathematical Innovators in the Digital Space
  • SCALE-UP
  • CAKE - Computational Abilities Knowledge Exchange
  • NetDrive - Network for sustainable Digital Research Infrastructure Vision and Expertise
  • NFCS - The National Federated Compute Services

Other DRI projects:

  • ACIT Hub - Accelerated Compute Infrastructure Training Hub
  • DRIFT - DRI-focussed training for research facilitators and teams
  • SHAREing - Skills Hub for Accelerated Research Environments Inspiring the Next Generation

RSE-HPC workshop @SC’25

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Starting point - Understanding the landscape

  • We want to understand the current digital Research Technical Professional (dRTP) landscape as best we can.
  • Specifically, we want to know more about:
    • dRTP Roles – what are included in the definition, what are they about, how do they work?
    • dRTP Initiatives – which ones exist, what are their goals, how are they going about it?
    • dRTP Training – what training exists, who owns it, how do people access it?

RSE-HPC workshop @SC’25

Roles

Competencies

Training Courses

Initiatives

Define Necessary

Demonstrated By

LOs Demonstrate

Indicate Skills For

Support

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Aims of the (more) RSE focused projects

RSE-HPC workshop @SC’25

FAIR training resources

  • Creating set of resources to evaluate and improve Findability, Accessibility, Interoperability and Reusability of training content

Pathways to professional skill development

  • Development of novel tools, strategies and frameworks for professional skill development

Making the dRTP ecosystem easier to navigate

  • Connecting roles to skills and skills to training resources

Building a Connected Community

  • A network of dRTPs across the UK to share expertise, resources, and best practices.

Leadership Development

  • Provide a training programme and opportunities to develop management / leadership skills.

Career Pathways

  • Support clearer and career trajectories for dRTPs within academia and research institutions.

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Support Development of a dRTP “People and Skills” Pipeline

  • Support linked initiatives to grow software, data and infrastructure dRTP career routes.

Career Enhancement

  • Run Champions and dRTP experience schemes to build a path from student to professional.

Community Building

  • Engage students, apprentices, researchers and professionals through training, networking and a mini-HPC cluster scheme. EDIA activities - build a more diverse inclusive community.

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CAKE

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Links

Network Plus projects:

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Thank you for listening!

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Questions?

IEEE HPEC – Scaling Research Computing Education

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17 September 2025