Meeting of South West RSE’s in Bristol

Monday 23 June 2025, 9:30am – 3:30pm (refreshments from 9:30am for a 10am start)
Room LG.02, Fry Building, Woodland Road, Bristol, BS8 1UG (How to get here)

Organisers

  • James Thomas
  • Léo Gorman
  • Rachel Tunnicliffe
  • Rita Rasteiro

Purpose

Following a successful event at the Met Office in February, the University of Bristol is hosting a further meeting on Monday 23 June. It will be another day to showcase interesting topics, share knowledge and build networks. It aims to complement the annual RSE conference and be useful to those in the South West / GW4 who are not part of a larger RSE group.

All are welcome, whether or not you are from the South West of the UK, and whether or not you self-define as a Research Software Engineer (RSE).

Key outputs from the meeting

Agenda

Refreshments on arrival

Welcome

James Thomas, Rachel Tunnicliffe, Rita Rasteiro, Léo Gorman
  • Introductions from the different groups attending
  • Getting your views on RSECon25
  • Introduction to Padlet for the afternoon discussion session

Keynote: RSE Communities: What, How & Why?

Fliss Guest
Vice President of the Society of Research Software Engineering
Deputy Head of Research Software Engineering at the University of Exeter
Abstract
The RSE landscape encompasses numerous communities, such as networks, central teams at universities and organisations. I will shed some light on the communities I have been a part of since becoming an RSE four short years ago, sharing insights into how and why they came about, along with the benefits they pose for us as individuals and collectives.
Networking and refreshments
Session 1: Groups and facilities

How can Universities or Research centres support RSEs to deliver and share better research software?

Polly Eccleston
Lightning talks (5 minutes)

Research IT Facility at the University of Bristol

Serena Cooper
Abstract
Research IT are a team of professional software developers and systems administrators who specialise in creating bespoke software for academic research. I will give an overview of the team, some of our projects, and talk about how we manage our pipeline of work and the pros and cons of being a formal TRAC facility.

Developing & Deploying Conceptual Design Tools for Factory Planning

Lewis Gilbert
Abstract
CFMS (the Centre for Modelling and Simulation) is a Bristol-based independent digital engineering consultancy which collaborates with industry and academia to solve complex problems. CFMS is working with an industrial client to develop and deploy novel simulation tools to plan the movements of a network of automated overhead cranes in a factory. This is an example of a multi-agent pathfinding problem, with the objective of maximising the factory’s throughput for any given manufacturing schedule. This talk discusses the value of simulation at the conceptual design stage for a highly complex system. It also covers some of the challenges of creating tools for immediate industrial application - with a technology stack requiring a combination of rapid software development, automated deployment and high performance compute facilities to achieve the project’s aims.

The Isambard supercomputers

Matt Williams
Abstract
A short introduction to the Isambard-AI and Isambard 3 supercomputers, what they provide, how they work and how you can get access.
Group photo
Lunch and optional walk/viewing tower
Start of afternoon session
  • Work on Padlet for the afternoon discussion session
Session 2: Applications

Mapping the March: an RSE's adventures in time and space

Mike Jones
Abstract
A talk introducing the UKRI-funded project, "Mapping the March: Medieval Wales and England, c.1282-1550. Mapping Literary Geography in a British Border Region." It will outline how Research IT supports this Digital Humanities project and its researchers, the technologies employed, and discusses some of the challenges encountered with historical and geospatial data.
Lightning talks (5 minutes)

How do you host translated content within a Django application?

Benjamin O'Driscoll
Abstract
The ProBleu Resource Catalogue is a Django based, full stack application, which provides educators access to teaching resources on the subject of water literacy. Users are encouraged to upload educational material which is translated into 24 official EU languages. This talk gives a brief overview of how the django-modeltranslation package was implemented to enhance the reach of materials uploaded to the website.

Support for the Python array API standard in SciPy

Jake Bowhay
Abstract
Array oriented computing in Python was once straightforward: NumPy for arrays, and SciPy for foundational scientific functions. However as of today, the array library ecosystem has expanded to include CuPy, PyTorch, JAX, and others, each addressing use cases beyond NumPy's scope. This talk introduces how SciPy is evolving to support this diverse landscape by adopting the Python array API standard. I'll briefly introduce what this standard is and how it is enabling SciPy to write code that is interoperable across array libraries.
Networking and refreshments

Discussion session

Rachel Tunnicliffe
  • The future of RSE South West events
  • RSE groups and how they're organised
  • RSE best practices
End of day and optional pub trip

Code of conduct

All participants are expected to adhere to the Society of RSE code of conduct for events.

Contact the organisers and other attendees

The easiest way to communicate with everyone is via the #rse-south-west channel on the UK RSE Slack instance.

If you would rather send us an email, please contact: .