Netherlands eScience Center becomes founding member of the Research Software Alliance (ReSA)
17 Feb 2022 - 3 min
Ask anyone in the research community and they will echo the same sentiment: it is now impossible to perform research without software. To conduct today’s research without software could take decades to analyze data manually, if possible at all. Why take decades when you can have advanced digital tools and algorithms to collect, process, visualize and analyze the huge amount of data when you need it? This seems only logical, right?
One of top priorities at the Netherlands eScience Center has always been to obtain recognition for research software and the role of research software engineers (RSEs) behind it. But the world of research is international, and pulling this off on a global level requires the minds of many experts across many institutions to work together. That is why we are proud to share that the eScience Center is one of six founding members of the Research Software Alliance (ReSA). The list also includes the Australian Research Data Commons, the Digital Research Alliance of Canada, the Software Sustainability Institute in the UK, and the National Center for Supercomputing Applications and Alfred P. Sloan Foundation in the USA.
Founded in 2021, ReSA is an international community of professionals whose mission is to “bring research software communities together to collaborate on the advancement of the research software ecosystem.”
ReSA brings research software communities together to collaborate on the advancement of the research software ecosystem, to ensure that “research software and those who develop and maintain it are recognized and valued as fundamental and vital to research worldwide.” ReSA achieves this by contributing to and leading various international task forces. Another recent activity is the organization of a Funders Forum, where funding organizations share practices and address common challenges. You might want to read ReSA’s blog on the many reasons why research software is essential for research and how various governments around the world should respond.
“We are so proud to be a founding member of ReSA. We have a shared vision. With their advocacy and international reach, coupled with our pioneering activities in the Netherlands, we are confident that we can advance the state of the research software ecosystem on a global scale. This includes all vital stakeholders from researchers, to institutions, to funders and more,” says Joris van Eijnatten, general director at the eScience Center. “We look forward to continuing this important work together, including co-hosting our international workshop later this year.”
“We are delighted to partner with the eScience Center who are leaders in the research software community, not only in the Netherlands but across Europe. We look forward to utilizing their expertise to our benefit to create and define a robust research software ecosystem that will advance the state of research for years to come,” said Barker.
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