Working with the eScience Center 

We are a centre of research expertise that since 2012 has been uniquely positioned as an independent foundation, financed by the Dutch Research Council (NWO) and the Dutch organization for IT in education and research (SURF). The core activities of the eScience Center are carried out by Research Software Engineers (RSEs). RSEs are high-end, university-level specialists who do two things: they do research using digital technologies and methodologies, and they engineer software. We apply innovative and sustainable digital solutions to scientific questions teaming up with researchers from outside the organization in collaborative projects. We also disseminate our expertise by offering training and workshops, liaising with academic communities and publishing online resources, so as to reinforce researchers’ technological skills and knowledge.

The eScience Center is structured into four sections corresponding to the following research areas:

  • Life Sciences, including biology, medical and health sciences, neuroscience
  • Natural Sciences and Engineering, including astrophysics, chemistry, computer science, engineering, mathematics, physics
  • Social Sciences and Humanities, including anthropology, archaeology, communication studies, economics, education sciences, history, human geography, law, linguistics, literary studies, philosophy, political sciences, psychology, sociology
  • Environment and Sustainability, including climate research, agricultural & food sciences, earth sciences, environmental sciences, ecology, energy, logistics, water management

Orthogonally to the domain-oriented sections, we foster our technical expertise in the following categories:

  • AI, including deep learning; explainable & responsible AI; computer vision; natural language processing
  • Advanced computing, including accelerated computing; orchestrated computing; energy-efficient computing high-performance computing; scalable machine learning
  • Efficient data handling, including relational database management; geographical information systems; cloud-native data formats; handling sensor data; data assimilation
  • Analytics and visualization, including scientific visualization; time series analysis; user interface / user experience design; privacy-preserving analytics; data storytelling;
  • Software quality and sustainability, including packaging; software architecture; software documentation; software citation, fairness, and impact; community building and governance;

What happens after your proposal is granted? 

If your proposal gets granted by the eScience Center, one of our Section Heads will contact you to organize an (online) administrative meeting. During this meeting, we will introduce the eScience Center and the way we work on projects. We will also provide more administrative details and discuss the technical expertise needed for your project. Meanwhile, our teams of RSEs, which focus on different research areas and/or technologies, will read your proposal and sign up for the project. The Section Heads will decide on the team and Lead-RSE to work on your project. Your project is then ready to start.  

Getting started 

To start off your project, you will receive a second invitation for a project kick-off meeting, this time at the eScience Center. It is encouraged, if possible, to take your full research team with you. The idea is that both teams, yours and the eScience Center, meet and go in-depth on your proposal. Together with the Programme Manager, Lead RSE and Technology Lead, you will discuss the research questions behind the project and the possible technological solutions. We will revise the working plan and set the initial steps.  

Collaborative research project 

During the project, you will be in regular contact with the Lead-RSE and their team. The project itself takes the form of a collaboration between you and the eScience Center where we can learn from each other. Although the Lead-RSE is the main point of contact, you are actually benefiting from the expertise of the whole eScience Center: we work in a collaborative style, not only within but also between the teams, where RSEs support and help each other on their projects if needed.  

Software communities and recognition 

Research software is an integral part of doing research in the current day and age. Increasingly, this is also recognized by rewarding schemes for individual researchers, such as the Recognition and Rewards initiative, or by institutional evaluation schemes, such as the Strategy Evaluation Protocol of the Dutch Universities. The eScience Center publishes of all their work in the Research Software Directory. Good and sustainable software is developed and maintained by communities of users and developers. During the project with the eScience Center, the building or maintaining of such software communities is stimulated so that the software lives on after the end of the project.  Most calls have a dedicated material budget which can be used for various community related activities, such as organizing workshops, training events, et cetera.