"In research, almost nothing is possible without software – but it is almost never discussed," says co-organiser Jan Philipp Dietrich of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. "Quality assurance in software is always also quality assurance for research, and silentness certainly doesn't help here. The first German conference on research software is supposed to advance the discussion about how good software has to be, in order for good research to come out of it".
The conference creates a unique network in the German scientific landscape among various actors, stakeholders and industry on the topic of research software in order to discuss current topics such as digital transformation in research and science, sustainability, funding opportunities and possible contributions to the National Research Data Infrastructure (NFDI).
"Research software plays an indispensable role in the digital transformation of research and science," explains Martin Hammitzsch, head of the e-Science Centre at GFZ, board member of de-RSE e.V. and co-organiser of the conference. "As an elementary component of research activities, software supports the acquisition, processing and evaluation of data, and the modelling and simulation of complex processes. In addition, it represents an essential component of the scientific IT infrastructure”.
Michael Goedicke, Vice President of the Gesellschaft für Informatik, also underlines the relevance of software and the people involved in it in science and research: "Today, there are only a few research areas that manage without software support. This also brings into focus the process of developing research software, which in addition to technical aspects also touches on many ethical, legal and organizational issues. We have to confront them very intensely if we do not want to compromise on the quality of our research results".
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