Research Computing
Mike Croucher
Head of Research Computing, University of Leeds
EPSRC Research Software Engineering Fellow
Co-Founder of Sheffield RSE group http://rse.shef.ac.uk/
Twitter: @walkingrandomly
2009
There appears to be a lot of software out there...
...someone should really do something about it
Is Software Important?
"Witnesses struggled to point to a sector of the economy that was unaffected by digital technologies."
Make or Break: The UK’s Digital Future, Select Committee on Digital Skills
What Software?
We have a problem!
No career path for software experts in academia
Leeds?
4 staff
Supporting 1000 researchers
No change in investment level since 2008
Switch off 7500 cores
Buy ~2500 cores
The future?
A new research computing group
Remit
Enhance The University of Leeds' capacity to produce high quality, efficient and sustainable research software
....for the entirely of human knowledge
....in all relevant languages and technologies
....using appropriate infrastructure
Leeds Research Computing
- Permanent/long term contracts
- Mix of grant funded and FATPOU
- Support entire university
- Underwritten by IT
- Collaborate with RIS, library, teaching + learning etc
- Blend of academia and computing
FATPOU needs institutional support
Costed Support
Examples from Sheffield
Align with the University business
Examples from Sheffield
HPC in Urban Studies courses
Research Computing - possible structure
What do I need?
- Immediate investment in infrastructure
- Commitment to invest in Free At Point of Use Support
- Commitment to invest in expertise development
- Time
