Research Software Engineers

The Aalto Research Software Engineers (RSE) provide specialist support regarding software, computing, and data. As research becomes more digital and computer-dependent, the prerequisite knowledge grows larger and larger, creating a gap between those able to use the tools and those who struggle. The RSE program is designed to address this gap. We not only provide a service, but also teach researchers so they can be confident programmers and users of advanced IT tools, if that is their goal.

We consist of experienced researchers who have relied heavily on computing technology (programming, computing, data) for our academic work, and thus can seamlessly collaborate on research projects. Our current mission is to use what we have learned to ensure that everyone can succeed in advanced research, regardless of pre-existing skills. We can, for example, provide as a service or advise on:

• Custom software development or modification
• Scaling up to larger computing systems, code optimization, workflow automation
• Preparing a code for release, cleaning up old code that needs to be re-used, or making a tool or workflow more reproducible
• Transforming a code from an individual project to a collaborative project (or group training on this topic)
• Data services (optimizing I/O, data versioning, databases, data sharing, and opening)

We are currently mainly funded by the School of Science and individual projects, and an Aalto Digitalization grant allows service to the rest of Aalto. Short-term projects are free for the researcher.  For longer term projects, our services can be hired with project money (such as research grants). 

In the future, we aim to further expand our RSE services to other schools. Any project seeking to use our services should get in touch using the links below. Anyone can always contact us for information. If you are planning a large grant and we can make your proposal more competitive, you can write us directly into your grant (boilerplate text available here, but contact us first).

Aalto RSE is part of the Science-IT project, which provides infrastructure, support, and training for high-level computational research at Aalto University and is coordinated by the School of Science. By working as part of Science-IT, we provide a complete package of infrastructure and hands-on support to use it. Science-IT is an Aalto-level infrastructure and supports the whole university.

• More information and guide
• Request our service or contact us: [email protected], or our structured request form ("Research Software Engineer request")
• Science-IT