Basic information#
CORSES aims to extend existing, regional RSE service offers to a nation-wide audience. It does so by connecting RSE departments and their service offers and provide a cross-institutional RSE workforce pool.
Duration#
October 2026 - September 2029
Participants#
Principal Investigators:
- Jan Linxweiler, Universitätsbibliothek, TU Braunschweig
- Robert Speck, Jülich Supercomputing Centre, Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH
- Dominic Kempf, Scientific Software Center, Universität Heidelberg
- Zeki Mustafa Dogan, Niedersächsische Staats und Universitätsbibliothek Göttingen, Georg August Universität Göttingen
DFG Grant number#
Project description#
The digital transformation has made research software an indispensable tool in science, spanning from data analysis to simulations and visualizations. Studies in the UK, the US, and France show that over 90% of researchers rely on software and consider it essential for their work. Despite this growing importance, a significant skills gap persists among researchers, as academic curricula often lack sufficient training in programming and software engineering. This highlights the need for specialized support from Research Software Engineers (RSEs), as represented in Germany by the de-RSE community. International RSE support models vary: the UK relies on decentralized RSE teams, while the Netherlands uses a centralized model via the Netherlands eScience Center. In Germany, initial institutional RSE teams exist at institutions such as TU Braunschweig, Forschungszentrum Jülich, the University of Jena, the University of Heidelberg, and the SUB Göttingen. However, these teams are mostly limited to local support, as a structured, nationwide RSE infrastructure accessible to all researchers is missing. Researchers without access must often rely on informal community help. The CORSES project aims to close this gap by building and evaluating a national RSE support infrastructure from decentralized units. The overall vision is to provide all researchers in Germany, regardless of their institution, with structured access to RSE services. In the 36-month Phase 1, the project will focus on operational feasibility. It will establish a comprehensive RSE service portfolio, from basic consultation to collaborative research software development. Simultaneously, a flexible, cross-institutional RSE pool will be built, pooling the expertise of the partners to cover a wider range of issues and create synergies. A central web portal will be developed as the main interface for service requests, feedback, and documentation. The project will also conduct a feasibility analysis and develop a business model to determine the requirements for a sustainable continuation in a possible second phase. CORSES is intended as initial funding to lay the foundation for a permanently viable RSE infrastructure. It explicitly considers legal and technical aspects such as governance, data protection, and IT security. All project results and software developments will be made available under open licenses. CORSES will actively collaborate with existing national initiatives like de-RSE e.V., the NFDI, and international partners to avoid duplication of work and leverage synergies.
Resulting services#
Coming soon.