What next for the RSE movement in the UK?

Since launching in 2012, the RSE movement has succeeded in many ways. The role has been widely adopted across the research sector, dozens of RSE groups have been founded across the country, RSEs are regularly referenced in UK government policy documents and the UK RSE Association grew into the Society of RSE, a vibrant community with a dozen sibling associations around the world. But challenges remain. Professional recognition, evaluation of software as a research output, and institutional approaches to credit are uneven across the country. Generative AI coding assistants have the potential to dramatically change the relationship between RSEs and researchers. Questions around infrastructure, training and sustainability - environmental and technical - have increased in importance in the last decade. These conversations are happening in pockets of the community but often only among senior leadership or within separate siloes. This session enables anyone in the RSE community to participate in them in a collaborative and open way. What better time than the 10th anniversary of RSECon to identify the issues that matter and consider what might be next for the RSE movement? The session will be framed by short talks, offering different speculative futures for the RSE movement that respond to key themes such as training, career progression, and generative AI coding assistants. Neil Chue Hong - The Craftsperson v. The Scholar Marion Weinzierl - RSE Apocalypse Jonathan Cooper - ‘Hub and spoke’ teams Romain Thomas - Coding is not enough The rest of the session takes an unconference approach, splitting attendees into small groups to surface and discuss key themes, with support from facilitators to encourage a critical and playful approach.