August 2025

Welcome everyone to the JuRSE newsletter for August!

JuRSE (Jülich Research Software Engineering) is a grassroots community for all FZJ scientists and students who code and/or anyone interested in research software. 

The purpose of this newsletter is to update you about JuRSE community initiatives at FZJ and some of the national and international activities in Research Software Engineering (RSE) and inspire you to get involved in the community. 

Please feel free to forward this to any colleagues who may be interested in this topic and in joining the JuRSE Community.

Two quick ways you can get involved:

JuRSE

Open Hours

The Open Hours have taken a short summer break but we will be back again every Wednesday starting on 24th September. All are welcome to come and talk to us about anything. This is an opportunity to learn from each other and expand our collective knowledge so everyone is welcome to join. Learn more.

Code of the Month

Each month we highlight a code from Forschungszentrum Jülich and this month’s code is co-developed at the Julich Supercomputing Centre (JSC). The Independent Parallel Particle Layer (IPPL) is a C++ library to develop performance portable code for fully Eulerian, Lagrangian or hybrid Eulerian-Lagrangian methods. IPPL supports simulations in one to six dimensions, mixed precision, and asynchronous execution in different execution spaces (e.g. CPUs and GPUs). Learn More.

JuRSE Training

“Introduction to Containerization with Podman/Docker/Kubernetes.” Join us on the 23rd Sep from 13:00 to 16:00 o’clock in the Zentralbibliothek (ZB), Seminar room 301. Link for signing-up will be shared via Rocket Chat channels. This training is an introduction to the concept of packaging software and its dependencies into a single portable unit. This approach enables consistent and reliable execution of applications across different environments using container. The training will cover:

  • What is a “container”
  • How to build one
  • What is podman/Docker/Kubernetes, etc.
  • How to run and manage a container

Training participants should know the basics for using a Linux terminal and a Laptop (Linux, Windows+WSL, MAC), with permission to install programs (or access to a VM).

Save the Date for Additional Training Opportunities

  • Testing for Research Software - 30th September
  • Community Building for Software Projects - 1st October
  • Continuous Integration for Research Code - 9th October

Stay tuned for more details and registration information.

 Shout Outs

  • Shoutout to Eric von Lieres and his colleagues for this exciting news."Happy and proud to share that CADET-Core 5.0 has been published in the Journal of Open-Source Software CADET-Core is a high-performance simulation engine for modeling chromatographic separation processes. This release builds on over a decade of development and comes with: robust numerical solvers for convection–dispersion–reaction systems, support for a broad range of adsorption and transport models, full interoperability with Python, improved cross-platform usability and documentation. Read more here.
  • MPTRAC in JOSS – Shoutout to MPTRAC for its acceptance into the Journal of Open Source Software (JOSS) this July! Read more here.

 Other JuRSE Updates

HiRSE

Summer of Programming Languages

HiRSE has launched a new seminar series ‘Summer of Programming Languages’!

Ever wondered "Am I using a suitable programming language for this task?" or "‘I’m always using the same language but is there a better language out there for this?" Then the HiRSE Summer of Programming Languages seminar series has answers.

We have launched the HiRSE Summer of Programming Languages seminar series to provide some examples to help answer the question of which language can be used for what purpose, focusing on concrete examples and tips for the creation of Research Software. The series is designed to be a resource of concise online talks on the HiRSE YouTube channel that the RSE community can use at any time. Our presenters showcase a language, presenting what they feel are the important aspects of the language, the environment and tools around it, as well as the advantages and disadvantages for people who create research software.

Check out the first two videos in the series featuring Rust and R. Stay tuned for more!

Promoting Research Software: Made in Germany

We’ve reached 100 codes! Check out more here.

National Initiatives  

  • Helmholtz-researchers are asked to take part in a short anonymous Survey (approximately 5 minutes) to better understand how Helmholtz-affiliated researchers perceive current research assessment practices at their centers. To further develop research assessment within the Helmholtz Association, a new Task Group Research Assessment was established in March 2025 by the Working Group Open Science and the Helmholtz Open Science Office. The goal of the group is to engage with quality-oriented assessment practices, compare the current approaches at the centers with recommendations from ongoing expert discussions, and develop proposals for advancing research assessment in the Helmholtz Association. This survey aims to create an overview of the status quo and is intended exclusively for researchers active at Helmholtz Centers. Survey Link.
  • RSE Specialist Group meeting 15. and 16. September at Potsdam-Institut für Klimafolgenforschung. More info (DE).

· The German Science and Humanities Council (Wissenschaftsrat - WR) has evaluated the structure of the Nationale Forschungsdateninfrastruktur (NFDI) which was launched in 2019, and recommends that it be made permanent after the current funding ends in 2028. The federal and state governments should provide the NFDI with additional funding. The WR has also made recommendations for further development. Among other things, the activities within the NFDI e.V. should be organized in scientific departments and temporary research activities on issues of research data management should be funded in a supplementary innovation program. Read more in the press release here (DE).

International Initiatives

RSE Podcast Episodes

  • A Service for All Seasons - the MetOffice UK: In the last episode of this season of Code for Thought, Peter Schmidt takes us on a tour through the MetOffice in Exeter, UK. Dimitri Theodorakis and some colleagues of his talk us through some of the exciting work happening there. 

Recommended Reading

 Upcoming Training

Digital Research Academy events in Aachen will be hosting the following trainings:

  • Monday, August 25 - Talk on computational reproducibility - Details will be shared soon.
  • Friday, August 29 – OSPARK Workshop - “Promote your Initiative or Service – an OSPARK Workshop for Research Support Services and Open Science Initiatives.” Details here.
  • September 1–3 – Train-the-Trainer  - An onsite TTT workshop for those interested in joining the Digital Research Academy trainer network. Details here. 

Additional Upcoming Training at FZJ:

  • Introduction to parallel programming with MPI and OpenMP (training course, on-site) [beginner+intermediate level]

Instructors: Ilya Zhukov, Jolanta Zjupa

Time: 11-15 August 2025, 09:00-16:30 each day

Venue: Jülich Supercomputing Centre, building 16.3, room 213a (Ausbildungsraum 1)

Abstract: https://go.fzj.de/2025-mpi-intro-interm

Registration until 28 July 2025: https://indico3-jsc.fz-juelich.de/event/237/

  • JUNIQ/EPIQ Summer School on Quantum Computing 2025

Instructors: JUNIQ Team

Date: 1-5 September 2025, 09:00-17:00

Venue: Forschungszentrum Jülich

Abstract: https://go.fzj.de/2025-juniq-epiq-summer-school

Registration: https://events.hifis.net/event/2616/

  • In-Situ Visualization on High-Performance-Computers (training course, online)

Instructor: Jens Henrik Göbbert

Time: 9-10 September 2025, 09:00-13:00 each day

Venue: Online

Abstract: https://go.fzj.de/2025-in-situ-hpc

Registration until 2 September 2025: https://indico3-jsc.fz-juelich.de/event/239/

  • Bringing Deep Learning Workloads to JSC supercomputers (training course, online, 3rd run)

Instructor: Dr. Alexandre Strube

Time: 16-17 September 2025, 13:00-17:00 each day

Venue: Online

Abstract: https://go.fzj.de/2025-ai-sc-3

Registration until 9 September 2025: https://indico3-jsc.fz-juelich.de/event/240/

  • Virtual Worlds for Machine Learning (training course, online)

Instructor: Thomas George

Time: 23-24 September 2025, 09:00-12:00, 13:00-16:00 each day

Venue: Online

Abstract: https://go.fzj.de/2025-virtual-worlds-ml        

Registration until 16 September 2025: https://indico3-jsc.fz-juelich.de/event/234/

Events

  • ‘Code Practices, and People’ – October 6-8, Philadelphia, USA The third annual conference from the United States Research Software Engineer Association (US-RSE), to be held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, October 6-8, 2025. More info.
  • Research Software Engineers in HPC - Sunday, November 16, 2025, 8:30 am - 5:00 pm CST (UTC-6), St. Louis, MO & Online - This workshop will bring together RSEs and allies involved in HPC, from all over the world, to grow the RSE community by establishing and strengthening professional networks of current RSEs and RSE leaders. More info.

That’s it for August! Join us in the RSE rocketchat channel to chat to the others in this community.

Last Modified: 26.08.2025