August 2026

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 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.

NEW! Networking space:

  • Join us over on matrix now that the rocket chat has been closed. The RSE team have joined forces with Research Data Management to create a FAIR Space which stands for Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable research practice.

There you’ll keep up to date on the latest news, events and get involved in discussions on RSE, RDM and other FAIR topics.

JuRSE 

Blog posts

  • Agentic AI for Scientific Software Development: Faster Engineering, Not Automated Science read it here

Open Hours

Please be aware that there will be NO OPEN HOURS over the summer from 20th July - 1st September. However, we are available for 'emergency doctors appointments' if you have any pressing questions e.g. regarding the ScienceServe call. Feel free to shoot us your questions via rse@fz-juelich.de or ask the community in the RSE General room on the FAIR Space (Matrix).

Code of the Month

The JuRSE Team wants to shine a spotlight on the diverse and excellent research software being developed at Forschungszentrum Jülich. This month's featured code is PEPC, developed at the Jülich Supercomputing Centre (JSC).

The Pretty Efficient Parallel Coulomb Solver (PEPC) is a publicly available tree code that has been developed since the early 2000s. The code is a non-recursive version of the Barnes-Hut algorithm, using a level-by-level approach to both tree construction and traversals. Born when research software engineering was not yet a thing, this multi-physics framework has evolved through multiple rewrites and structural changes over decades. Thanks to its modularity, the code is still in demand and has recently become part of new Helmholtz AI and EuroHPC initiatives. Learn more here.

Jobs at FZJ

We’re including some of the current vacancies that may be of interest:

  • Softwareentwickler:in (C++/Python) für wissenschaftliche Anwendungen (w/m/d) (IAS-7, Jülich) Develop and maintain scientific software at the intersection of research and software engineering. This position offers the opportunity to contribute to simulation, HPC, AI, and modern software development while collaborating with researchers and an international scientific community. Apply here.
  • AI Consultant for Science (JSC, Jülich). Join an interdisciplinary team working at the intersection of artificial intelligence, machine learning, and high-performance computing. This position focuses on developing innovative ML applications for scientific research and enabling researchers across disciplines to leverage cutting-edge AI methods on advanced computing infrastructures. Apply here.
  • Postdoctoral Researcher / AI & Scientific Software Engineer – Autonomous Live-Cell Microscopy and Laboratory Automation (IBG-1, Jülich). Join an interdisciplinary research environment at the intersection of AI, scientific software, and biological discovery. This position focuses on creating machine learning methods and software solutions for autonomous microscopy, image analysis, and laboratory automation. Apply here.

HiRSE 

HiRSE is on Linkedin! Connect with us

HiRSE ‘Summer of AI for RSE’ is now live!

This year the Joint Lab HiRSE and multiple community members have come together to provide a series of talks on various aspects of AI in RSE including ethics, training, using AI generated PRs in Open Source projects, RDM tools and more. AI is reshaping research software engineering and understanding how AI can be effectively integrated into research software is therefore becoming an essential skill for research software engineers and an increasingly important factor in advancing modern science.

Episodes All videos can be found on the HiRSE You Tube channel or at the links below. Additional videos will be released each week through August.

News from Helmholtz:

Introducing the Helmholtz Quality Indicator for Research Software Publications

What is this?

A new mandatory Key Performance Indicator that evaluates research software publications across Helmholtz. Starting from the PoF V reporting cycle in 2028, a new key performance indicator for research software will be formally considered in institutional reporting.

Who is affected?

Anyone who develops and publishes research software.

Why should you take time to understand this?

Understanding the upcoming reporting requirements now will help ensure that software publications can be properly documented and considered in future reporting cycles. Research assessment has been commonly accepted as using scientific publications but as research increasingly relies on software, research assessment is becoming broader. The Helmholtz Association is now taking research software publications into account in research assessment. Importantly, improving our PoF reporting by including research software publications may lead to more funding in the longer term. A similar initiative for research data will be launched soon.

To get more depth information visit our webpage.

National Initiatives    

  • HIFIS: Did you know that HIFIS has many great resources available including software engineering consulting services? To find out more here.
  • Helmholtz Research Software Directory: The Research Software Directory is where you can promote and discover research software from Helmholtz centres. After recent updates to the directory, you can now nominate yourself for a spotlight on their website to showcase your research software and they've introduced some more functionality to make integration easier. Check out the details here.

Events  

  • International Research Software Conference (IRSC)
    The event focuses on advancing strategic coordination, sustainability, and cross-boundary collaboration in the research software community. It will promote global collaboration, share community experiences and best practices, and aim to influence funding, policy, and research priorities while highlighting leadership in related open science movements. The event will take place online and in-person on the 7th – 8th of September in Sheffield, UK. To find out more here.
  • RSECon26 – Regsitration extended to 7th August
    The event provides a forum to share ideas, debate strategies, and develop collective visions for the future of Research Software Engineering. It will centre around two key themes: “RSEs as part of the research journey” and “Enhancing credit and reproducibility: research software quality, performance and evidence”.
    The event will be held in Sheffield, UK on the 9-11 September 2026.
    Find out more here.
  • Workshop on AI-supported Research Software Engineering
    This is a satellite workshop on the 22nd and 23rd of September right before the collaborations workshop hosted in Göttingen. The interactive workshop addresses the many challenges and opportunities faced by research software engineers in AI-supported research software development. Find out more here.
  • deRSE Collaborations Workshop
    The workshop will take place from the 23 - 25 September in Göttingen. The event will feature interactive, collaborative formats which give participants room for discussions and provides place for collaborations. See here for more.

 

  • 22nd IEEE International Conference on eScience
    On the 28 September – 2 October the IEEE eScience brings together leading interdisciplinary research communities, developers, and users of eScience applications and enabling IT technologies in Naples, Italy. The 22nd IEEE International Conference on eScience is co-located with the 7th Global Research Platform Workshop (7GRP). Find out more here.
  • GAMM FA RSE & RDM Annual Meeting 2026
    The GAMM Activity Group on Research Software Engineering and Research Data Management in Mathematics & Mechanics will be hosting it’s annual meeting of the activity group, gathering everyone interested in RSE, RDM, Mathematics & Mechanics from Germany, Europe and beyond. The event will be held at the University in Cologne, Germany from the 23 to 24 November 2026. The Call for Abstracts will be open until 25 October. Find out more here.
  • Call for Abstracts: RSE-HPC-2026 Workshop at SC26

Research Software Engineers in HPC (RSE-HPC-2026) workshop, to be held as part of SC26, in Chicago, IL, USA and online, on Monday, November 16, 2026. We encourage prospective participants to submit abstracts of proposed lightning talks on topics related to RSE issues. The authors of accepted abstracts will be invited to present lightning talks or participate in panel discussions at the workshop. We particularly encourage submissions from first-time conference presenters, and from members of groups that have historically been underrepresented in the HPC community. The deadline for submissions is Friday, August 7, 2026. More info here.

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Recommended Reading & Tools

  • International RSE Survey: The results of the 2026 International RSE Survey have been released. With more than 950 responses from 55 countries, the survey provides valuable insights into the global research software community. Germany had the highest number of respondents with well over 200. They survey explored numerous topics including topics such as the use of generative AI in research software, open-source practices, career paths, and community demographics. The full dataset and an interactive dashboard are now publicly available.
  • International RSE Survey: The results of the 2026 International RSE Survey have been released. With more than 950 responses from 55 countries, the survey provides valuable insights into the global research software community. Germany had the highest number of respondents with well over 200. They survey explored numerous topics including topics such as the use of generative AI in research software, open-source practices, career paths, and community demographics. The full dataset and an interactive dashboard are now publicly available.

Further Training Opportunities

  • HiDA Training courses - There are lots of courses available to you for free from Helmholtz Information & Data Science Academy (HIDA) so check out what's available.

Training at FZJ:  

That’s it for August! Send us any RSE content that you’d like in the newsletter and join us on the RSE Matrix channel!

Best wishes,

Claire and the JuRSE Team

Last Modified: 20.08.2026