May 2026

Welcome everyone to the JuRSE newsletter for May!

JuRSE (Jülich Research Software Engineering) is a grassroots community for all FZJ scientists and students who code and anyone interested in research software. (https://www.fz-juelich.de/en/rse)

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.

Quick ways you can get involved:

Join the RSE Rocketchat channel open to all FZJ staff (https://chat.fz-juelich.de/invite/krTNBT)
Join the national RSE Community on matrix (https://matrix.to/#/#de-rse.org:matrix.org) hosted by the de-RSE Association.
JuRSE is now on Linkedin! Connect with us https://www.linkedin.com/company/jurse/

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JuRSE 

The Heat library becomes a NumFOCUS affiliated project

We are excited to announce that Heat (Helmholtz Analytics Toolkit), which was developed by a team of RSE at FZJ, KIT and DLR is officially a NumFOCUS Affiliated Project. Being affiliated with this non-profit umbrella organisation for critical open-source scientific software, which backs industry standards like NumPy, SciPy, and scikit-learn is a step towards the long-term support for Heat. Read our blogpost to find out more: https://www.fz-juelich.de/en/rse/the_latest/the-heat-library-becomes-a-numfocus-affiliated-project

Open Hours

The recurring theme for the JuRSE Open Hours in April was project structure and maintenance, e.g. how to set up the internal structure, where to host documentation, and improved overall usability for others. In essence, the starting points and corner stones of good RSE practice.

We host Open Hours every Wednesday both in-person in the gegenüber lounge in the ZB and online. 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.   https://www.fz-juelich.de/en/rse/community-initiatives/jurse-open-hours

Code of the Month

The JuRSE Team wants to shine a spotlight on the diverse and excellent research software that is being developed at Forschungszentrum Jülich. This month we have chosen to highlight Jülich Korringa-Kohn-Rostoker codes (JuKKR) - a suite of codes targeting density functional theory calculations. To find out more go to: https://www.fz-juelich.de/en/rse/community-initiatives/jurse-code-of-the-month/may-2026

JuRSE Survey - We want to hear from you!

Are you coding in your research role at Forschungszentrum Jülich? We want to hear from you!

The Jülich Research Software Engineering (JuRSE) team is reaching out to you to better understand your work, challenges, and needs. Your insights will directly shape the resources, services, and events we provide for our coding community at FZJ.

Take the survey here: https://appsintra.fz-juelich.de/umfragen/index.php/679885?lang=en

Jobs at FZJ

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

  • Information Engineer / Knowledge Graph Developer (IAS-9, Jülich-Aachen) – Apply here

Develop and operate a large-scale scientific knowledge graph, building semantic data models, metadata pipelines, and tooling to enable discovery, integration, and reuse of research data across infrastructures.

  • Scientific Programmer for Numerical Modeling and Inversion of Geophysical Data - Apply here

Contribute to state of the art research on the sustainable use of soil and water resources including improved predictions with terrestrial system models and impact of climate change on terrestrial systems.

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HiRSE 

Events

  • Implementing the Helmholtz Quality Indicator for Software Publications - Information event for researchers and research software engineers at Helmholtz
    Friday May 8, 2026, 10:00 AM -12:00 PM
  • Helmholtz colleagues — Join the Helmholtz Codes! Workshop
    Nov 4–6, 2026 at Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf    ): https://events.hifis.net/event/3727/
    Shape the future of research software through interactive sessions, keynotes (including AI’s impact), and community exchange.
    Register by May 28 - Participation is limited to Helmholtz Centers, and spots are limited with approval required.

HiRSE is now on Linkedin! Connect with us - https://www.linkedin.com/company/hirse

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National Initiatives    

  • 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: https://helmholtz.software/page/hifis-software-spotlights

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Events  

  • JuliaCon 2026
    JuliaCon Global 2026 will be an in-person conference held in Mainz, Germany, 10-15 August 2026.  JuliaCon will include talks from from developers and researchers from industry and academia covering a wide range of topics such as biology, economics, data analytics, and software engineering best practices.
    For more go to: https://juliacon.org/2026/
  • Swiss RSE Annual Conference
    Join the Swiss Research Software Engineering (RSE) Annual Conference 2026, a full-day event bringing together RSEs from academia, research, and industry. The conference includes keynotes, presentations, and a poster/demo session, focusing on: RSE for Open Research Data (ORD) and Open Science, AI in Research Software Engineering & RSE Community (sharing experiences and building connections)
    The event will be held at the ETH Zurich (CAB Building) on the 31 August 2026
    Registration details and call for proposals coming soon at https://rse.swiss/swiss_rse_day/
  • 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 go to: https://www.researchsoft.org/irsc/
  • RSECon26
    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.
    To find out more go to: https://rsecon26.society-rse.org/
  • 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.
    The call for contribution is open until the 15 April.
    See here for more: https://events.hifis.net/event/3249/overview
  • 2026 DASH / IHDEA Meeting
    The DASH (Data Analysis and Software in Heliophysics) and IHDEA (International Heliophysics Data Environment Alliance) meetings bring together scientists and software developers working on data analysis, algorithms, community software, data systems, and standards across heliophysics - from the Sun to geospace and beyond. The event will be hostet by the Dublin Institute for advanced Studies (DIAS) in Dublin, Ireland on the 5-9 October.
    For more see: https://dash.heliophysics.net/
  • USRSE’26
    USRSE’26 with the theme “Advancing Science in the Age of AI” will be held in San Jose, California on 19-21 October 2026. The calls for proposals and reviewers are open now.
    For more go to: https://us-rse.org/usrse26/

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Recommended Reading & Tools

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RSE Podcast Episodes

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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: https://www.helmholtz-hida.de/course-catalog/en/

Training at FZJ:  

Introduction to Supercomputing at JSC - Theory & Practice (training course, online)
Instructors: Ilya Zhukov, Jolanta Zjupa
Dates: 26-29 May 2026, starting on Monday at 13:00, Tuesday to Thursday: 09:00-17:00
Venue: Online
Abstract: https://go.fzj.de/2026-supercomputing-1
Registration until 28 April 2026: https://indico3-jsc.fz-juelich.de/event/280/

Running and Scaling Performant Deep Learning Models on JSC Supercomputers (training course, online)
Instructors: Sabrina Benassou, Ismail Khalfaoui, Javad Kasravi
Dates: 1-3 June 2026, 13:00-17:00 each day
Venue: Online
Abstract: https://go.fzj.de/2026-ai-sc-2
Registration until 25 May 2026: https://indico3-jsc.fz-juelich.de/event/300/

High-Performance Computing with Python (training course, online)
Instructors: Jan Meinke, Olav Zimmermann
Dates: 15-19 June 2026, 09:00-13:00 each day
Venue: Online
Abstract: https://go.fzj.de/2026-hpc-python
Registration until 8 June 2026: https://indico3-jsc.fz-juelich.de/event/296

GPU Programming Part 2: Special and Advanced Topics (training course, online)
Instructors: Jan Meinke, Andreas Herten, Kaveh Haghighi-Mood, Jayesh Badwaik (JSC); Laura Morgenstern, Markus Hrywniak (NVIDIA)
Dates: 29 June – 03 July 2026, 09:00-13:00 each day
Venue: Online
Abstract:https://go.fzj.de/2026-gpu-advanced
Registration until 22 June 2026: https://indico3-jsc.fz-juelich.de/event/281/

Grundlagen Gitlab
Instructor: Andrea Claßen
Dates: 12 October 2026, 09:00-17:00
Venue: training room P-E, Building 03.1, room 203
Language: German
Registration: https://intranet.fz-juelich.de/de/fzj-ich/trainingsprogramm/aktuelletrainings/termine/tp-deutsch/grundlagengitlab-2026

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

Best wishes,

Claire and the JuRSE Team

Last Modified: 26.05.2026