Event

EDI Talk: Why Do We Need Diversity in Research Software Engineering

On Thursday 22nd May the EDI committee hosted a talk on “Why Do We Need Diversity in Research Software Engineering?” by the Software Sustainability Institute Fellows Deborah Udoh (OLS) https://www.software.ac.uk/fellowship-programme/deborah-udoh and Olexandr Konovalov (St Andrews) https://www.software.ac.uk/fellowship-programme/olexandr-konovalov. On display we had a collection of posters designed by students to promote and raise awareness of EDI aspects, and celebrate cultural differences in the School and in our discipline. This was accompanied by coffee and cakes.

This talk was the story of two members of the global research software community whose paths converged thanks to the Software Sustainability Institute. One a Ukrainian mathematician and computer scientist in Scotland, the other a Nigerian nurse in tech – they are from vastly different backgrounds, but share more in common than meets the eye, and have already begun to shape an inclusive future for researchers from all walks of life.

Through lived experiences, they explored the real-world barriers they faced – from underrepresentation and visa limitations to the invisible weight of imposter syndrome — and the communities and infrastructures that helped them keep going: OLS, the Carpentries, and the SSI.

They spoke of using their platforms to build better pathways into research and research software engineering, especially for those who never imagined they belonged in these spaces, and how institutions, allies, and community members play an active role in creating more equitable, mentally healthy spaces — and why your involvement matters.

PGR Seminar with Thomas Martin + Charis Hanna

The next PGR seminar is taking place this Friday 23rd May at 2PM in JC 1.33a

Below are the Titles and Abstracts for Thomas and Charis’ talks – Please do come along if you are able.

Thomas Martin

Title: From Isolated to Continuous Automated Sign Language Recognition

Abstract: Sign languages are full-fledged visual natural languages combining manual and non-manual features. As the name suggests, Automated Sign Language Understanding (ASLU) aims to automate tasks involving sign language. A primary obstacle to ASLU is the creation of appropriate datasets. Indeed, most datasets focus on materials gathered from TV broadcasts covering limited topics, which fail to accurately reflect sign language in the wild. Moreover, annotating such datasets is a prohibitively costly process. With the end goal of Sign Language Translation (written/spoken language to sign language) in mind, ASLU research has transitioned from Isolated to Continuous Sign Language Recognition. However, sign language intricacies have made this transition non-trivial.

Charis Hanna

Title: Enhancing Deep Learning Approaches for the Automated Monitoring of Dense Seabird Colonies

Abstract: Cliff-nesting birds serve as valuable indicators of marine ecosystem health, yet dense populations and remote habitats present significant challenges for automated monitoring. With current state-of-the-art object detectors often failing under the conditions of extreme crowding and occlusion, this project aims to develop and refine deep learning techniques that enable the fine-grained, automated analysis of seabird colonies. Current work explores semi-supervised learning strategies that leverage domain-shifted knowledge to reduce the need for exhaustive annotation across complex image datasets. These methods not only reduce the laborious process of manual annotation but also demonstrate promising improvements in performance across the long-tailed species distribution. While ongoing efforts are directed at further optimising these models, future work will leverage additional spatial information with the aim of supporting richer insights into behavioural dynamics within these populations.

SACHI Seminar – Prof Sampsa Hyysalo: Design Participation | Fri 23 May, 15:00–16:00, JCB 1.33A

We are excited to invite you to a special SACHI seminar this week with Prof Sampsa Hyysalo, who will be visiting us from Aalto University in Finland. This is a great opportunity to hear from one of the leading voices in participatory design and user innovation.

📅 Friday 23rd May | 🕛 15:00 – 16:00 PM | 📍 JCB, Room 1.33A

Title:

Design Participation: Changing Roles of Users in Innovation and Research

Abstract:

In this talk, Sampsa will introduce ideas from his forthcoming book Design Participation (September 2025, cover attached), which presents doable and demonstrated ways by which design can become a major contributor to social and environmental change. This entails a shift from seeking to define solutions to opening spaces in which others—activists, entrepreneurs, civil servants, neighbourhood communities, politicians (and so on) —can effectively elaborate on and find (re)solutions to the matters they are facing. He will reflect on over two decades of research, offering insights into how participatory methods can help tackle complex social and environmental challenges. The talk will draw from work in health tech, energy transition, and civic design.

This session should be particularly relevant to colleagues working in Human-Computer Interaction, Science and Technology Studies, systems design, and research that intersects with communities, policy, and practice.

Bio:

Sampsa Hyysalo is a Professor of Co-Design at the Aalto University School of Art, Design and Architecture in Helsinki, Finland. His research focuses on designer-user relations in sociotechnical change. This includes engagement in participatory design, co-design, open and user innovation, open design, peer knowledge creation, user communities, citizen science and user knowledge in organizations, design ethnography, longitudinal ethnography, social shaping of technology, process studies of innovation, practice theory, and sustainability transitions.

More about Sampsa: https://www.aalto.fi/en/collaborative-and-industrial-design/sampsa-hyysalo

He is the author of several books, including:

PGR Seminar with Tilcia Woodville-price + Thu Nguyen

The next PGR seminar is taking place this Friday 16th May at 2PM in JC 1.33a

Below are the Titles and Abstracts for Tilcia and Thu’s talks – Please do come along if you are able.

Tilcia Woodville-price

Title: Definitely, Maybe? Communicating Uncertainty In Medicine

Abstract: An inherent aspect of healthcare and data science alike, uncertainty is present at every step of data utilisation, including its collection, analysis and dissemination. Accounting for and disclosing uncertainty is an ongoing challenge faced by many disciplines. In medicine, effective communication of uncertainty is essential for shared decision-making, with important considerations surrounding the user (patients, clinicians, policymakers), the underlying information, and the means of communicating it (data visualisation). Current medical research has focused on risk communication, often failing to evaluate more complex aspects of uncertainty. In contrast, the information visualisation community has more widely researched uncertainty visualisation in other domains, but insights remain limited regarding best practice. This interdisciplinary research aims to empirically assess different forms of visualising uncertainty in medicine, evaluate how user characteristics influence comprehension, and explore new forms of communicating it through data-driven storytelling.

Thu Nguyen

Title: Multimorbidity Dynamics in Scotland: Health inequality and Trajectories in chronic disease accrual and mortality across the lifespan

Abstract: Multimorbidity – the co-occurrence of two or more chronic diseases – is a growing global concern, and is associated with higher risk of mortality, worse quality of life and substantial financial burden. About one third of the world’s population has multimorbidity. Care for multimorbid patients in the UK accounts for more than 55% of NHS costs and 75% of primary care prescription costs. The focus of multimorbidity epidemiology so far has largely been on the static clustering of diseases through cross-sectional analyses, with less emphasis on the trajectories of disease onset and the sequence in which conditions develop. Understanding the order in which diseases occur and its impact on patient outcomes can help identify high-risk trajectories and aid healthcare resource planning by identifying target populations for preventive interventions, ultimately leading to earlier diagnosis and management. Using linked electronic health records (EHRs) on 858789 individuals (2005-2021), this study aims to employ multistate modelling to explore the dynamics of multimorbidity trajectories, measure chronic disease accrual, incorporating social factors to unveil the health inequality in Scotland.

Successful Technology Through The Ages Event with Madras College

The school hosted a highly successful outreach event on May 8th, welcoming S1 pupils from Madras College to the school. Attendees had the opportunity to explore the development of computing technology through the ages and interact with a large number of interactive technology demonstrations and exhibits. It was lovely to see how well behaved and engaged they all were with Computing, which is a real credit to Madras College and its values, and it was great to see everyone having fun, including the older kids too i.e., CS staff 🙂

Special thanks to all staff in CS who got involved with this, volunteering their equipment and time to talk to the S1 pupils, testing, setting up, and clearing away

Also, special thanks to the S1 pupils for joining us and to Janice Patterson, Stephen Forbes, and Keith Maskell at Madras for all their work organising the trip from the Madras end.

 

Research Software Group Lunchtime Seminar – Friday 23rd May

There will be a Research Software Group Lunchtime Seminar on Friday May 23rd at 1pm, in room 1.33B.

Talk Title: “People First: Sustaining Research Software by Sustaining the People Who Build It”

Speakers are Software Sustainability Institute Fellows: Deborah Udoh (OLS) and Olexandr Konovalov (St Andrews)

– https://www.software.ac.uk/fellowship-programme/deborah-udoh

– https://www.software.ac.uk/fellowship-programme/olexandr-konovalov

Abstract

What does it mean to build sustainable research software—and sustainable research software communities?

Too often, sustainability is framed in terms of clean code, reproducibility, funding and long-term maintenance. But sustainability is also about people: who gets to stay, who gets to lead, and who burns out or leaves before their potential is fully realised.

This talk invites us to look beyond technical best practices and consider the human infrastructure that truly sustains research software: the developers, contributors, maintainers, and collaborators who often work in the margins of recognition. We’ll explore how issues like burnout, impostor syndrome, and lack of psychological safety threaten not just individual wellbeing, but the continuity and health of the software ecosystems we care about.

Using real-world examples from both academic and open-source contexts, we’ll share practices and small culture shifts that have helped sustain people in research software roles.

This session will include a short, interactive exercise where participants will reflect on their own sustainability needs, and collectively brainstorm people-first practices for healthier RSE communities.

PGR Seminar with Duong Phuc Tai Nguyen + Thomas Metcalfe

The next PGR seminar is taking place this Friday 9th May at 2PM in JC 1.33a

Below are the Titles and Abstracts for Duong and Tom’s talks – Please do come along if you are able.

Duong Phuc Tai Nguyen

Title: Enhancing Dynamic Algorithm Configuration via Theory-guided Benchmarks.

Abstract: Algorithms play a vital role in numerous domains, ranging from machine learning to optimization and simulation. Developing an algorithm typically requires making multiple design choices and fine-tuning parameters, a process that can be both labor-intensive and complex. This project seeks to automate this process by employing machine learning techniques, particularly deep reinforcement learning (deep-RL). By leveraging theoretical insights from evolutionary computation, we establish new benchmarks to assess RL methods for dynamic algorithm configuration and propose enhancement techniques to increase their effectiveness

Thomas Metcalfe

Title: Listening to Rhythms: Exploring Human-Phenology Attunement through Research Products and Decentralised Computing

Abstract: Humanity and the planet are in an epoch of ecological breakdown. Modern technological cultures have severed human awareness from the living rhythms of more-than-human worlds. This research explores how decentralised, situated technologies might foster embodied attunement between humans and the phenological rhythms of place.

This seminar is a work-in-progress. 7 months into his PhD, Tom will present his journey and current thinking on the foundations and potential direction of his project. You can expect to hear how he’s trying to shift research paradigms; the profound change in the project’s onto-epistemological perspectives; and how he hopes to make a contribution to the design and HCI communities.

Successful Doors Open Event

The school hosted a highly successful Doors Open event yesterday, welcoming many visitors including industry professionals, university colleagues from other schools (e.g. Psychology & Neuroscience, Biology and Chemistry) and prospective students. Attendees had the opportunity to explore cutting-edge projects in Artificial Intelligence, Human-computer Interaction, Software Engineering and engage with interactive technology demonstrations.

Highlights of the event included the popular “Hot Tattie” sessions in Artificial Intelligence, Programming Languages and Human Computer Interaction. The enthusiastic participation and positive feedback from visitors highlighted the school’s commitment to outreach, education, and fostering a strong connection between academia and the broader community.

Special thanks to Ruth Hoffmann and Kirsty Ross who organised this event. We would like to thank all who attended Doors Open and made it a success. We look forward to seeing you next year!