Future challenges for Research Software Engineering

Abstract

It is 2025 and we are, admittedly, still working on establishing and growing Research Software Engineering (RSEng) as a domain in its own right, with the hope of ensuring that it gets the recognition it deserves. As the field develops, the role and value of Research Software Engineers (RSEs) becomes clearer. With the growing importance and scope of software engineering in research, researchers who code now begin to fill dedicated, specialized RSE roles crucial for the sustainable development of long-term research software projects that can rapidly innovate. Looking into the future, participants of the deRSE25 conference discussed how RSEng could evolve in response to the rapid changes in the broader social, technological, and organisational landscape. This paper presents the main discussion points of the conference participants, imagining a future in which RSEs have a well-defined and well-integrated role in research institutions, working as engineers of ever more complex research software projects, taming a growing range of methods and tools, and guiding researchers through technical and ethical considerations related to research software.