About

A national facility for building better software

Software helps researchers to enhance their research, and improve the speed and accuracy of their results. The Software Sustainability Institute can help you introduce software into your research or improve the software you already use.

The Institute is based at the universities of Edinburgh, Manchester, Oxford and Southampton, and draws on a team of talented individuals with a breadth of experience in software development, project and programme management, publicity and community engagement.

The importance of sustainability

Sustainability means that the software you use today will be available - and continue to be improved - in the future.

Our goal is to make it easier to rely on software as a foundation of research. We help people learn the skills needed to build better software, and ensure that people get credit and encouragement for developing sustainable software.

Building better software

We work with researchers and software developers to develop new software, and improve software that is already in use.

Developing sustainable software means following software-engineering practices, and understanding and nurturing the community that uses your software. We can help you gain the skills you need through our guides and other resources, or through training and collaboration.

Expert knowledge

We work with research projects from all disciplines, which gives us a broad understanding of the problems researchers face when using software. We use this expertise to ensure that you make the right choices about the software you use - and avoid the pitfalls.

Choosing sustainable software is about knowing what to look for, and reducing the risks if you make a wrong choice. We can help by reviewing software based on your requirements, or you can review the software yourself with the help of our guides.

We also make our expertise available on our website, and in guides and other help materials.