About the Software Sustainability Institute

 We help people build better software and more sustainable research software to enable world-class research.

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What we do

The SSI was founded in 2010 as the first organisation in the world dedicated to improving software in research. It was founded on the premise that helping individuals and institutions understand the vital role that software plays in research would accelerate progress in every field of scientific and academic endeavour.

The SSI set itself the ambitious goal of transforming academic culture by establishing the principle that reliable, reproducible, and reusable software is necessary across all research disciplines. Despite the magnitude of this challenge, the SSI has delivered substantive improvements and achieved several truly global successes.

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Better Software Better Research

Over the years, the Institute has advocated for and developed an understanding of the fundamental importance of research software, its developers and users, its requirements, and how software advances research in the UK. 

We are innovative, highly collaborative, and undeterred by even the most obstinate problems. We are experts in working across disciplines and identifying the people within communities who can effect change. 

We have learned to focus on scalable enterprises that allow us to maximise the impact of our work. We are committed to improving equality, diversity, and inclusivity across all of our activities. 

We are a partnership of four UK universities: Edinburgh, Manchester, Southampton, and Oxford. The SSI is currently funded by the seven councils of the UKRI.

Read our manifesto
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Our key successes

Our successes are underpinned by highly effective working methodologies that we have continually refined over the organisation’s lifetime.

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210+ Fellows

We fund researchers, research software engineers, and industry staff who want to improve software practices in their areas.

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>10,000 Research Software Engineers (RSEs)

Since 2012, we've led a campaign that launched a new career in research, supported the formation of the Society of Research Software Engineering, and actively contributed to the RSE movement around the world.

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8,000+ researchers trained

We created and now maintain a scalable and sustainable national training environment by developing new courses, organising workshops, and bringing in and training new instructors.

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260+ successful collaborations

We provide consultancy and guidance to both software experts and beginners in 30+ countries.

Read about our impact

Contact us

Address:

The Software Sustainability Institute, EPCC, University of Edinburgh, The Bayes Centre, 47 Potterrow, Edinburgh, EH8 9BT, UK.

Email address:

info@software.ac.uk

SSI staff members are based at one of four universities across the UK: Edinburgh, Manchester, Oxford or Southampton. Reach out if you have any questions, would like more information or would like to work with us.

Contact us