We are pleased to announce that 19 projects have been awarded funding as part of Round 2 of the Research Software Maintenance Fund (RSMF).
The Research Software Maintenance Fund, run by the Software Sustainability Institute (SSI) with financial support from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), aims to support the maintenance and long-term sustainability of research software that is important to the UK research community.
Round 2 attracted strong interest from the research community. We received:
- 229 Expressions of Interest, with 61 applicants invited to submit a full application,
- 60 full applications were submitted, with 19 projects chosen for funding.
About 27 per cent of the Expressions of Interest progressed to the full-application stage, and 30 per cent of the full applications were given funding.
The 19 projects have received about £2.6 million in total, following confirmation of additional funding for this RSMF round from the UKRI DRI programme. Each project will receive up to £150,000 and last up to 12 months. Four projects are led by RSEs/RTPs, and the projects involve 25 different lead / co-lead organisations.
The funds have been distributed across the various disciplinary areas:
- five projects in the environmental and chemical sciences;
- four projects in life sciences;
- five projects in mathematics, physical sciences, computing and engineering; and
- five projects in arts, humanities, economics and social sciences.
Thus, the funded portfolio spans a wide range of research applications, including atmospheric, climate and environmental modelling; tools for web mapping, spatial network analysis and geospatial data analysis; managing and analysing medical imaging data; validating genomics data; infectious disease modelling; analysing and visualising molecular data; performing text analysis and choice modelling; managing training data; and supporting simulation methods such as smooth-particle hydrodynamics, computational fluid dynamics and agent-based modelling.
The funded work will help maintain and improve established research software by tackling issues such as technical debt, testing and documentation, software architecture, accessibility, community engagement, and long-term sustainability.
The applications were evaluated by a group of independent reviewers formed into four multidisciplinary funding panels. Each application was assessed in relation to the Round 2 criteria relating to vision and impact, feasibility and approach, and capability to deliver. Additionally, the applicants had the opportunity to respond to the reviewers' comments during a rebuttal stage before the panels met to discuss and rank the applications. Early career observers were given the opportunity to attend the panels to give them insight into the review process.
Once again, we are pleased to see the high quality and quantity of applications at both the Expression of Interest and Full Application stages, which shows the need for funding like the RSMF.
We would like to thank all those who submitted an Expression of Interest or a full application, as well as the reviewers, panel chairs, panellists and observers for having devoted their time and expertise to the assessment process.
About the Research Software Maintenance Fund
The Research Software Maintenance Fund is supported through a £5.8 million UKRI investment and delivered by the Software Sustainability Institute. Its objective is to enhance the resilience of the UK's research software ecosystem and to generate evidence on the most effective ways of supporting essential research software.