This year I was fortunate enough to attend my fifth Collaborations Workshop and it was as enjoyable and exciting as the previous four.

It was held at Stirling University. I haven't been to Stirling before, it's a really beautiful little city with the Wallace Monument keeping an eye on all the goings on.

As always, apart from listening to the inspirational keynotes, the idea of Collaborations Workshop is to provide an opportunity for delegates to discuss topics proposed by attendees. Some of the topics are then put forward as suggestions for the hack day. Topics that generate enough interest become a project, which a few people will work on for about five hours on the hack day.

During one of the discussions I mentioned my struggles with organising Carpentries workshops and the bash script that I wrote to try and automate some of the work. Another delegate, Colin Sauze, also mentioned the problems experienced with workshop attendees that misjudge the level skill required for attending the workshops. So we discussed the possibility of creating an online test that people, interested in attending a workshop, need to pass before they would be allowed to register. Putting these two ideas together sounded, to us, like a good topic to put forward for the hack day so Colin pitched it for us during one of the next sessions.

We managed to get a team of six people together (five in person and one online) and decided to use my existing bash script and MariaDB database, for creating workshop websites, as a starting point. Hollie Rowland became our project manager, Deborah Udoh and Tosan Okome worked on the online tests. Hui Ling worked on creating a csv version of my MariaDB database because Colin thought the database was to heavy duty for what we wanted. Colin worked on converting the bash script to work with the CSV file and I worked on creating a calendar invite (.ics file) that could be used to include in emails about the workshop.

We had a tremendous amount of fun and pitched our hack at the end of the day with great enthusiasm. Our collaborations workshop ended on a real high when we were announced as second prize winners of the hack day.

There was a great deal of interest in our project and I know many people have the same difficulties as me when organising workshops. So I have decided to carry on working on the project under the name we gave it on the hack day, which is CarpentriesMagic. (We'll have to ask Hollie how we came up with the name because I can't remember). I have registered an organisation on GitHub at https://github.com/CarpentriesMagic. There are three repositories at the moment. WorkshopAdmin (https://github.com/CarpentriesMagic/WorkshopAdmin) which are the bash scripts and WorkshopAdminUI (https://github.com/CarpentriesMagic/WorkshopAdminUI) which is a Java based GUI that works with a MariaDB database for adding workshops, helpers, instructors etc. The last repository is just an example of a workshop website we created with the bash script. There is also a CarpentriesMagic channel in the Carpentries' Slack workspace and a mailing list in Carpentries' TopicBox. If you are interested in using any of this or getting involved in the development, please get in contact. We would love for this project to become something that all Carpentries Workshop organisers can use.

Thanks again to the Software Sustainability Institute for organising the Collaborations Workshop and for making funds available to its fellows to attend. It is still the highlight of my year!

Images (L to R): Jyoti Bhogal in the backdrop of the ‘University of Stirling’ and the centrally located Airthrey Loch; The William Wallace Monument, also known as the National Wallace Monument, located on the Abbey Craig in Stirling, Scotland

Ever thought about how much energy your code consumes? Or how to make your software more eco-friendly? Well, during the recent Collaborations Workshop 2025 Hack Day, my team decided to tackle this very challenge. Let me walk you through our journey.

The third day of the Collaborations Workshop 2025 was a dedicated Hack Day. The attendees were invited to pitch ideas for the Hack Day. Many wonderful ideas were pitched for the same. People started joining the team with the idea in which they were most interested to work upon. Ultimately, 10 teams were formed. The 10 teams collaborated for an intense hack day, leading to amazing ideas taking shape by the end of the day!

Earlier on the second day of the workshop I had attended a collaborative ideas discussion session on “MetaGreenData: standardised reporting of the environmental impact of compute” chaired by Kirsty Pringle and joined by Bryn Ubald, Caterina Doglioni, Connor Aird, Jyoti Bhogal, and Saranjeet Kaur Bhogal. This session motivated me to join the “Group: D - Delphinium” team for the Hack Day (Team members: Christina Bremer, Duncan Leggatt, Jyoti Bhogal, Loïc Lannelongue, Will Haese-Hill; Joining remotely: Michael Sparks). I enjoyed collaborating with my team during the Hack Day - we divided the tasks amongst each other. Throughout the day the judges visited the different teams asking questions, and at the end of the day, we were asked to provide a presentation of the work we did. In this blog post, I share the product my team created by the end of the Hack Day!

Image: Group photo while working on the hack idea, (L to R) Caterina Doglioni, Will Haese-Hill, Duncan Leggatt, Loïc Lannelongue, Jyoti Bhogal, Christina Bremer

Motivation

While many developers are keen on optimising their code for speed and efficiency, not many consider the environmental impact. That's where my team saw the opportunity. The idea was simple: create a tool that helps developers understand and reduce the carbon footprint of their software.

Brainstorming the Solution

The brainstorming session was filled with energy and ideas. The motive was to come up with a  solution that was:

• User-friendly: Easy for developers to integrate into their workflow.
• Informative: Provides clear insights into the environmental impact.
• Actionable: Offers suggestions to reduce carbon emissions.

After much discussion, it was decided to have a metadata generator that captures essential information about software, making it easier to assess and improve its sustainability.

Building MetaGreenData

Enter MetaGreenData. This is a Django-based web application designed to help developers generate metadata files for their software projects. Here's how it was designed:

1. Understanding the Standards: To begin with, existing metadata standards, like CodeMeta and the Citation File Format (CFF), were explored. These standards provide a structured way to describe software, making it easier to share and cite.
2. Designing the Workflow: Then a simple form was created where users can input details about their software. This included information like the software's name, version, authors, and more.
3. Generating the Metadata: The tool was designed to generate a metadata file in the chosen format (CodeMeta or CFF) based on the input. This file can then be added to the software's repository.
4. Integrating Carbon Footprint Estimation: Next, the Green Algorithms calculator was integrated to estimate the carbon footprint based on the software's computational requirements. 

Visualising the Process

To make things clearer, here's a simple flowchart of how MetaGreenData works:

The Outcome

MetaGreenData is now available on GitHub! 🎉
The idea was developed on a GitHub repository called MetaGreenData. We plan to develop it further and make it user-friendly.

Last but definitely not the least this project won the first prize at the Collaborations Workshop 2025 Hack Day. Here’s my team’s picture from the day!

Image credit: Software Sustainability Institute; (L to R) Christina Bremer, Will Haese-Hill, Duncan Leggatt, Loïc Lannelongue, Jyoti Bhogal, Joining remotely: Michael Sparks

And here’s my certificate:

Certificate of Achievement: First place at the Hack Day, Collaborations Workshop 2025, organised by the Software Sustainability Institute

References and Inspirations

The project was inspired and informed by several resources:

• Green Algorithms Calculator: Helps estimate the carbon footprint of computations.
• CodeMeta Generator: Assists in creating standardised metadata files.
• Citation File Format (CFF): Provides a human- and machine-readable format for software citation.
• Draft Metadata Fields: A comprehensive list of metadata fields for software tools.
  Looking Ahead

MetaGreenData is just the beginning. The vision is of a future where sustainability is a core consideration in software development. By making it easier to assess and reduce the environmental impact of code, the hope is to inspire developers to make greener choices.
 

Collaborations Workshop 2025 (CW25) took place as a hybrid event from Tuesday 13 May to Thursday 15 May 2025 at Stirling Court Hotel, University of Stirling. Over the course of three days, Collaborations Workshop 2025 (CW25), brought together researchers, developers, innovators, managers, funders, publishers, policy makers, leaders and educators to explore best practices and the future of research software.

Delegates explored the theme of “Future-proofing research software: evolving together as a diverse community”, delving into a variety of sessions to address the challenges and opportunities facing the research software community. 

Objectives and goals

CW25's key objective was to bring the community together to brainstorm and discuss what research software is going to be like in the next five years. CW25 aimed to increase confidence and understanding of key topics for the research software community that also fit into the wider aims and goals of the Software Sustainability Institute.

This year's Collaboration Workshop 2025 (CW25) brought together members of the community to explore and refine the evolving DIRECT framework - a community-developed approach to mapping digital research skills and competencies into a framework to support diverse progression pathways for researchers who code, RSEs, data specialists, RSE group leads, research project leads, etc., and help them find relevant resources or track and manage their professional profiles and development.

The creation of the DIRECT framework began two years ago at CW23 (originally called the "RSE Skills and Competencies Toolkit" - now extended to "Digital Research Competencies Framework" to encompass other roles and domains in digital research) and has been progressing ever since. With strong momentum behind it, CW25 presented the perfect opportunity to gather community input once again and collaboratively shape the next phase. We proposed a 30-minute workshop at CW25 to share progress and gather feedback, with the hope that it would spark enough interest to carry the work forward into the Hack Day—which, fortunately, it did.

The workshop 

The workshop was held on Wednesday 14 May (CW25 Day 2) and was co-led by Aleksandra Nenadic, Phil Reed, and Aman Goel (University of Manchester), with contributions from collaborators including David Horsfall (Newcastle University), Adrian D'Alessandro (Imperial College London), Jonathan Cooper (UCL), and Eli Chadwick (University of Manchester), all of whom have been closely involved in shaping the framework over the past two years.

The session invited participants to reflect on how well the existing version of the framework captures the skills needed across a range of domains, with a particular focus on AI, HPC and general systems infrastructure, domain-specific research and professional (non-technical) competencies.

Following brief introductions and a video overview recorded by Dave Horsfall, the 20+ participants rolled up their sleeves for a hands-on review of the framework, providing feedback via shared documents. These live contributions not only helped assess the current structure but also filled in the gaps in the missing training resources and seeded ideas for future improvements and collaboration. The session concluded with a pitch for the Hack Day project (which traditionally takes place on Day 3 of the Collaborations Workshop) to continue shaping the framework and extend the work on its practical implementation as a Django web application. 

The Hack Day 

During the Hack Day, we split into two focused sub-groups: one dedicated to further refining the framework content and its documentation (Phil Reed, Aleksandra Nenadic and Patricia Loto), and another building a Django-based web application (Adrian D’Alessandro, Bryn Ubald, Andrew Gait, Tamora James, Connor Aird, Ryan Smith) to make the framework interactive and accessible to end users. 

The framework team worked toward a version 1.0 release, incorporating feedback from the earlier workshop held the day before, streamlining structure, and capturing missing skills identified by contributors. Meanwhile, the web app team developed essential features such as skill browsing and user profile creation, and made progress towards competency visualisation using "competency wheels." The app will allow individuals and teams to self-assess, compare skill sets, and even define templates for key roles - e.g. for data scientists, archivists, or RSEs with HPC specialisms.

The event attracted several first-time CW hack day participants, including contributors from the humanities, showing how widely applicable and inclusive the framework could become. The group made effective use of GitHub Projects to organise their tasks (28 planned for the Hack Day) and pull requests (12 PRs made closing 18 issues/tasks with 3 more in progress), fostering transparency, collaboration, and accountability throughout the day. There was a strong emphasis on sustainable development, good documentation, and attribution for all contributors — including those working outside GitHub.

Future Work 

We have several things lined up for 2025:

• Dave Horsfall’s leadership of the DIRECT framework development is now funded by the UKRI Digital Research Infrastructure programme as part of the DisCouRSE NetworkPlus grant. We hope that flexible funding from this network will provide extra dedicated effort next year.
• As part of his SSI Fellowship, Phil Reed is taking the DIRECT Framework to the UK-Ireland Digital Humanities Association annual event DHA25, as a workshop to capture and compare the voices of digital humanities researchers with the mostly STEM-focused work conducted so far.
• The University of Manchester is hosting an Open Research Conference on 9-10 June 2025. Aleks Nenadic and Phil Reed are presenting a talk about the DIRECT Framework and its benefits within the wider open research movement.
• The DIRECT Framework is featured as part of two workshop proposals for RSECon25 in September.
• The team are in discussions with Australian Research Data Commons exploring common interests and opportunities.

Call for involvement

If you're passionate about helping researchers better articulate and develop their technical and non-technical competencies, keep an eye on the DIRECT framework—or better yet, get involved! Connect with the contributors, join the conversation, and help us shape the future of digital research skills.

Collaborations Workshop 2025 (CW25), brought together researchers, developers, innovators, managers, funders, publishers, policy makers, leaders and educators to explore best practices and the future of research software.

Over the course of three days, delegates explored the theme of “Future-proofing research software: evolving together as a diverse community”, delving into a variety of sessions to address the challenges and opportunities facing the research software community. 

Highlights of CW25 included thought leaders sharing insights into the evolving landscape of research software, thereby sparking meaningful conversations and reflections. CW25 featured interactive workshops, where delegates could dive deep into topics such as how to make software that others want to use, improving carbon literacy for researchers, and safeguarding research and culture - just to name a few. Delegates also had opportunities to propose and develop innovative solutions to issues, promoting teamwork and creativity.

On the third and final day, delegates were invited to take part in the Hack Day, where teams came together to transform pitches into outputs, demonstrating the power of collaboration and innovation.

CW25 also offered scheduled and informal socialising opportunities - from a traditional Scottish ceilidh to card games and scenic walks, allowing delegates to form new connections and build on existing friendships, outside of the official programme.

We look forward to continuing the conversations and collaborations that came from CW25, and hope to see new and returning delegates at CW26.

Stay tuned for access to the recordings and a more-detailed report on CW25. In the meantime, have a look at the amazing pictures in our CW25 Album.

In-person tickets for Collaborations Workshop 2025 (CW25) are now officially sold out. 

Remote tickets will remain open via Eventbrite until Tuesday 6 May (or until sold out). Remote tickets include access and participation to all sessions, including keynotes, panel discussions, lightning talks, collaborative ideas sessions, and hack day sessions.

Event Overview

CW25 will centre around future proofing research software and how we evolve together as a diverse community. Over three days, delegates will be invited to take part in discussion sessions, collaborative ideas sessions, and hack day sessions, to explore together and create together.

Event Programme

The full event programme is now available.

CW25 will feature an impressive lineup of keynote speakers and expert panellists, which have all been outlined in the full programme.

Delegates can also start familiarising themselves with the scheduled mini-workshops and lightning talks, which will focus on the changes in landscape, what research software will look like in the future, and the challenges for the research software community.

Date and Location

CW25 will take place as a hybrid event from Tuesday 13 May to Thursday 15 May 2025 at Stirling Court Hotel, University of Stirling. We encourage all delegates to familiarise themselves with the CW25 Venue Guide.

Stirling is a beautiful, historic city with easy access to beautiful, wild landscapes and outdoor activities. Stirling is also ideally placed as a gateway to the Scottish Highlands and is only a short train trip from Edinburgh or Glasgow.

We are thrilled to announce that the upcoming Collaborations Workshop 2025 (CW25) will be sponsored by SMARTHEP.

CW25's gold sponsor, SMARTHEP, Synergies between Machine learning, Real-Time analysis and Hybrid architectures for efficient Event Processing and decision making, is a European Training Network (ETN) with the aim of training a new generation of Early Stage Researchers (ESRs) to use real-time decision-making effectively leading to data-collection and analysis becoming synonymous.

We are grateful to have SMARTHEP as a sponsor for CW25, and we look forward to their valuable contributions to the event.

CW25 will take place as a hybrid event from Tuesday 13 May to Thursday 15 May 2025 at Stirling Court Hotel, University of Stirling.

We are pleased to announce that in-person registration for Collaborations Workshop 2025 (CW25) will remain open via Eventbrite until Wednesday 30 April (or until sold out). 

Unable to attend in person? We are offering remote tickets for £90, which also includes access and participation to all sessions, including keynotes, panel discussions, lightning talks, collaborative ideas sessions, and hack day sessions. Remote delegates will also be invited to virtual/hybrid social activities and networking sessions. 

The highly anticipated Collaborations Workshop 2025 (CW25) is set to feature an impressive lineup of keynote speakers and expert panellists. CW25 will take place as a hybrid event from Tuesday 13 May to Thursday 15 May 2025 at Stirling Court Hotel, University of Stirling. 

CW25 will centre around future proofing research software and how we evolve together as a diverse community. Over three days, delegates will be invited to take part in discussion sessions, collaborative ideas sessions, and hack day sessions, to explore together and create together. 

Registration is open via Eventbrite until Wednesday 30 April. There are only a limited number of in-person tickets remaining, however there is still the option of delegates attending remotely. 

Keynote: AI

The CW25 organising and steering committees are excited to announce the third and final keynote: Dr Tom Wilkinson, Chief Data Officer, Scottish Government.

The highly anticipated Collaborations Workshop 2025 (CW25) is set to feature an impressive lineup of keynote speakers and expert panellists. CW25 will take place as a hybrid event from Tuesday 13 May to Thursday 15 May 2025 at Stirling Court Hotel, University of Stirling. 

CW25 will centre around future proofing research software and how we evolve together as a diverse community. Over three days, delegates will be invited to take part in discussion sessions, collaborative ideas sessions, and hack day sessions, to explore together and create together. 

Registration went live on Monday 24 February via Eventbrite. 

Keynote: The Future of Research Software

The CW25 organising and steering committees are delighted to announce yet another distinguished keynote speaker, who is widely recognised for their contributions to the Research Software community.