Research software is increasingly central to innovation across many disciplines, including healthcare, engineering, artificial intelligence, climate science and data-driven policy. As these software outputs move beyond the research environment and towards real-world use, expectations around robustness, documentation, traceability and quality processes also increase.
The OxRSE group is developing a dedicated capability in Regulatory and Quality Assurance Research Software Engineering (RQA-RSE) to support research teams in building software with the attributes needed for translation into real-world settings. The initiative encourages consideration of relevant quality and regulatory expectations early in the software development process, reducing the effort required later to adapt software for deployment beyond the research environment.
This RQA-RSE capability will provide practical and proportionate guidance to researchers and research software engineers across the University. This includes developing reusable workflows, templates and examples aligned with relevant software engineering and regulatory standards, as well as supporting selected pilot projects from across divisions. By helping research teams adopt development practices that support quality, traceability and maintainability, OxRSE aims to facilitate the transition from research software to real-world use.
In practice, this support will help research teams to:
- develop more robust and maintainable software
- improve readiness for translational and collaborative projects
- support engagement with industrial, clinical or public-sector partners
- move research software more effectively from prototype towards real-world use
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