Events

The Oxford Research Software Developer Network

After a brief hiatus, the next Research Software Developer Network (RSDN) meeting is returning. We've got two meetings lined up: an initial meeting with the Schmidt AI in Science team at Oxford Research Software Engineering (OxRSE), followed by a second meeting in Physics in June, headed up by OxRSEs newest Principal RSE: Kaustubh Rajwade.

For those unaware, the RSDN meeting is an opportunity for those at the University who contribute to research software, in whatever form, to come together for discussions, sharing of work, and sandwiches. Given the decentralised nature of the University, and the non-standardised roles of those who support research computing in all its various forms, these can be a really effective touchstone for our community. We hope you'll get involved!

OxRSE and the Schmidt AI in Science Fellowship

This is a return to the traditional RSDN meeting format, held on Tuesday 19th May at 11:00 - 14:30 and hosted by Oxford Research Software Engineering (OxRSE) in the Doctoral Training Centre on Keble Rd. This meeting will have an AI-in-Science focus, starting with an hour of short talks from members of OxRSE about the work they do supporting the Schmidt AI in Science Fellowship, followed by a networking lunch for in-person participants, and finally an optional 1.5 hr workshop titled “Responsible Use of AI for Coding”.

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Talks by RSEs supporting the Schmidt AI in Science Fellowship Programme (11am - 12 pm):

  • Oliver King - Tracking and Identifying Picasso Triggerfish in Videos
  • Jack Leland - TarXiv, a web app serving aggregated astronomical transient data from multiple sources; and roughpy-jax, a JAX backend for the Python maths library—RoughPy—for doing calculations on rough paths.
  • Timothy Poon - Topic to be confirmed.

Responsible Use of AI for Coding Workshop (1pm - 2:30pm):

This workshop guides attendees on integrating artificial intelligence into software engineering workflows effectively and ethically. Participants will learn to navigate the balance between the opportunities AI offers for rapid prototyping and the significant risks it presents, such as security vulnerabilities, hallucinations, and "sycophantic" bad code. The emphasis is on the fact that while AI serves as an "enthusiastic but inexperienced intern," the ultimate responsibility for code correctness, security, and maintainability remains with the developer. If possible, please bring a laptop to this session.