Research Software Engineering @ RWTH Aachen University

Current Activity

• since April 25: Guidelines for software development at RWTH Aachen University.
  • This is a joint effort with the MSS profile area, FZJ, ITC, RWTH ZHV and the Innovation GmbH. It is meant to support, among others, the RWTH EXC as well as its cluster proposals.
  • This activity has been embedded into the more general activities of the joint GI RSE and the deRSE Task Force on “Guidelines for software development” and will come up with a common set of guideline, possibily refined for RWTH specific possibilities, such as extended support for sustainable development, or licensing restrictions.
• since April 26: RWTH is creating an “RSE Hub” in accordance to these guidlines.

News

• April 26: The Research Focus Class: “Research Methods and Paradigms in Research Software Engineering for Learning Technologies”, offered by Birte Heinemann (Chair of Learning Technologies) and Julian Dehne (German Informatics Society) , introduces students to central research methods and paradigms in Research Software Engineering (RSE) within the context of learning technologies. Participants will explore how empirical, design-oriented, and interdisciplinary research can be applied to real-world challenges at the intersection of software, data, and education. The course combines methodological input with project-based work and invites students to develop and discuss their own research ideas. (ask Birte Heinemann for details)

• March 26: The seminar on Research Software Engineering Methods and Methodology introduces students to empirical methods and the RIGHT framework, combining hands-on research with innovative teaching for future RSE curricula. (ask Bernhard Rumpe or Marc Schmidt for details)

• March 26: The seminars “Research Software Engineering Management and Communication”, offered by Julian Dehne and Bernhard Rumpe (Chair of Software Engineering), provides a practice-oriented introduction to key competencies in Research Software Engineering. Aimed at Master’s students, the course focuses on management and communication skills such as stakeholder interaction, requirements elicitation, and project coordination in research contexts. It also serves as a testbed for teaching methods and content envisioned for the emerging RSE Master’s curriculum. Through hands-on activities, including interviews with researchers and the development of case studies, students gain practical insights while contributing to the ongoing refinement of RSE education. (ask Bernhard Rumpe or Marc Schmidt for details)

• Jan 26: A new reference curriculum for a Master’s degree in Research Software Engineering has been introduced to address the growing importance of software in modern research. Coordinated by Julian Dehne and supported by the Klaus Tschira Stiftung, the GI RSE group and deRSE e.V., the program aims to equip graduates with both advanced software engineering skills and domain-specific expertise. The curriculum proposes two study tracks, one for computer science graduates and one for students from other disciplines, reflecting the interdisciplinary nature of RSE. Currently under review, the initiative marks an important step toward formalizing education for this emerging professional field. (ask Bernhard Rumpe for details)

• Okt 25: We are looking for participants for our survey: Onboarding in Research Software Engineering: Newcomer Perspectives
  • We would like to better understand how people find their way into the field of research software engineering, what experiences, motivations, and challenges they bring with them, and what kind of support they would like to receive.
  • Your answers will help us design learning and onboarding opportunities that provide more targeted support to newcomers to RSE.
  • The survey is available in English and German via this link
• New article on RSE:
  • [HDB+25] W. Hasselbring, S. Druskat, J. Bernoth, P. Betker, M. Felderer, S. Ferenz, B. Hermann, A.- L. Lamprecht, J. Linxweiler, A. Prat, B. Rumpe, K. Schöning-Stierand, S. Yang: Multidimensional Research Software Categorization. In: Computing in Science & Engineering, Volume 27(2), pp. 59-68, DOI 10.1109/MCSE.2025.3555023, Mar. 2025.
• A new article on RSE:
  • [FGG+25] M. Felderer, M. Goedicke, L. Grunske, W. Hasselbring, A.-L. Lamprecht, B. Rumpe: Investigating Research Software Engineering: Toward RSE Research. In: Communications of the ACM, Volume 68(2), pp. 20–23, DOI 10.1145/3685265, Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), New York, NY, USA, Feb. 2025.
• The official GI/deRSE Muster-Leitlinie for RSE is published:
  • [CEF+25] A. Czerniak, A. Ehrenhofer, B. Fritzsch, M. Funk, F. Goth, R. Hähnle, C. Haupt, M. Konersmann, J. Linxweiler, F. Löffler, A. Lüpges, S. Nielebock, B. Rumpe, I. Schieferdecker, T. Schlauch, R. Speck, A. Struck, J. P. Thiele, M. Tichy, I. Ulusoy: GI- und DE-RSE Muster-Leitlinie zur effizienten Entwicklung von Forschungssoftware. Gesellschaft für Informatik, Technischer Bericht, GI Leitlinien, DOI 10.18420/2025-gi_de-rse, Gesellschaft für Informatik e.V., Jan. 2025.
• The DFG has published
  • [DFG24] Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft e.V. Handreichung: “Umgang mit Forschungssoftware im Förderhandeln der DFG”, Oktober 2024.
  • It describes (a) core principles of research software development and (b) how to embed software development in DFG research proposals. This is great news, because it appreciates RSE, RSEs and their work as core and relevant scientific activities.
• Software in science a globalized perspective:
  • Hocquet, Alexandre & Wieber, Frédéric & Gramelsberger, Gabriele & Hinsen, Konrad & Diesmann, Markus & Santos, Fernando & Landström, Catharina & Peters, Benjamin & Kasrpowicz, Dawid & Borrelli, Arianna & Roth, Phillip & Lee, Clarissa Ai Ling & Olteanu, Alin & Böschen, Stefan. (2024). Software in science is ubiquitous yet overlooked. Nature Computational Science. 10.1038/s43588-024-00651-2.
• April 25: We at RWTH are currently finalizing the “RWTH Leitlinie für die effiziente Entwicklung von Forschungssoftware”. This document is currently available from e.g. Bernhard Rumpe (rumpe@se-rwth.de) and will hopefully become finalized and approved in the next few weeks. It is based on the official GI/deRSE Muster-Leitlinie (see above). (ask Bernhard Rumpe for details)

A Definition and Short Introduction to RSE

RSE addresses the "crisis" in software development that results from the need of increasingly complex software, reliable and reproducible results, sustainable reusability and adaptivity of software, and, of course, efficient development. The term RSE has become a collective term to address these challenges in a holistic form. In other words, RSE adresses developers, models, tools chains, code, and to some extend also associated data in a development project.

Goals of this Website

RSE targets the development project and, in particular, developer effectiveness as well as the correctness and usefulness of the code (and lesser the code efficiency). RSE uses established Software Engineering techniques, methods and practices and adapts them to the engineering of research software.

In addition, RSE addresses management and organizational issues in research software development, i.e. what team leaders and deciders should know, as well as community building.

There are also other forms of assistance at the RWTH: E.g. when the challenge is

• to improve code efficiency, then please take advantage of the RWTH HPC Consultation Hour;
• to identify the optimal algorithms, then consult StackOverflow the appropriate literature, or ask a search engine or LLM;
• to retrieve a neuronal net layout/training pipeline, then contact the RWTH AI center.

This website is voluntarily maintained by the organizers of RSE at RWTH Aachen University and may slowly grow with additional information and material. This website is
not expected to become a complete overview of the field, but of current activities.

Community: Via this Website and the RSE Mailing List

If you are interested in RSE at RWTH Aachen University and related topics, please become a member of the moderated mailing list for the RSE community at RWTH Aachen University.

This mailing list will report on RSE-related local, Germany wide and global events as well as further opportunities.

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Prominent and relevant papers from RWTH

• A. Hocquet, F. Wieber, G. Gramelsberger, K. Hinsen, M. Diesmann, F. Pasquini Santos, C. Landström, B. Peters, D. Kasprowicz, A. Borrelli, P. Roth, C. Ai Ling Lee, A. Olteanu, S. Böschen: Software in science is ubiquitous yet overlooked. Nat Comput Sci (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43588-024-00651-2
• L. Grunske, A.- L. Lamprecht, W. Hasselbring, B. Rumpe: Research Software Engineering - Forschungssoftware effizient erstellen und dauerhaft erhalten. In: Forschung & Lehre, Band 24(3), pp. 186-188, Feb. 2024.
• M. Diesmann, J. Kowalski, B. Rumpe (Eds.): RWTH Themen - Research Software Engineering, Band 2024(1), RWTH, Aachen, Germany, Jul. 2024.

Other Informative Material

• [DFG24] Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft e.V. Handreichung: “Umgang mit Forschungssoftware im Förderhandeln der DFG”, Oktober 2024.
• Toward Research Sofware Engineering Research
• Research Software Engineering: White Paper. It includes historical remarks and provides recommendations on RSE.
• An Environment for Sustainable Research Software in Germany and Beyond: Current State, Open Challenges, and Call for Action
• From FAIR research data toward FAIR and open research software
• Defining Research Software: a controversial discussion
• Research Software Engineers: State of the Nation Report 2017
• Open Source Research Software
• Software Engineering for Computational Science: Past, Present, Future
• Website der Research Software Alliance (ReSA): DFG ist Mitglied seit Juli 2023
• FAIR-Prinzipien für Forschungssoftware (FAIR4RS)
• Amsterdam Declaration on Funding Research Software Sustainability
• … suggestions for extension are welcome

Upskilling (or Teaching) Material

• … to be defined (this is in RWTH internal discussion right now)

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Activities and Events

Past Activities and Events

• Dec. 2024 – March 2026: The LLM-Café was hosted by the Chair of Software Engineering at the RWTH Aachen. This event featured two short talks on the latest advancements and applications of large language models in scientific research and teaching.

• Monday, 26 Jan 2026, online lecture by Dr. Julian Dehne
  • Topic: Methodological questions of Research Software Engineering (Methodische Fragen der Forschungssoftwareentwicklung)
  • Abstract: Software-based research is playing an increasingly central role in modern science. The professional development and competent application of software are crucial for progress in almost all scientific disciplines. The lecture addresses the question of what role research software plays as a confounding variable or as a separate object of research in the research process. Methodological issues are discussed using examples from learning technologies and computer-based social sciences. These examples are used to discuss the tension between the paradigms of design-oriented research and social science-empirical research with regard to research software. The lecture concludes with a plea for strengthening university education in empirical methods and philosophy of science in order to prevent a repeat of the reproduction crisis based on unreflective research software. A systematization of methods of research software development for various forms of research is outlined as a module for the planned Master’s program in Research Software Engineering.
  • About the lecturer: Julian Dehne holds a doctorate in educational technology and has since worked as a research software engineer. He heads the RSE working group at the Gesellschaft für Informatik in Berlin. There, he coordinates the didactic and conceptual development of framework recommendations for the introduction of research software engineering as a university master’s degree (these will be published at the end of January). Julian Dehne is also working on his habilitation thesis on the topic of research software engineering in the social and educational sciences. His research focuses on the interconnection of research software, empirical research, and open science.
• 10 Oktober 2024 LLM-Cafe: Fundamentals of Language Models: How do GPT models work?
  • In recent years, Language Models have become increasingly relevant in day-to-day life. These models are capable of generating human-like text and have been used in a variety of applications, from chatbots to machine translation. One of the most well-known Language models is OpenAI’s ChatGPT, but what exactly goes on under the hood and how does it generate coherent text? This talk will explore the mechanics and architecture behind GPT models, such as ChatGPT, LLama and Claude in detail and demystify their inner workings. We will begin by introducing the concept behind language models and how they generate novel text. From there we will focus on the architecture of GPT models, in particular the Transformer model that powers them. We will look at the key components behind GPT models, such as word embeddings, the self-attention mechanism, and how transformers store information.
  • Contact person: Lukas Netz, netz@se-rwth.de
• 18. Juli 2024 LLM-Cafe: Discussion round on the current development of AI research and how it influences our everyday research and work.
  • LLMs in programming education by Annabell Brocker
  • Code Quality of LLMs from a scientific point of view by Henning Duwe
  • Contact person: Lukas Netz, netz@se-rwth.de
• 03 Mai 2024 Malte Lantin, GitHub: Empowering Developers with GitHub Copilot
  • Abstract: For the last years generative artificial intelligence, especially large language models, started to change more and more areas of our lives. As with every wave of technology, the first expectations have have not been fulfilled in all of those areas yet. Still in software development we have have seen a rapid adoption of tools assisting engineers to develop software faster and with higher satisfaction. During this session we will introduce GitHub Copilot for AI-assisted software development, discuss the benefits and explore how it can help everyone who has to write code for work and research.
  • Contact person: Lukas Netz, netz@se-rwth.de
• 02 Feb 2024 LLM-Cafe: Open discussion on LLM and AI usage in software engineering in teaching and research.
  • Contact person: Lukas Netz, netz@se-rwth.de
• 15-16 Oct 2024 Meeting of the RSE Section of the German Informatics Society.
• 10 Oct 2024 LLM-Cafe: Fundamentals of Language Models: How do GPT models work?
• 18. July 2024 LLM-Cafe: Discussion round on the current development of AI research and how it influences our everyday research and work.
• July 2024 RWTH Themenheft on Research Software Engineering.
  • The RWTH Themenheft on RSE gives an overview of Research Software at RWTH and JARA. There are 16 representative contributions including the following topics:
    • Research Software Engineering: Past, Present and Future
    • Wissenschaftstheoretische Reflexionen zu Research Software Engineering
    • Contributions from Mechanical Engineernig over Physics to Software Engineering
  • Available under: RWTH Themenheft on Research Software Engineering
• 03 May 2024 Talk: Malte Lantin, GitHub: Empowering Developers with GitHub Copilot.
• 15-19 April 2024 Participation at the Seminar on “Research Software Engineering: Bridging Knowledge Gaps” (Dagstuhl)
• 11-12 April 2024 RSE Meeting: What are Research Topics on RSE? (Hannover)
• 29 Feb 2024 RSE Meeting: What are Research and Teaching Topics on RSE? (Linz)
• 02 Feb 2024 LLM-Cafe: Open discussion on LLM and AI usage in software engineering in teaching and research.
• 8 June 2023: Founding of the RSE Section of the German Informatics Society.
• 17 May 2023: Initial event on RSE at RWTH Aachen University with about 120 participants. Invited speakers and topics:
  • Anna-Lena Lamprecht, University of Potsdam: "Better Software, Better Research" – Research Software Engineering as a Central Pillar of 21st Century Science (Keynote).
  • Matthias Meinke, RWTH Aachen University: A Simulation Framework for Fundamental and Engineering Flow Analysis (stimulus presentation).
  • Gabriele Gramelsberger, RWTH Aachen University: Computational Science Studies (stimulus presentation).
  • Uwe Naumann, RWTH Aachen University: Software Engineering Research vs. Research Software Engineering (stimulus presentation).
  • Daniel Wortmann, Forschungszentrum Jülich: Helmholtz Platform for Research Software Engineering – Preparatory Study (stimulus presentation)
  • Panel discussion with Julia Kowalski, Anna-Lena Lamprecht, Matthias Meinke, Uwe Naumann and Daniel Wortmann.

Organizers of RSE at RWTH

• Markus Diesmann
• Gabriele Gramelsberger, HumTec und Computational Science Studies (CSS) Lab
• Julia Kowalski
• Uwe Naumann
• Kai-Uwe Schroeder
• Bernhard Rumpe, Software Engineering

Supporting Organization Structures

• de-RSE e.V.
• Gesellschaft für Informatik, GI, SIG Research Software Engineering
• HiRSE project at research center Jülich

• JARA Center for Simulation and Data Science (CSD)

• Supported by: Lucas Wollenhaupt, Jasmin Hartanto, Birte Heinemann, Marc Schmidt.

If you are interested in further information, please join the RSE community at RWTH Aachen University. or contact us.