Simon Hettrick

Background

About Simon Hettrick

Professor Simon Hettrick is Director of Strategy at the Software Sustainability Institute and a Director of the Southampton Research Software Group. A passionate advocate for Research Software Engineers (RSEs), Simon led the campaign that secured recognition for this community—growing it from just a handful of people in 2013 to an international network numbering in the tens of thousands. He was the founding Chair of the UK’s Association of Research Software Engineers, a founding Trustee and Treasurer of the Society of Research Software Engineering, and Treasurer of the RSE Conference from 2016 to 2019. Simon is Chair of The Hidden REF, a national campaign recognising all research outputs and every role that contributes to the success of research. In this role, he promotes a broader understanding of how people can contribute to research and his work has influenced the inclusion of all roles in the 2029 REF. He works with stakeholders across the research community to develop policies that support research software, the people who create it, and the researchers who depend on it. His research examines the use of software in research. He conducted the first study of software reliance in academic research. The Southampton Research Software Group, based at the University of Southampton, makes RSE expertise available to researchers across the institution, provides training in software engineering, and fosters collaboration and knowledge sharing between researchers. Simon serves on various committees, including: EPSRC's Research Infrastructure Strategic Advisory Team, the UKRI Talent Panel College, AHRC's Digital & Data Infrastructures Focus Group, MRC's Data Science Strategic Advisory Board, EPSRC's EDI and People Strategic Advisory Network, the Rosalind Franklin Institute's Advisory Panel for Artificial Intelligence and Informatics, the Computational Science Centre for Research Communities, the DiRAC supercomputer, the Society of Research Software Engineering and the Patterns journal.