The Computational Science Centre for Research Communities (CoSeC) is an integral and long-term activity within STFC’s Scientific Computing department. Recent investment into the Centre by the UKRI Digital Research Infrastructure (DRI) programme now allows it to further develop and grow into a national hub for Computational Research. This meeting represented the start of this, and I was delighted to see such an enthusiastic response from researchers across UKRI.
The value of meetings like this come from the interactions they enable, and it is fair to say the discussion that took place in Manchester were both insightful and meaningful. As a Centre, CoSeC has several clear priorities and objectives over the next 3 years, some are tangible, like ensuring UKRI’s research communities have the immediate funding to enable them to utilise the Collaborative Computational Project (CCP) networking approach effectively. Others need continuous discussion to make sure we get things right in the long-term, such as what the key cross-cutting topics for UK computational research are or how communities can be better enabled to work across the UK’s research landscape.
We have compiled some of the meeting’s major outputs, some will have practical value as new communities are proposed, some will help inform existing communities around topics and priorities to consider. The idea of the CCP has existed for over 5 decades and in that time has grown and evolved enormously. There is inherent value in the model, and I am excited to see how it can be propagated across new communities and become a widely recognised element of the UK’s DRI landscape in the years to come.
Dr Stephen Longshaw
UKRI STFC Scientific Computing, CoSeC Director
Introduction
Following investment into the Computational Science Centre for Research Communities (CoSeC) by UKRI DRI, this meeting explored the Collaborative Computational Project (CCP) model as well as other collaborative community approaches that are at the heart of what CoSeC does and how we can both support and proliferate them across UKRI while building a cohesive computational research strategy within the UK’s Digital Research Infrastructure landscape.
Detailed information was provided about practical aspects of the new UKRI DRI CoSeC investment such as our upcoming funding opportunities and new support activities as well as detailed engagement around the new set of cross-cutting capabilities we are building within the Centre.
The event brought together Chairs of existing communities, CoSeC technical staff, representatives from across UKRI and those who have been previously involved in CCP-like community activities and those who may be interested in engaging.
Download a copy of the Town Hall Meeting 2024 report.