The UK's leading centre of expertise for research software

The Institute for Research Software strengthens research by advancing essential software and empowering the people behind it.

Established in 2010 as the Software Sustainability Institute, they are the UK’s leading centre of expertise for research software. For more than 15 years, they have helped make research software more visible, better understood and more effectively supported.

Modern research depends on software to collect and analyse data, run simulations, manage evidence and enable discovery. Yet this software does not always receive the recognition, investment or care it needs. When it is poorly maintained or documented, research becomes harder to trust, reproduce and build upon.

They work across research, community, policy and practice. They produce evidence, shape policy, improve software practice, develop skills and careers, build communities and support investment in research software. They helped establish Research Software Engineering as a profession and continue to support its international community.

Their work connects the people who create and maintain software with universities, funders, government bodies, learned societies, national facilities and industry. They believe research software should be open, well-maintained and properly recognised, and that the people behind it should receive the support, recognition and career opportunities their work deserves.

Their purpose remains: Better Software, Better Research.