Representing the UG Natural and Engineering Sciences community: an interview with Andrea Capiluppi

Author: Burcu Beygu

The Thematic Digital Competence Center (TDCC) is a network organization initiated by the Dutch Research Council (NWO) that brings together researchers, local DCCs, infrastructure providers, and knowledge and expertise networks. It focuses on research challenges across three domains, the Life Sciences & Health (LSH), Social Sciences & Humanities (SSH), and Natural and Engineering Sciences (NES); and it will formulate and fund projects to solve the challenges identified in the coming 5-10 years. The goal of TDCC-NES is to determine the bottleneck problems and help researchers initiate projects to mitigate these problems. A new call for the next year is open to submit project ideas. The first projects from the previous call were already awarded by the NWO and the UG DCC is leading one of them.

Prof. Andrea Capiluppi is an associate professor in software engineering at the University of Groningen (UG) who is going to represent the UG Natural and Engineering Sciences (NES) community within the TDCC-NES governance board for the coming two years. With a keen interest in open-source software, his research advocates the potential of open-source over proprietary software by delving into its sustainability and maintenance in the long term, particularly focusing on the complexities involved in managing multi-million lines of code across various releases. This line of research is not only relevant for researchers and developers, but also resonates strongly with industrial stakeholders. We interviewed him to learn more about his work and the importance of the TDCC-NES project for the UG.

What is the advantage of open-source software? Do you see similarities between the challenges faced by large-scale open software development that you focus on and research software used in significant projects like satellites or experiments at places like CERN?

The key advantage of open-source software lies in its open development model, in its transparency. Everything remains open for scrutiny, allowing examination of ongoing work and past progress. The essence of open source development surrounds fostering a community. Regardless of the specific application domain, be it astronomy, operating systems, finance systems, or others— open-source projects are supported by a collaborative community. These communities face similar challenges irrespective of their context. One such challenge is the availability of core developers, known for significantly driving the pace of development. There's a secondary layer of contributors involved in bug fixes and minor alterations, followed by the user base that aids in beta testing and reporting issues. Essentially, the challenges persist regardless of the specific project's context. These challenges include sustaining growth by finding enough capable contributors and users who can identify and communicate long-term issues. These challenges are equally applicable to research software developed on a grand scale, underlining the shared nature of these obstacles.

You are now representing the NES (Natural and Engineering Sciences) community of the UG in the TDCC Governance Board.  Why is the TDCC-NES an important movement and what potential does it hold for the general and the UG’s NES community?

The TDCC-NES movement holds significant importance for both procedural advancements and shared problem-solving within the NES community at the UG and beyond. The structure established by the NWO to channel knowledge into local digital competence centers (DCCs) through TDCC fosters trust in the selection process for domain-specific projects. This approach delegates responsibility to consortia, which is a positive move, ensuring efficient project allocation and, potentially, stimulating further innovative experiments. Simultaneously, TDCC-NES stands as an essential asset due to its capacity to identify shared challenges among various universities and research centers. The recurrent problems observed during board meetings echo the challenges experienced by FSE, underlining the significance of data, process, and software sharing. Addressing these shared issues collectively would foster a more streamlined alignment with prevalent processes, benefiting the entire NES community.

Initiating discussions on leveraging existing resources is imperative in the future. It's crucial to harness the potential within archived data and software, often dormant in repositories but potentially invaluable to the CIT or FSE. The main focus lies in capitalizing on the untapped potential of historical datasets and software. Proper indexing, labeling, and opening up these resources to diverse communities can significantly accelerate development processes. Leveraging these resources not only expedites development due to their prior testing and use but also fosters adaptability and updates for future advancements. Harnessing these resources can substantially reduce development time, emphasizing their fundamental importance in advancing our collective pursuits within the NES community.

What is your role in the TDCC governance board and what is the point of connection with our university?

My role within the TDCC governance board primarily revolves around advocacy. Specifically, I'm enthusiastic about introducing TDCC's functions to my department and the Faculty of Science and Engineering. Once accomplished, my aim extends to elevating this introduction to an institute level at the UG within the Bernoulliborg, which focuses on artificial intelligence, mathematics, and computer science. I firmly believe that similar challenges in data sharing, metadata, and repository management are faced across various disciplines by researchers and professors within this institute and other FSE institutes.

Another pivotal responsibility in my TDCC membership involves collaborating with fellow researchers and academics. Together, we assess the proposals submitted to the TDCC board, offering guidance on potential enhancements, exploring supplementary ideas, identifying overlaps with existing projects, and aiding researchers in forming consortia. This proactive approach of uniting researchers will undoubtedly enhance our understanding of who specializes in what areas, allowing us to efficiently connect with the right researchers once there is substantial interest and a sufficient knowledge base or expertise available. It's an intriguing prospect to map researchers to their areas of expertise, ultimately forming consortia based on this mapping. This method is quite revolutionary as it streamlines the process of network creation when initiating a project. Having assistance or someone facilitating the formation of a consortium, significantly reduces the time and costs typically associated with independently creating such networks.

The Faculty of Science and Engineering of the UG has a substantial presence, with around ten institutes. This implies that numerous researchers might be facing similar challenges or share the same concerns. How can these researchers interested in joining the TDCC-NES, whether for the NES project or with their ideas, get in touch?

The most convenient approach to engage with the TDCC would be through email communication, where researchers interested in joining, whether for the NES project or with their concepts, can share their project ideas. It's crucial to initiate discussions at this stage. There are currently four bottleneck projects initiated on November 25th, which serve as primary areas for research. Interested parties need to focus on these established bottlenecks, as the board's current task revolves around these four for the upcoming year. While new bottlenecks might emerge in the future, the priority now is on these four specific areas. The typical procedure involves receiving project ideas, reviewing them with the interested researchers, and then aligning or adapting them to fit within one of the bottleneck projects. Once a proposal aligns with one of these bottleneck ideas, I would communicate with the NES board to further discuss the potential project.