Affinity Groups

What is an Affinity Group?

An affinity group is a set of people linked by a common interest or purpose. Affinity groups have fewer formal requirements than working groups (next section) and can serve as a bridge to form future working groups. Affinity groups may be affiliated with other organizations, e.g., a Women in HPC affinity group, to foster connections across groups.

Some examples are:

• Tool-centric groups (e.g., Python, Rust)
• Hobbies (e.g., hiking, baking)
• Regions (e.g., Southwest RSEs, Chicago RSEs)

How do I join an Affinity Group?

We are currently collecting the full list of active affinity groups and will be migrating them over to follow the standard naming convention (listed below). In the interim, the best way to find an affinity group is to browse open Slack channels or talk to others in the #general channel!

How do I make a new Affinity Group?

We encourage all members of US-RSE to make your own affinity group if you can’t find one for your particular interest or purpose! The Group Management Working Group provides a process for getting your new group set up, including all of the infrastructure to support it.

Please review the Processes and Requirements for Forming US-RSE Affinity Groups page for more details!

Active Affinity Groups

RSE Group Leaders' Network

The RSE Group Leaders’ Network (RSE-GLN) is a group of individuals leading RSE teams who meet to support their peers with the challenges of leading RSE groups.

The primary membership is for those who currently lead a team and have, or are actively in the process of hiring, at least one direct report; additional members may be invited, such as those who have been in leadership positions in the past. This is to ensure that members have a network of peers in similar situations who are facing similar challenges.

The RSE-GLN also seeks to support aspiring RSE Group Leaders through a separate mentorship and development network. The Aspiring RSE-GLN is open to those looking to build RSE teams at their institution or move into RSE group leadership roles. There are no formal requirements, but those with the experience and qualifications to take on leadership roles will likely benefit more than early career RSEs.

Neuro-RSE

Neuroscience RSE (Neuro-RSE) is an affinity group for those working on research software in neuroscience. We meet to support each other and discuss common issues and concerns.

Neuro-RSE is open to anyone who considers themselves a research software engineer and who works in the field of neuroscience, regardless of job title or domain. This includes grad students, postdocs, and professors, as well as those in permanent positions with “engineer” or “scientist” in their title.