Definition RS Guild

We understand the term "research software guild" (Footnote: We use the term guild in a similar way to the terms "research software hub" or "unit" in other publications [Kempf et al., 2026].) to refer to a structured grouping of RSEs, domain scientists and/or support professionals who come together to provide coordinated support for the sustainable development, deployment, use, sharing and maintenance of research software within a research institution or across multiple institutions. Research software guilds may focus on different roles within the research software ecosystem, such as software development, infrastructure administration, training, community management, or advocacy. The defining feature of a research software guild is its shared mission to strengthen specific research software or research software in general as a core research asset. When implemented in practice, a single institution may host multiple guilds, such as:

dedicated research software/scientific computing departments or centres
embedded research software/scientific computing teams within research institutes
distributed networks of RSEs across different units
Open Source Program Offices (OSPOs)
semi-stable working groups supporting research software engineering
time-limited project-based initiatives supporting research software engineering
virtual, cross-institutional collectives supporting research software engineering