Launch of RHE community at DATE 25

Following a number of discussions between a small group of people who self defined themselves as Research Hardware Engineers and some of the leading people involved in the formation of the Research Software Engineering ("RSE") community including Simon Hettrick it was decided it was necessary and time to launch the Research Hardware Engineer community. The hardware development community suffer the same issues of their fellow Research Software Engineers but unlike them have not developed a voice to help their position within the academic community.  

I had the privilege of launching the Research Hardware Engineer community at the DATE 2025 conference. Like the start of the RSE community as described by Simon it was more of a soft launch than a high profile keynote presentation statement. I had been asked to give a presentation on "How can academia ride the wave of new semiconductor investment and technology change" (see programme).  It had become clear to me along with others that one of the issues for academia in facing this challenge was the relative isolation within academia of those who might self define themselves as Research Hardware Engineers. I am a firm believer after many years in industry and academia that engineering, while undertaken by a relatively quiet community of individuals, is a collaborative effort among teams of people. Academia struggles to create such teams of people within relatively isolated institutions. I have been involved in recent years in developing SoC Labs, a global academic community of people and institutions involved in System On Chip development using the Arm based ecosystem. I have seen at first hand, in a number of projects, how individuals I would view as working towards developing as Research Hardware Engineers where struggling to find peers within their own institutions to exchange ideas and help build their skills and capabilities. I, along with others in the SoC Labs community decided it was time to act. This is not about SoC Labs, it is about the much broader and currently hidden community of Research Hardware Engineers . It just so happened that SoC Labs was a great way to clearly identify and highlight the issue and something I had shared on numerous occasions within SoC Labs and with Simon and others in the RSE community that I am lucky to know and interact with regularly.  

So I used my presentation on Wednesday 2nd April 2025 at DATE to launch this community for and on behalf of all of you. 

As I took part as a member of the 'Panel on Career Perspectives' on the Monday I became even more determined to take this action. The first question from the floor was from a young engineer who described their situation and asked what advice I could give and what help I could offer. I felt humbled. His question i summarise as;

'Hi, I am a PhD working in hardware design and I feel quite alone. The only person I can turn to at my institution who understands what I am doing is my Professor and he is often too busy' 

I had this image in my mind, a feeling I have known, perhaps more often than I am prepared to admit these days. It is the feeling a facing a problem that i can't see a way to resolve and not knowing who I can turn to for support. I have been lucky during my career to have worked with some exceptional engineers and their help and support to me has been invaluable and in some way I hope my help and support to them has helped them in return. I have the real pleasure currently of working with David Flynn, one of the pioneers of energy efficient System on Chip hardware design within the industry. I also enjoy my everyday interactions with up and coming Research Hardware Engineers within SoC Labs. I always feel there is someone I can reach out to help me solve any problem I face.

So I felt inspired, and proud, to launch the Research Hardware Engineer community at DATE 25. I did it in the hope that it helps put the many isolated people, including many who may not yet have realised they are a Research Hardware Engineer, to put them in the safe and productive position I find myself in. 

So please join me on this voyage to help unite the Research Hardware Engineering community in academia and in a small way make us all happier and more productive. 

It will be a pleasure I am sure to meet you and discuss things with you.

John.