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2025-06-30-accounts

Docusign Envelope ID: E1911F40-F25D-4530-8356-21BB3DC4DC2A

Trustees' Annual Report Registered Charity Number: 1182455

F o r t h e p e r i o d 1 s t J u l y 2 0 2 4 t o 3 0 t h J u n e 2 0 2 5

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About the Society

Objectives and Activities

The objective of the Society of Research Software Engineering is to advance the practice of research software engineering for the public benefit in such ways as the charity trustees consider appropriate.

The Society organises an annual conference and other events such as training, meetings, workshops or seminars. The Society may undertake or sponsor research related to Research Software Engineering and provide information, advocacy and advice in relation to Research Software and RSEs. It may also provide grants or other financing for activities that will help meet the Society’s aims.

All trustees have regard to the commission’s public benefit guidance when exercising any powers or duties to which the guidance is relevant. Specifically, trustees are made aware of the guidance as part of their induction, and each trustee has been registered with the Charity Commission. The guidance is considered for any decisions made by the charity and there have been no deviations from the guidance to report.

The Society accepts contributions from volunteers Specifically, this year's conference was led by the Society but relied heavily on volunteers in both the steering group and organising committee.

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A message from the President

Welcome to our annual report from the Society of Research Software Engineering. We have been running as a charity for just over six years, since 2019, with a rich history dating back to 2013. Our trustees, members, and the community beyond continue to work hard to support those practising research software engineering to enhance research through the use of software.

The annual conference, RSECon, is arguably the most prominent activity the charity coordinates. Newcastle hosted RSECon24, our second visit to the Toon in three years, and it was a real pleasure to be able to bring the community together once again. There, we celebrated our 700th member with a unique t-shirt gift. This was only possible thanks to the immense dedication of a team of volunteers over the course of an entire year.

We have continued to improve how members can formally contribute to the direction of the Society. We have launched additional special interest groups (now totalling eight), provided a home for the RSE Leaders group, opened more of our working groups to the community and enhanced the funding available for members wishing to run events.

This year also marks a change in President. After completing the constitutionally mandated maximum of two terms, Matt Williams stepped down as a trustee, leaving an enviable legacy. It is an honour to take the reins, build upon that legacy and serve the community, having acted as VicePresident for two years. Alongside my fellow trustees, who give so generously of their time and effort, we look forward to shaping a bright future for the Society and our members.

It is not just the trustees, but also the many other volunteers and the invaluable donation of 50% FTE from the Software Sustainability Institute that enable the Society to thrive. Without that dedication, our special interest groups, mentorship scheme, events, the conference and so much more simply would not exist. On behalf of the trustees, I extend my heartfelt thanks to you all. It is deeply appreciated. Together, we are going from strength to strength.

Thank you.

David Beavan, President 19 August 2025

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Governance

The Society’s governance work this year has continued to balance internal development with active engagement across the UK and international research ecosystem.

During our September AGM, we welcomed five new trustees to fill vacancies from those standing down. While not a competitive election, with the number of candidates matching the available seats, the Society maintained its maximum trustee capacity of 14. During the year two trustees stood down, we filled the vacancies promptly by inviting back two previous trustees, in the knowledge that they previously had the support of the membership. These two must step down at the 2025 AGM. The election process was once again facilitated by the Elections Working Group, who published blog posts and hosted Q&A sessions to encourage community engagement and transparency.

Engaging with policymakers, the Governance team contributed to UK Research and Innovation’s (UKRI’s) draft strategy on research data, as well as the Infrastructure Roadmap Refresh. In both contexts, we emphasised the essential role of research software engineers and allied professionals, both in realising the potential of digital research infrastructures, and as authors of first-class digital research outputs. The Society also continued to make significant contributions to the development of the National Research Software Engineering Capability in Arts and Humanities roadmap, part of the Arts& Humanities Research Council (AHRC) funded Data / Culture project.

The Society also continued to engage with the wider research ecosystem to advocate for the role of research software engineers and the importance of research software. As part of our engagement with funders, we provided several letters of support for communityled applications to the UKRI Digital Research Technical Professional Skills NetworkPlus and Championing knowledge exchange for UK computational science schemes. We look forward to working closely with the successful projects and building connections between their communities and our own. Trustees also supported the launch of the Research Software Engineering in the East of England (RSEEE) regional group, attending and contributing to its inaugural meeting.

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Internationally, the Governance subgroup continues to represent the UK RSE community through active participation in the International Council of RSE Associations. As a signatory of the Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment (CoARA), the Society is working closely with the Software Sustainability Institute to develop our action plans that align with CoARA’s principles, highlighting the value of research software and technical career paths. In parallel, we are in ongoing discussions with the Research Software Alliance (ReSA) to help shape the future of international RSE conferences, ensuring any new initiatives complement, rather than dilute, the existing opportunities available to our members.

IN NUMBERS

713

Paid members in the Society as of June 2025.

5%

Decrease in members over 1 year (since July 2024)

6900

Members of our Slack channel

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Membership

The Society officially launched paid membership five years ago, back in September 2019. Becoming a member of the Society offers an opportunity to be part of our work in gaining recognition and support for Research Software Engineering. The £20 annual membership fee has remained unchanged for the last five years. As of 11th July 2025, our membership stood at 713 (twelve months ago it was 748). This is slightly down on last year, which may be due to the transition to the new membership platform. However, an increase is expected leading up to RSECon in September.

Number of Society Members 1st July 2024 to 30th June 2025

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800
742 747
715 718 708 711
678 678 694 684 690 694
600
400
200
0
Jul 24 Aug 24 Sep 24 Oct 24 Nov 24 Dec 24 Jan 25 Feb 25 Mar 25 Apr 25 May 25 Jun 25
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Membership (cont.)

Members can take advantage of membership benefits, such as the mentorship scheme, event grants, Dell UK discounts and a discount on the annual conference ticket fee. Our website provides key information for the RSE community, including events, policies and governance associated with the Society, community news, details of national (UK) and international RSE groups and organisations, and job listings for RSE career opportunities. Our Slack workspace provides an online space for the community to interact. There are over 6,900 members in over 150 public Slack channels.

The membership subgroup has recognised the disconnect between the number of formal Society members (subscriptions) and the number of those actively engaging in community activities. The subgroup has been working with the broader trustee group to develop a survey for both existing members and those in the broader community. We anticipate that the survey will be distributed by the end of July, with some initial analysis of responses shared at RSECon25.

The survey is part of a project designed to aid in the ongoing review of our offering to our community and to develop our understanding of how people are currently engaging with the community and what they value about that engagement. We are also interested in why people who are active in the community are not Society members, and what we can do to make Society membership more valuable to members of the community.

The membership subgroup currently consists of three trustees of the Society, and works helping members with membership platform issues, cancellations and other enquiries. On 13th March 2024, we transitioned our membership platform to WildApricot. There were some members for whom the transition has not been as smooth as we would have liked, and we thank the community for their patience while these issues were resolved.

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RSE Conference

In September 2024, the Society held its 8th annual RSE Conference at Newcastle University. It was our biggest conference yet, with 420 in-person and 74 online attendees joining us for a packed programme of presentations, panels, posters and interactive sessions contributed by the community across four to five parallel streams, which were all live-streamed for the first time.

Attendees had the opportunity to hear from our keynote speakers, Dr Anne-Marie Imafidon, Prof Muzlifah Haniffa and Prof Manjinder Sandhu, who spoke about the transition to the teenage years for the RSE community, the role of RSE in accelerating clinical translation of biomedical research, and the enablement of genomic discovery globally. They also had the opportunity to hear from two members of the community, Deborah Udoh and Jack Atkinson, who, via the new Emerging Voice Plenary, were provided with the platform to share their story and vision for research software engineering. Another new addition to the programme was the Community Discovery Day, which showcased current and emerging communities. Since RSECon24, seven new Special Interest Groups have formed, demonstrating how successful this initiative, along with the communityorganised satellite events, were at bringing people together. Recordings, resources and photos from the weeklong event have all been made freely available online.

The Society would like to extend heartfelt thanks to Programme Chair Dave Horsfall and the rest of the conference committee, who worked tirelessly to make the conference happen. A special mention goes to Katie Finch, who worked with Dave to formulate the accessible and inclusive, celebratory, and outward-facing vision for RSECon24. We would also like to thank our wonderful team of volunteers, who helped make the experience great for all our attendees, along with our sponsors, without whom the conference would not have been possible.

Due to the success in streamlining last year’s conference committee structure, it is again adopted for this year’s conference (2025) with Twin Karmakharm taking the role of Steering Group Chair, Romain Thomas and Heather Ratcliffe as Programme Co-Chairs, and Lyndsey Ballantyne, Robert Chisholm, and Michael Donnay as Logistics Co-Chairs. We would like to thank Romain Thomas, who volunteered to step into the role at the last minute, and to everyone on the conference committee who has been working extremely hard to ensure this year’s conference is the most accessible and inclusive RSECon yet.

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Docusign Envelope ID: E1911F40-F25D-4530-8356-21BB3DC4DC2A RSE Conference cont’d

As we are coming up to the 10th anniversary of RSECon, it is a good time to take a step back and review how the RSE role has become so integral to the UK's Digital Research Infrastructure (DRI). RSECon25, thanks to the vision of Pip Grylls, our ex-Programme chair, is a celebration of the amazing work RSEs are doing to improve the quality of research and re-shaping the DRI landscape. Attendees can expect a large and interesting variety of community contributed sessions this year with 38 Talks, 11 Walkthroughs, 8 Workshops and 6 Birds of a Feather sessions across five parallel tracks. Celebration of community is a core part of the programme and this year sees the return of the Emerging Voice Plenary, RSE Worldwide and HPC RSE Special Interest Group (SIG) in addition to the sessions from the newly formed Green RSE and Geoscience SIGs.

Our commitment to making sure the conference is accessible and inclusive means the conference will again be run in hybrid format, with all tracks being streamed to our online attendees as well as being recorded to be shared on our YouTube channel after the conference. The new Meet & Greet pre-registration events make the conference a more welcoming place for newcomers to the community. We will also have several Mental Health First Aiders available for the duration of the conference, along with a quiet room and other accessibility considerations that the community has come to expect from the conference.

All of this would not be possible without our Sponsorship team, comprising Priyanka Ojha, Godwin Yeboah and Martin O’Reilly. They’ve done excellent work bringing in sponsorship to ensure we are on track to make a good surplus; this has enabled the committee to start exploring the possibility of awarding more conference bursaries this year, and the Society to explore further funded activities for the community independent of the conference.

We have continued to develop our application process for future RSE Conference Programme Chairs. Last year, we successfully ran a pilot scheme with a small number of applicants. This year, we held an open call after RSECon24, asking chairs (and co-chairs) to put their names forward to host RSECon26. A group of trustees interviewed the candidates and made a recommendation to the board of trustees for approval. The chair for the conference was appointed in April 2025 and discussions with the venue are underway. A ‘Save the Date’ announcement will go out as soon as we have official confirmation from the venue, and the location and host of RSECon26 will be officially announced at the handover session at RSECon25.

We are aiming to appoint the chair and key members of the steering committee, in place as early as possible to help spread the workload over a longer period. We appreciate that delivering a conference for over 400 in-person attendees is a lot of work, and we are continuing to review how the Society can support the programme chair and conference committee as the conference continues to grow and evolve.

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Docusign Envelope ID: E1911F40-F25D-4530-8356-21BB3DC4DC2A Supporting community-led events and initiatives

The Society events committee continued to meet every two weeks to approve new event funding applications.

Samantha Ahern has led on events for 2024/25 and continued to work with Comms and Marketing to increase the visibility of the events fund. Discussions have taken place regarding allocating a section of Society funds for regional and special interest group activities and whether this should be separate from the existing Events and Initiatives grant fund.

This year, we had a total of 19 funding requests (up from 10 last year) through the Events and Initiatives grant, with 8 being funded at the time of writing, with some requests currently being assessed.

The following events were funded:

Due to the popularity of the fund, in June 2025 the committee requested approval for the release of additional funding to support new event and initiative requests. The committee has prioritised funding for EDIA initiatives e.g. scholarships for event attendance, and those events that would have a substantial impact on the RSE community, in addition to supporting regional events. We can confirm that Mental health first aid training for RSECon24 was funded from the 2024 conference budget.

If you would like support from the Society for an event or initiative, then please contact the events team at events@society-rse.org or complete the application form.

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We have continued to expand our comms to various platforms this year. We have created new accounts and are working to better utilise existing accounts, such as the LinkedIn page and group. The trustees in the comms team have developed a rota, with one person responsible for the month’s activities, such as promoting various society activities, soliciting submissions to the newsletter, publishing and promoting the newsletter, etc. We have continued to engage with members of the community via the Comms working group, which includes a number of former trustees who have been helping us with various tasks.

Ongoing comms and publicity activities include our newsletter, which is sent to 1,700+ subscribers (up from 1,400 last year). We also send out regular posts through a range of different social media accounts, listed below:

Below are the statistics from the Society’s Slack workspace. The figure shows the active users over the last twelve months. We have seen a continuous rise in the number of users joining the workspace, though the number of active and posting users has been similar to 2023/24.

F i g u re : N u m b e r of a ct iv e Sl a ck u s e r s be t we e n J u l y 2 0 2 4 a nd J u ne 2 025

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The comms team and the conference publicity chair have been posting regularly across most platforms, and we have seen steady growth across almost all of them. The exception is X (formerly Twitter). The Trustees and RSECon25 Organising Committee voted to stop posting on the platform this year. This is a decision that we will continue to review, but we have seen a steady decline in followers and interaction on the platform. We have also started using Buffer, which allows us to queue and post content to Bluesky, Mastodon and LinkedIn. This reduces the workload of posting consistent, accessible content across multiple platforms.

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Mentoring

The Society launched a mentoring scheme at the end of 2021 and ran until 2022 in conjunction with Coach Mentoring. Over the years of running the scheme since, we’ve had feedback from mentees that it has been useful having a sounding board to talk through decisions they were making; support transitioning into management roles; discussions and advice on career development; and advice on managing particular challenges they were experiencing in the workplace. Mentors also found the scheme very rewarding, with almost all mentors responding to the feedback survey saying they found the experience personally rewarding and a source of personal development for themselves.

The costs of the scheme are paying for services provided by CoachMentoring to run and review the mentoring programme. Each year, we aim to iterate on feedback to make sure that we can provide the best value for money to our members. Each year, we pay for the administration of the signups, pairing mentors and mentees based on their information, collecting feedback and report writing. In addition, we pay for the time to deliver remote sessions: initial training, mid-way check in and training and finishing up and moving on. In the 2025 cohort, we also paid for refreshed training materials with a long and a short version, and some promotional materials for the society to use at events.

The last cohort to complete the mentoring scheme (2024) was reasonably balanced in terms of mentors and mentee applications and we successfully increased the number of members applying for the scheme. We found that there was relatively low attendance at the interim training and feedback sessions and the finishing up and moving on sessions so took the decision to decrease the number of these for the 2025 cohort. For the 2025 cohort we also aimed to increase the number of applicants, with the trustees running information sessions, creating a distribution list to announce the scheme opening and giving more information about the scheme on the Society of RSE website.

As of July 2025 most mentoring pairings had met 3-4 times, an improvement from last year where most pairs had met 1-3 times. We received positive feedback suggesting that participants are very well matched, matches were very well communicated and that skills webinars were useful and well attended.

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Mentoring cont’d

----- Start of picture text -----
Total cost
Mentor-
Cohort (rounded to
mentee Comments
ending nearest
pairs
pound)
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Cohort
ending		 Mentor-
mentee
pairs		 Comments Total cost
(rounded to
nearest
pound)
2022 25 Initial trial of the scheme £4,270
2023 18 7 mentees did not have a mentor available for
pairing		 £3,420
2024 29 One mentor did not have a mentee available
for pairing
CoachMentoring changes:
Increased number of training and support
sessions.		 £7,753
3 Mentees did not have a mentor available for
pairing
CoachMentoring changes:
2025 37
Added mentor skills practice, decreased check-
in and wrap up sessions.
Created promotional materials.
Trustees changes:
Improved information on website.
Ran information sessions before the scheme.		 £8,130
(expected, not
yet fully
invoiced)

Ta b l e : O v e r v ie w of M e nto ri n g S c h em e 2 0 2 2 - 2 0 2 5

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Equality, Diversity, Inclusion and Accessibility

The EDIA and Role Diversity working group has continued to be a community working group, with most members not coming from the board of trustees. It has continued to work with the RSECon committee and organisers of sponsored events to advise on EDIA-related items. We’ve had great contributions from members in getting RSE stories ready for publishing after we altered our workflow to make it easier for asynchronous contributions. The working group has reviewed the EDIA strategy and will review the EDIA action plan for the society shortly.

The working group has built links with the SSI and the work that they are undertaking on EDIA. We created an RSE & RTP career path flyer for 6th form and college students to raise awareness of the profession, and made a joint submission to the collaborations workshop 25. For the collaborations workshop we combined our proposed session with CAKE (Computational Abilities Knowledge Exchange) for a session.

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Web and Infrastructure

The work of the web and infrastructure team has been focused on improving the reliability and security of our website and infrastructure this year. This includes the continuing updates of software across the platform, specifically our WordPress installation and carrying out access audits for our infrastructure.

The job advert page on the website saw a drastic reduction in use, with 58 job adverts being placed during this reporting period, trending down from 123 in the 2023-2024 period and 168 in the 2021-2022 period.

We are continuing to offer support to SIGs and WGs, particularly providing help with the membership platform transition with the Membership group and improving our website structure and accessibility with the EDIA group.

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Financial Summary The Society’s financial year ran from the 1st of July 2024 to the 30th of June 2025

Opening Balance (July 2024)

£99,780

Income Expenses

£225,902 £196,141

Closing Balance (June 2025)

£129,544

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Docusign Envelope ID: E1911F40-F25D-4530-8356-21BB3DC4DC2A Finance

Accounting basis

The Society prepares its accounts on an accruals basis, accounting for income and expenditure in the financial year in which the related activity takes place or funds are committed. This means that all income and expenditure for each annual RSECon conference is accounted for fully in the financial year the conference takes place, and all community grants are accounted for in the financial year they are awarded.

Income and Expenditure

The Society’s financial year ran from 1st July 2024 to 30th June 2025 (2024-25). Over this period we had a total income of £225,902 and a total expenditure of £196,138, resulting in an overall operating surplus of £29,761 for the year (all figures exclusive of VAT).

Almost all the Society’s income comes from its annual conference and subscription fees from its members. This financial year we received £13,460 in membership fees from our (approximately) 713 members and £212,437 from conference income for RSECon24 (all figures exclude VAT). Conference income came primarily from ticket sales (£103,774) and sponsorships (£107,500 total, comprising £20,000 from Cloud Kubed, £15,000 from AIRR, £10,000 from the Alan Turing Institute, £10,000 from the Wellcome Trust, £10,000 from Microsoft, £10,000 from University of Edinburgh, £5,000 from UKRI, £5,000 from EPCC, £5,000 from the Software Sustainability Institute, £5,000 from University of Newcastle, £5,000 from GitHub, £5,000 from Dreaming Spires and £2,500 from HPCSIG), with the remaining comprising donations to the Participation and Inclusion fund (£1,120, including £500 from King’s Digital Lab) and a small amount from merchandise sales (£43).

Our main outgoings were conference expenditure for RSECon24 of £165,143; community grants of £8,727 via the Events and Initiatives scheme; £7,410 for the Society’s mentoring scheme; £2,650 for infrastructure to support community events (Zoom and Slido); and £3,811 for the Society’s membership platform. The administrative costs for operating the Society that are not directly related to the delivery of the Society’s activities for the community came to £8,448 (web infrastructure, insurance, professional fees, bank fees and accountancy fees). All figures exclude VAT. About half of our administrative costs are the accountancy fees, which cover the costs of our accountants conducting an independent examination of our accounts as required by the Charity Commission, and preparing formal statutory accounts compliant with the FRS102 accounting standards, which became a requirement for the Society in 2023-24.

Financial Position

As at 30 June 2025, the Society had received £140,904 of income in advance for next year’s conference (RSECon25), much of which will need to be used to pay for the associated RSECon25 expenses, with any surplus remaining accounted for next financial year. Overall, this means our effective “working balance” available to fund Society activities at 30 June 2025 was £129,544.

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Overall the Society is in good financial standing, with operating funds significantly in excess of our reserves policy. Having reviewed the financial position and planned activities, the trustees have a reasonable expectation that the Charity has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future, and continue to adopt the going concern basis in preparing the financial statements.

Financial Planning

The annual conference is the primary community activity delivered by the Society each year. While the conference generates a surplus most years to help fund the Society's other community activities, it costs significantly more to deliver than we receive in ticket sales income. Each year, most of the sponsorship received goes directly to subsidising the costs of that year's conference, with the remainder retained by the Society to fund its non-conference activities. Across the RSECon22 - RSECon24 conferences the average net surplus has been around £23,000 per conference. Combined with an average of around £14,000 per year in membership income, this provides around £37,000 per year to fund the Society's non-conference activity in support of the community.

However, in any given year the net conference surplus has fluctuated significantly, ranging from a £47,000 net surplus for RSECon24 to a £15,500 net loss for RSECon23. Therefore, in order to support stable spending commitments, the Society plans expenditure based on expected long-term average surplus, rather than the surplus for any given year.

Reserves Policy

Financial reserves are money held back that would not normally be spent; the expectation is funds will always remain over the value of the total reserves needed. For finances to fall below this value would be an unusual and unexpected event. These reserve levels ensure that we retain enough funds to keep the Society running if financial difficulties arise.

Value of reserves required are estimated from annual costs and are calculated to cover the following:

The trustees have set the current value of reserves at £45,000 and keep this under review to ensure it remains appropriate as the Society’s activities and financial position evolve.

For reserve funds to be spent the following two criteria must be met:

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If the above conditions are met and any financial reserves are used, the Society shall consider itself to be in emergency mode where there is a higher than usual focus on bringing in income. During this period, the Society will generally avoid making any new spending commitments and will also review existing spending.

Increasing investment in community activity

Over the past two years, the trustees have reinvested some of the Society’s accumulated surplus to increase the Society’s support for the community, increasing spending on grants made via the Events and Initiatives scheme, expanding the mentoring scheme, and increasing the number of conference bursaries provided. Since RSECon23, the Society has also invested in providing a remote conference experience. While this is a significant additional expense that is only partially recovered from remote ticket sales, the trustees consider providing a remote conference experience an important mechanism to increase accessibility and inclusion and, while they will work to reduce the cost of the remote provision, they intend to continue to support it as a standard part of the conference in the long term.

While the significant loss for RSECon23 resulted in a correspondingly significant loss in 2023-24, on average over the past three years the Society has achieved an average overall operating surplus of around £12,250 and the trustees are considering how the Society can leverage this to further increase the level of support it provides the community in a sustainable manner. This past year has seen a significant growth in the number of Special Interest Groups and the trustees are considering how they can continue to expand and evolve the Society’s Events and Initiatives grants scheme to best support these and other community organised groups.

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SocRSE Special Interest Groups (SIG)

The Society actively encourages the creation of Special Interest Groups (SIGs), which are led and run by members of the RSE community. These groups’ work are long-running projects that work towards aims that align with the Society’s mission but operate largely independently, in this way the Society can support community-driven initiatives and help achieve our objectives. In 2025, a new Trustee role was created to manage the SIGs, this SIG-Coordinator role is currently jointly held by Gillian Sinclair and Lyndsey Ballantyne. As well as overseeing the coordination of the SIGs, they have also created a new process to propose a new SIG. Each SIG has a Terms of Reference document that has been approved by the Trustees.

We are pleased to say that we now have 8 SIGs successfully setup, working hard and engaging the RSE community. Please head to the SIG section of our website to find out more about each group.

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SocRSE Special Interest Groups (SIG) cont’d

High Performance Computing RSE: This special interest group supports RSEs working in HPC, it aims to bring RSEs working in HPC together by providing a space for members to connect, share knowledge, and stay informed about technical developments, training opportunities, and community initiatives in the HPC field. The have a channel on the RSE Slack (#hpc-rse-sig) and can be contacted on: hpc-rse-sig@society-rse.org.

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Highlights of Events Participated in by Trustees

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Docusign Envelope ID: E1911F40-F25D-4530-8356-21BB3DC4DC2A Structure, Governance and Management

The Society is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO), and stands alone, with no subsidiaries. It - is governed by a constitution (available via https://society rse.org/about/governance/) which defines its overall purpose and some key aspects of how it operates. The mission is for the public good, specifically to advance education, particularly but not exclusively amongst research software engineers and/or to promote and advance research particularly but not exclusively in all aspects of research that relies on software engineering and to publish the useful results.

The Society is governed by a minimum of 5 trustees and a maximum of 14. The appointment of officers and roles are made by the trustees. No trustees receive payment, and no staff are employed, we are, however, in receipt of a donation of staff time by the Software Sustainability Institute, for which we are very grateful. Decisions are made at a meeting of the charity trustees or by resolution in writing or electronic form agreed by a majority of all of the charity trustees. Powers and/or functions are delegated to committees and where done, specific terms and conditions are implemented.

At every AGM, a third of the trustees must retire from office. Trustee vacancies may be filled by the decision of the members at the annual general meeting, after an open nominations process. A charity trustee who has served for two consecutive terms may not be reappointed for a third consecutive term, but may be reappointed after an interval of at least two years. The members or the charity trustees may at any time decide to appoint a new charity trustee, e.g. in place of a charity trustee who has retired, provided the number of trustees does not exceed 14. Those appointed in this way must retire at the end of the next AGM.

SOCIETY OF RESEARCH SOFTWARE ENGINEERING

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Docusign Envelope ID: E1911F40-F25D-4530-8356-21BB3DC4DC2A

Reference and Administrative details

This is the sixth annual trustee report of the Society of Research Software Engineering since becoming incorporated in March 2019. The Society is registered charity number 1182455, C/O Stefan Piatek, Room 201, Institute of Health Informatics, 222 Euston Road, LONDON, NW1 2DA. In accordance with our constitution, this reporting period has seen an election held in September 2024 in which five new trustees were elected. Following that election, the trustees appointed David Beavan as President. After two trustees resigned between AGMs, the trustees agreed to fill the vacancies with two trustees (both of whom had served as trustees in the past).

The Trustees active at the end of the reporting period are:

Trustees who completed their terms or stepped down during the reporting period

were:

Community volunteers:

PAGE 05PAGE 25

SOCIETY OF RESEARCH SOFTWARE ENGINEERING

Docusign Envelope ID: E1911F40-F25D-4530-8356-21BB3DC4DC2A STATEMENT OF TRUSTEES’ RESPONSIBILITIES

The Trustees are responsible for preparing the Trustees' report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice). The law applicable to charities in England & Wales requires the Trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the Charity and of its incoming resources and application of resources, including its income and expenditure, for that period. In preparing these financial statements, the Trustees are required to:

The Trustees are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that are sufficient to show and explain the Charity's transactions and disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the Charity and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Charities Act 2011, the Charity (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 and the provisions of the Memorandum of Association. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the Charity and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

Declarations

The current trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above. Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees 19 August 2025

David Beavan (President)

Martin O’Reilly (Treasurer)

SOCIETY OF RESEARCH SOFTWARE ENGINEERING

PAGE 26

Docusign Envelope ID: E1911F40-F25D-4530-8356-21BB3DC4DC2A

SOCIETY OF RESEARCH SOFTWARE ENGINEERING

INDEPENDENT EXAMINERS' REPORT TO THE SOCIETY OF RESEARCH SOFTWARE ENGINEERING

Independent examiner's report to the Trustees of Society of Research Software Engineering ('the Charity')

I report to the charity Trustees on my examination of the accounts of the Charity for the year ended 30 June 2025.

Responsibilities and basis of report

As the Trustees of the Charity you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 ('the 2011 Act').

I report in respect of my examination of the Charity's accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination I have followed the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the 2011 Act.

Independent examiner's statement

Your attention is drawn to the fact that the Charity has prepared the accounts in accordance with Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) in preference to the Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice issued on 1 April 2005 which is referred to in the extant regulations but has been withdrawn.

I understand that this has been done in order for the accounts to provide a true and fair view in accordance with the Generally Accepted Accounting Practice effective for reporting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2019.

I have completed my examination. I confirm that no matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe that in any material respect:

  1. accounting records were not kept in respect of the Charity as required by section 130 of the 2011 Act; or

  2. the accounts do not accord with those records; or

  3. the accounts do not comply with the applicable requirements concerning the form and content of accounts set out in the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 other than any requirement that the accounts give a 'true and fair' view which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination.

I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.

This report is made solely to the Charity's Trustees, as a body, in accordance with Part 4 of the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008. My work has been undertaken so that I might state to the Charity's Trustees those matters I am required to state to them in an Independent examiner's report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, I do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the Charity and the Charity's Trustees as a body, for my work or for this report.

Signed:

Janice Matthews FCA

Dated: 27-Apr-2026

Menzies LLP

Chartered Accountants Magna House 18-32 London Road Staines-Upon-Thames TW18 4BP

Page 27

Docusign Envelope ID: E1911F40-F25D-4530-8356-21BB3DC4DC2A

SOCIETY OF RESEARCH SOFTWARE ENGINEERING

STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 JUNE 2025

Note
Income from:
Charitable activities
3
Total income
Expenditure on:
Charitable activities
4
Total expenditure
Net movement in funds
Reconciliation of funds:
Total funds brought forward
Net movement in funds
Total funds carried forward		 Unrestricted
funds
2025
£
225,902
225,902
196,141
196,141
29,761
99,780
29,761
129,541		 Total
funds
2025
£
225,902
225,902
196,141
196,141
29,761
99,780
29,761
129,541		 Total
funds
2024
£
120,055
120,055
144,904
144,904
(24,849)
124,629
(24,849)
99,780

The Statement of financial activities includes all gains and losses recognised in the year.

The notes on pages 30 to 35 form part of these financial statements.

Page 28

Docusign Envelope ID: E1911F40-F25D-4530-8356-21BB3DC4DC2A

SOCIETY OF RESEARCH SOFTWARE ENGINEERING

BALANCE SHEET AS AT 30 JUNE 2025

----- Start of picture text -----
2025 2024
Note £ £
Current assets
Debtors 7 32,235 40,734
Cash at bank and in hand 273,480 269,309
305,715 310,043
Current liabilities
Creditors: amounts falling due within one year 8 (176,174) (210,263)
Net current assets 129,541 99,780
Total net assets 129,541 99,780
Charity funds
Unrestricted funds 9 129,541 99,780
Total funds 129,541 99,780
----- End of picture text -----

The financial statements were approved and authorised for issue by the Trustees and signed on their behalf by:

David Beavan President

Martin O'Reilly Trustee

Date: 19 August 2025

The notes on pages 30 to 35 form part of these financial statements.

Page 29

Docusign Envelope ID: E1911F40-F25D-4530-8356-21BB3DC4DC2A

SOCIETY OF RESEARCH SOFTWARE ENGINEERING

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 JUNE 2025

1. General information

The Society of Research Software Engineering is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation that has been registered with Charities Comission since 13 March 2019, registered number 1182455 . It's objective is to advance the practice of research software engineering. See page 25 for all reference and administrative details of the charity.

2. Accounting policies

2.1 Basis of preparation of financial statements

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the Charities SORP (FRS 102) - Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) (effective 1 January 2019), the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) and the Charities Act 2011.

The financial statements have been prepared to give a 'true and fair' view and have departed from the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 only to the extent required to provide a 'true and fair' view. This departure has involved following the Charities SORP (FRS 102) published in October 2019 rather than the Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice effective from 1 April 2005 which has since been withdrawn.

Society of Research Software Engineering meets the definition of a public benefit entity under FRS 102. Assets and liabilities are initially recognised at historical cost or transaction value unless otherwise stated in the relevant accounting policy.

2.2 Going concern

After making appropriate enquiries, the Trustees have a reasonable expectation that the Charity has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. For this reason, they continue to adopt the going concern basis in preparing the financial statements.

2.3 Income

All income is recognised once the Charity has entitlement to the income, it is probable that the income will be received and the amount of income receivable can be measured reliably.

2.4 Expenditure

Expenditure is recognised once there is a legal or constructive obligation to transfer economic benefit to a third party, it is probable that a transfer of economic benefits will be required in settlement and the amount of the obligation can be measured reliably. Expenditure is classified by activity. The costs of each activity are made up of the total of direct costs and shared costs, including support costs involved in undertaking each activity. Direct costs attributable to a single activity are allocated directly to that activity.

Expenditure on charitable activities is incurred on directly undertaking the activities which further the Charity's objectives, as well as any associated support costs.

Grants payable are charged in the year when the offer is made except in those cases where the offer is conditional, such grants being recognised as expenditure when the conditions attaching are fulfilled. Grants offered subject to conditions which have not been met at the year end are noted as a commitment, but not accrued as expenditure.

2.5 Debtors

Trade and other debtors are recognised at the settlement amount after any trade discount offered. Prepayments are valued at the amount prepaid net of any trade discounts due.

Page 30

Docusign Envelope ID: E1911F40-F25D-4530-8356-21BB3DC4DC2A

SOCIETY OF RESEARCH SOFTWARE ENGINEERING

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 JUNE 2025

2. Accounting policies (continued)

2.6 Liabilities

Liabilities are recognised when there is an obligation at the Balance sheet date as a result of a past event, it is probable that a transfer of economic benefit will be required in settlement, and the amount of the settlement can be estimated reliably.

2.7 Fund accounting

General funds are unrestricted funds which are available for use at the discretion of the Trustees in furtherance of the general objectives of the Charity and which have not been designated for other purposes.

3. Income from charitable activities

Income from events and membership
Total 2024		 Unrestricted
funds
2025
£
225,902
120,055		 Total
funds
2025
£
225,902
120,055		 Total
funds
2024
£
120,055

4. Analysis of expenditure by activities

Charitable activities
Total 2024		 Activities
undertaken
directly
2025
£
178,966
129,407		 Grant
funding of
activities
2025
£
8,727
8,245		 Support
costs
2025
£
8,448
7,252		 Total
funds
2025
£
196,141
144,904		 Total
funds
2024
£
144,904

Page 31

Docusign Envelope ID: E1911F40-F25D-4530-8356-21BB3DC4DC2A

SOCIETY OF RESEARCH SOFTWARE ENGINEERING

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 JUNE 2025

4. Analysis of expenditure by activities (continued)

Analysis of support costs

Administration infrastructure
Website hosting & domains
Travel, accomodation and subsistence
Accountancy and independent examiners fees
Insurance
Subscriptions
Bank fees
Realised currency gains
Total 2024
Analysis of grants
Community grants
Total 2024		 Activities
2025
£
706
327
1,540
4,350
480
201
639
205
8,448
7,252
Grants to
Institutions
2025
£
8,727
8,245		 Total
funds
2025
£
706
327
1,540
4,350
480
201
639
205
8,448
7,252
Total
funds
2025
£
8,727
8,245		 Total
funds
2024
£
543
378
186
4,850
480
124
440
251
7,252
Total
funds
2024
£
8,245

5. Independent examiner's remuneration

The independent examiner's remuneration amounts to an independent examiner and accounts preparation fee of £3,900 ( 2024 - £4,850 ).

6. Trustees' remuneration and expenses

During the year, no Trustees received any remuneration or other benefits (2024 - £NIL) .

During the year ended 30 June 2025, expenses relating to travel/subsistence and other events related costs totalling £ 4,530 were reimbursed or paid directly to 8 Trustees (2024 - £2,046 to 6 Trustees).

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Docusign Envelope ID: E1911F40-F25D-4530-8356-21BB3DC4DC2A

SOCIETY OF RESEARCH SOFTWARE ENGINEERING

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 JUNE 2025

7. Debtors

Due within one year
Trade debtors
Prepayments and accrued income		 2025
£
25,246
6,989
32,235		 2024
£
13,108
27,626
40,734

8. Creditors: Amounts falling due within one year

Other creditors
Trade creditors
Other taxation and social security
Accruals and deferred income
Grants accrued
Deferred income at 1 July
Resources deferred during the year
Amounts released from previous periods		 2025
£
161
8,049
23,160
144,804
-
176,174
2025
£
166,151
140,904
(166,151)
140,904		 2024
£
63
8,816
26,338
171,001
4,045
210,263
2024
£
49,166
166,151
(49,166)
166,151

Deferred income relates to amounts received in advance of events taking place after the year end.

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Docusign Envelope ID: E1911F40-F25D-4530-8356-21BB3DC4DC2A

SOCIETY OF RESEARCH SOFTWARE ENGINEERING

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 JUNE 2025

9.
Statement of funds
Statement of funds - current year
Balance at 1
July 2024
£
Unrestricted funds
General Funds - all funds
99,780
Statement of funds - prior year
Balance at
1 July 2023
£
Unrestricted funds
General Funds - all funds
124,629
10.
Analysis of net assets between funds
Analysis of net assets between funds - current year
Current assets
Creditors due within one year
Total
Analysis of net assets between funds - prior year
Current assets
Creditors due within one year
Total		 Income
£
225,902
Income
£
120,055		 Expenditure
£

(196,141)
Expenditure
£
(144,904)
Unrestricted
funds
2025
£
305,715
(176,174)
129,541
Unrestricted
funds
2024
£
310,043
(210,263)
99,780		 Balance at 30
June 2025
£
129,541
Balance at
30 June 2024
£
99,780
Total
funds
2025
£
305,715
(176,174)
129,541
Total
funds
2024
£
310,043
(210,263)
99,780

Page 34

Docusign Envelope ID: E1911F40-F25D-4530-8356-21BB3DC4DC2A

SOCIETY OF RESEARCH SOFTWARE ENGINEERING

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 JUNE 2025

11. Related party transactions

The figure for income from events and membership under unrestricted funds includes donations from trustees amounting to £5,111 (2024: £5,394).

There were no other Related Party Transactions during the period (2024: £Nil).

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Docusign Envelope ID: E1911F40-F25D-4530-8356-21BB3DC4DC2A

Menzies LLP Magna House 18-32 London Road Staines-Upon-Thames TW18 4BP

Dear Sirs,

This representation letter is provided in connection with your independent examination of Society of Research Software Engineering for the year ending 30 June 2025 in accordance with the relevant financial reporting framework, FRS 102 and the Charities SORP.

During the course of the independent examination of our financial statements for the year ending 30 June 2025 the following representations were made to you by management and trustees.

Financial statements

Docusign Envelope ID: E1911F40-F25D-4530-8356-21BB3DC4DC2A

12 We confirm that the related party relationships and transactions set out below are a complete list of such relationships and transactions and that we are not aware of any further related parties or transactions.

----- Start of picture text -----
Party Relationship Nature of transaction
David Beavan President Expenses of £301 in relation to
RSECon24 administration
expenses.
Fliss Guest Vice-president Expenses of £1,305 in relation to
travel and accommodation.
Mike Simpson Vice-president Expenses of £296 in relation to
travel and accommodation.
Stef Piatek Secretary None identified.
Gillian Sinclair Secretary None identified.
Martin O’Reilly Treasurer Expenses of £855 in relation to
RSECon25 registration refund.
Godwin Yeboah Vice-treasurer (appointed September Expenses of £53 in relation to
2024) travel and accommodation.
Abie Alexander-Ikwue Trustee (appointed September 2024) None identified.
Samantha Ahern Trustee (appointed September 2024) None identified.
Lyndsey Ballantyne Trustee Expenses of £762 in relation to
travel and accommodation &
RSECon25 registration refund.
Mary Chester-Kadwell Trustee None identified.
Twin Karmakharm Trustee Expenses of £142 in relation to
travel and accommodation
Kirsty Pringle Trustee (appointed June 2025) None identified.
Marion Weinzierl Trustee (appointed May 2025) None identified.
Evelina Gabasova Trustee (resigned September 2024) None identified.
Pip Grylls Trustee (resigned June 2025) None identified.
Robin Nandi Trustee (resigned September 2024) None identified.
Peter Schmidt Trustee (resigned September 2024) Expenses of £817 in relation to
travel and accommodation &
ISC25 registration refund.
Matt Williams Trustee (resigned September 2024) None identified.
Yo Yehudi Trustee (resigned January 2025) None identified.
----- End of picture text -----

In addition to the above expenses all related parties listed above have paid SocRSE membership fees, some RSECon25 registration fees & some small donations.

Docusign Envelope ID: E1911F40-F25D-4530-8356-21BB3DC4DC2A

Yours faithfully,

Signed on behalf of the board of trustees of The Society of Research Software Engineering by:

Trustee ...............................................................

27-Apr-2026 27-Apr-2026

Date .....................................................................