The First RSE Asia Australia Unconference

The first RSE Asia Australia Unconference Authors: Paula Andrea Martinez¹, Rowland Mosbergen2, Saranjeet Kaur Bhogal3, Nooriyah Lohani4 Organisation(s): ¹Australian Research Data Commons, 2 WEHI, 3 RSE Asia Association, 4New Zealand eScience Infrastructure ABSTRACT / INTRODUCTION The RSE AUNZ (rse-aunz.org) Association started in 2018. Growing a community that promotes the value of Research Software Engineers in Australia and New Zealand, thanks to grassroots efforts. In 2022, we ran the first RSE Asia Australia unconference online with the theme “Building community” in joint partnership between the newly formed RSE Asia Association. We ran the unconference during September, the month of RSE conferences around the world, aligning with the RSECon2022, in the UK and the online NZRSE 2022. The unconference mode ensured the members of our community had the space to share their valuable technical and social knowledge of research software with the community. Before the unconference we gained support through our partners (ARDC, QCIF, Society for RSE, NCI Australia and Google Cloud for researchers) which ensured access to scholarships and low registration fees. In total, we attracted 141 registrations from 10 countries reaching our goals of spread and inclusion. We facilitated 3 time slots which prompted 17 community-led discussions. We also prearranged 3 keynote speakers and a panel on career progression. The maximum attendance was 82 people in one session. In retrospect, the feedback was outstanding, with many people acknowledging the opportunity to connect with members of the community and the high level of flexibility of the unconference. We also received very favourable feedback from partners, with a commitment of support continuation and opportunity for new partners to come on board. From the feedback survey, 85% of feedback respondents said they will recommend the RSE AUNZ to their colleagues which demonstrates the impact the RSE unconference produced within attendees. The RSE AUNZ Association having ongoing discussions of how we can work more closely with the NZ RSE conference in the coming years. Presented on Friday 17 February, 2023 at eResearch New Zealand https://www.eresearchnz2023.org.nz