The centre is bringing together leading UK expertise in key fields of computational research to tackle large-scale scientific software development, maintenance and distribution, thus improving the scientific research software that universities and industries worldwide increasingly rely on.
The Computational Science Centre for Research Communities (CoSeC) will involve four of the seven UK Research Councils, the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council and the Medical Research Council.
CoSeC will be housed in STFC’s Scientific Computing Department (SCD) and David Corney, Director of SCD, said: “CoSeC embraces decades of core support by the research councils, and will provide continuity and security in the years to come.”
The areas of research which will benefit from this centre include the study of viruses and proteins at the molecular level; and fusion energy, one of the most promising options for generating large amounts of carbon-free energy in the future; and brain scanning technologies that may make it possible to identify and track the signs of dementia.
CoSeC Director Dr Barbara Montanari said: “CoSeC supports thousands of researchers in universities and industry, and is a hub for exchanging knowledge and expertise across scientific communities.”
The centre was launched today at the Research Software Engineers Association conference today at the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester.