The Software Sustainability Institute (SSI), led by the University of Edinburgh, The Universities of Manchester and Southampton, has been awarded a record £10.2 million funding for a a new project phase from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).

The national initiative will seek to improve the environmental sustainability of software used in research – the newest phase aims to address the rising interest in artificial intelligence.

Led by the University of Edinburgh’s EPCC (formally known as the Edinburgh Parallel Computing Centre), the new SSI phase will focus on how to improve equality, diversity, inclusion, and accessibility in the research software community, and address the rising interesting in AI and machine learning.

For this phase, SSI is partnering with Open Life Science, a not-for-profit organisation focuses on diversifying leadership in research.

It will also work with the University of Oxford in developing strategic activities that strengthen links to the arts and humanities communities.

“Over the past decade SSI has shown that reliable, reproducible and reusable software is vital across all research disciplines,” professor Mark Parsons, EPCC director, said.

“I’m excited to see what SSI can achieve in this next phase as we look forward to continuing our work with our partners in crucial areas such as the environmental impact of software, the growing use of AI and importantly how we value software as a research output.”

Neil Chue Hong, SSI director and EPCC professor, said: “Every modern societal advance is driven by research which relies on software. From weather forecasting to whether we can build new narratives for the next decade, it’s important that we provide equitable access to the digital tools and skills enabling this.

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“This grant – which will see the SSI into its 18th year – enables us to work with the research community to build capability and expertise, ensuring a sustainable future for research software.”

The project will be led by the Art and Humanities Research Council (AHRC).

“Software plays a fundamental role in all disciplines of research,” Christopher Smith, AHRC executive said.

“That’s why it’s so important that we invest in supporting the development of research software that is top quality, meets the needs of our research communities, is environmentally sustainable and is ready for the future.”