Terms of Reference – HPC RSE SIG

Terms of Reference – HPC RSE SIG

Change log

Last updated: 06.11.2024 – for more details see the update log below.

  • 06.11.2024 - First draft created from template (Marion Weinzierl, Andy Turner, Nick Brown)
  • 28.11.2024 - SIG and ToR accepted by Society of RSE trustees

Introduction

A Terms of reference document defines the purpose and structures of a project, committee, meeting, negotiation, or any similar collection of people who have agreed to work together to accomplish a shared goal. Terms of reference show how the object in question will be defined, developed, and verified.

This document details the terms of reference for the organisation and delivery of the Special Interest Group of High Performance Computing Research Software Engineers (HPC RSE SIG). This SIG aims to bring together and facilitate knowledge exchange and networking between RSEs working in any role in HPC.

As a charity, the Society must fulfil its legal obligations in many areas including but not limited to: equality, diversity and inclusivity, financial regulation, working with volunteers, protecting reputation, liability insurance, cancellation insurance, GDPR.

Many of these legal obligations feature in the organisation of this working group and the Society Trustees must take responsibility for certain decisions and actions while at the same time formally delegating the organisation and delivery to the SIG committee. Final responsibility in all matters lies with the Society.

Where the term “the Society” is used, this refers to the Board of Trustees (as the elected representatives of the organisation) unless specified otherwise.

Term

This Terms of Reference is effective from 28th November 2024 and continues until the SIG committee decides, after consultation with the HPC RSE community, that the SIG no longer fulfils its purpose or is no longer needed.

Committee Aims

The aims of the HPC RSE SIG Steering Group is to bring the HPC RSE community together, support network building and informal mentoring, facilitate knowledge exchange, signpost to existing groups, communities and resources (e.g., through a website), and organise meet-ups, birds-of-a-feather sessions (BoFs) and other events online and in-person.

Purpose and Aim of the SIG’s outputs

The purpose and aim of this SIG is to be a place to meet other RSEs with similar interests, to share knowledge and keep each other informed on developments in the technical, training and community space in the field of high performance computing. For early career members of the community this is a place to find like minded people, build networks, learn more about opportunities and communities in the field and benefit from informal mentoring opportunities.

While the HPC RSE SIG is based in and focused on the UK HPC community, we welcome anyone around the world who is interested in the topic, and invite international HPC RSEs to come along to our events.

This purpose has been decided in collaboration between the SIG steering group and Society and under careful consideration of the RSE community and the external environment at this time. This purpose is not expected to change, and if significant changes are required they should be proposed to a Society trustee meeting for consideration and approval.

The HPC RSE SIG will organise regular in person and online events. In person events will typically be colocated with other events of interest to potential attendees. For example, in person events have been colocated with the last 3 in person RSECon and there was an in person event associated with the 2024 International Supercomputing Conference (ISC24).

Other confirmed outputs will be blog posts promoting the Society and SIG events and achievements, contributions to relevant community resources and promoting the Society on HPC-aligned social media channels. Depending on how the SIG evolves and expands and requirements of members change, additional outputs will be considered.

Budget

The approximate annual budget for the SIG is

  • £200 for stickers and other outreach material

  • £2000 for an in-person satellite event at RSECon (expected 70-100 participants)

The estimated proportion of this that will be requested through the Society’s Events and Initiatives Policy is £500. This will be requested in a timely manner, at least 1 month before it is required so that it can be approved at the monthly trustee meeting. If funding is required quicker than anticipated, the Society will make this available as part of their support for the SIG. If this funding is not awarded by the Society, the SIG will find other means to fund its events.

The remaining part of the budget will be acquired through funds from relevant UKRI grants, such as the DRI Knowledge Exchange Network, and the generous support of EPCC/ARCHER2 as well as potentially other institutions.

We plan to hold our annual meeting, if possible, as a BoF or satellite event at RSECon, which will hopefully reduce costs. In years where the annual meeting is accepted for the
RSECon programme, there are normally no further costs (i.e., the 2k costed above do not apply).

## Insurance Policies

At this point, we do not foresee any insurance needs apart from those associated with an event associated with RSECon.

The Society Treasurer will ensure that any events are covered with appropriate insurance policies like but not limited to: Public Liability insurance, Events cancellation insurance. This should be organised in conjunction with the SIG committee so that all involved have full knowledge of what is both required and purchased.

Reporting

The HPC RSE SIG committee is happy to send a member to the SocRSE trustee meetings for reporting purposes whenever invited, and/or issue a standing invitation to the SocRSE trustees to attend our planning meetings. We will also provide a written report when requested. We commit to progress reports at Society trustee meetings at least once every three months, if requested.

Committee Roles

The SIG committee will consist of volunteers, without any requirement that they be members of the Society. The SIG steering group will comprise a smaller section of the committee and most will be Society members. The Steering Group should ensure that working as a committee member is a fun and learning experience. To that end, we look for a proactive attitude from the Steering Group to ensure that tasks are evenly spread, giving opportunities to all volunteers to learn new skills and gain confidence.

A minimum of 2 and maximum of 8 volunteers will form the Steering Group, who will share the responsibility of organising and chairing committee meetings and keeping the committee on track. This steering group takes responsibility collectively for all decisions and can vote when unable to agree unanimously. If this vote doesn’t lead to agreement it will be taken to the full committee.

For induction, the Steering Group is asked to:

  • Read this document carefully discussing it with the Trustees for clarification if necessary
  • Complete the free training videos 1-4 on ‘Good Practice in Volunteer Management’ from the NCVO
  • Read ‘How to Reduce Risk while Volunteering’
  • Read “10 Simple Rules for Leadership without Formal Authority”

The current Steering Group has been formed from the remaining original volunteers who organised the HPC RSE Meet-ups and BoFs (at RSECon 22,23 and 24), and the ExCALIBUR Knowledge Exchange Coordinator Chair. An open call for committee members was issued after the online meet-up in March 2024.
The community members are always encouraged to contact the committee if they are interested in joining. When needed, calls for further committee members will be made. Anyone can join who is interested in contributing volunteering effort. People can leave any time. There is no maximum size for the committee, and the minimum size is that the committee is made up of the Steering Group.

For the Steering Group, we aim to add at least one person every 12 months from the committee or wider community. If someone wants to join and this would take the Steering Group of the maximum size of eight members, one of the longer-serving members will (voluntarily) step down.

The committee and steering group are working together to organise events, create and maintain the website, write blog posts and keep in touch with the RSE Society. The Steering Group will meet once every two months as a minimum, and will draw in the committee as required. When organising events or working on initiatives, more frequent meetings will be organised.

In future, we plan to connect with the upcoming UKRI DRI Knowledge Exchange Network, for which a call is currently (as of November 2024) open.

## Onboarding of Committee members

The Society asks that the Steering Group ensure that an initial onboarding meeting takes place to cover the following (but not limited to) activities:

  • Introductions and icebreaker
  • Circulate this document and ask all to read it carefully
  • Ask each member to take the free (mandatory) online EDI training on https://elearning.acas.org.uk/
    • Bullying & Harassment
    • Discipline & Grievance
    • Equality & Diversity
    • Disability Discrimination and Reasonable Adjustments
  • Read the Organisation Code of Conduct
  • Read the Complaints and Grievances policy
  • Volunteer policy – see charity governance
    • Complete the free training videos 1-4 on ‘Good Practice in Volunteer Management’ from the NCVO

Removal of unproductive committee members

In the unlikely event of an important committee role not being fulfilled with the possibility of that inaction jeopardising the SIG, the Steering group reserves the right to ask that volunteer to step down and will appoint a new person in that role. The new person will be appointed by the Steering Group. If any committee member is concerned about the behaviour or inaction of a fellow committee member, they can raise a grievance through our Complaints and Grievances Policy.
The Society reserves the right to remove any member of the Steering group if sufficient progress is not being made and this inaction is thought to lead to a failure to deliver the SIGs goals.

Equality, Diversity and Inclusivity

The SIG committee will read and follow the Society’s EDI policy, and ensure that there are goals in regards to equality, diversity, inclusivity and accessibility. These statements will be agreed on by the Society and the Steering Group as a reflection of the Society’s aspirations and goals for each of these areas for the RSE community.

The Society has an EDI team that are able to liaise and advise the SIG committee as needed, they can be contacted at edia@society-rse.org.

When organising events, we will aim to select one person from the Steering Group to be responsible for ensuring EDI considerations feed into the full planning process and will be considered throughout the event as well as in the retrospect eveluation.

The Environment and Sustainability

HPC RSE SIG is only planning to create very minimal giveaways, such as stickers.

Colocation of in person events with other events of interest to potential attendees consolidates travel into fewer journeys, and avoids the need to produce additional badges.

In our events and discussions, sustainable computing is an important and recurring topic.

When organising events, we will aim to select one person from the Steering Group to be responsible for ensuring environmental and sustainability considerations feed into the full planning process.

Feedback

The committee will use various modes of collecting feedback. We keep encouraging community members to reach out to us with their feedback and suggestions, we collect feedback via forms or sticky notes, and we keep in close touch with the community and receive feedback directly and indirectly in conversations. After each event, we are creating a blog post which is publicised on a website and advertised on social media and Slack.

Publicity and online presence

The HPC RSE SIG will create a webpage which will collect blog posts from its events and signpost to other relevant groups, communities and resources. The HPC channel on the UK RSE Slack will remain it’s main place of communication, and the committee members will advertise events on their own social media accounts.

The SIG will also maintain its existing connections to ExCALIBUR (or whatever comes next), ARCHER2 as well as the upcoming UKRI DRI Knowledge Exchange Network, and use their means for cross-posting on their websites and social media channels. We also hope to be
able to get a Society email address for the Steering Group, which community members can use to reach us.

Codes of Conduct (CoC)

The Society has two Codes of Conduct currently in place: an event CoC and an organisation CoC (also known as the Trustee Code of Conduct). The event CoC covers the expected conduct at events and on any online forums and apps. The organisation CoC covers the expected conduct for the committees and subgroups. The Society expects both of these CoCs to be adopted by the Steering Group. Any changes to either document would need to be requested to the Society and approved by trustee vote.

END OF DOCUMENT