Hello!

My name is Romain Thomas, I am the head of Research Software Engineering at the University of Sheffield, UK. I arrived in Sheffield in August 2023. My job aims at ensuring the long term sustainability and stability of the RSE team and of its member while advocating for better software in research.

Before coming to the UK I was an Astronomer at the Very Large Telescope in Chile. Where I started as a fellow in 2017 and continued as staff astronomer from 2020. While there I have been doing mostly observatory work, even though I should have done more science. I have operated UT1, UT2 telescope and controlled more than 6 Paranal instruments both in service and visitor modes. At the end of my fellowship I created the SCUBA framework, a software that controls the quality of data aquired at Paranal. This project started as a proof of concept for a single telescope and then extended, during my time as staff astronomer, to all instruments of the VLT. I have led the team developing it (involving 4 main developers and all instrument scientists) and then passed the torch over to Juan Carlos Olivares, who is leading the team since then.

At the end of my first staff contract, I have decided to take a turn on my career and focus on software and team management. This is where I found a new job at the University of Sheffield, as head of Research Software Engineering.