On this page, we've provided more information about the RSE Cloud Computing Award and how it works.
Help
All questions and suggestions should be sent to competition@software.ac.uk.
Terminology
We will use the word event to refer to conferences, meetings, training, workshops and other events.
The word Fellow or Fellows will refer to a recipient of the RSE Cloud Computing Award.
The word expenses will be used to describe expenses incurred for both travel, subsistence and expenses related to the running of and attending events.
Eligibility
Applicants must:
- Hold a full-time position at a university or non-profit research organisation;
- Be able to receive award funds into a university/organisation finance account that can be drawn against for reimbursement of incurred expenses;
Applicants may have one or more of the following roles:
- A research software engineer who supports the work of researchers;
- A researcher who uses software;
- A developer who writes tools for researchers;
- In a leadership role in projects or organisations that make heavy use of software, compute, and data services.
Applicants should be UK resident and primarily practicing in the UK. Exceptional applications from outside the UK may be considered at the panel’s sole discretion.
How we decide who succeeds
Criteria for prioritisation will include:
- Community impact to empower researchers to achieve more through the use Microsoft Azure cloud computing;
- Institutional/community support to embed cloud computing into researchers’ everyday practice;
- Openness, including publication of code and outputs online;
- Sustainability beyond the end of the award.
- Ability to deliver on plans;
Applications will be assessed by a panel of RSEs and Microsoft representatives. We will not be able to give individual feedback on applications. The panel’s decision is final.
The responsibilities of a Fellow
Fellows have the following areas of responsibility:
Mandatory
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Deliver the plans described in your application, and make us aware of any substantive changes to your plans.
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Participate in an online survey in early March 2018 to report back on your experiences.
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Respond to communications from the RSE coordinator in a timely fashion.
Funding
The RSE Cloud Computing Award provides recipients with £2000 GBP of funding which can be used for travel and events. The award funds will be transferred to your host organisation and expenses can be claimed in line with your host organisation’s standard practices for expenses. Any significant departure from the plan submitted with your application should be cleared with the RSE coordinator beforehand.
In addition, each Fellow will receive $250 USD each month of Microsoft Azure cloud credits for 12 months only. Use up to your monthly Microsoft Azure credits at no charge. If you exceed your monthly credits, your service will be disabled for that month. You can choose to turn off your Spending Limit, and any usage each month in excess of the monthly credits will be charged. This is subject to the Microsoft Azure Pass full terms and conditions at https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/offers/azure-pass/. All increases in usage levels of service resources (e.g. adding to the number of compute instances running, or increasing the amount of storage in use) are subject to the availability of these service resources.
Note access to Azure GPUs is not included in this offer. Recipients should contact the RSE coordinator if this is a core part of their proposal to discuss available options.
Microsoft is committed to compliance with any and all applicable laws, regulations and ethics rules. Because different institutions and jurisdictions have differing rules about gifts and expenses and what faculty members are allowed to accept, we rely on you to consult with your university to determine whether acceptance of this offer is in keeping with any and all applicable laws, regulations, and ethics rules concerning the receipt of gifts. By accepting this offer, you acknowledge that you understand this reliance and that acceptance of our offer is compliant with your university's policies.
Contract duration
The awards are expected to be made in November 2017. In most cases, we expect funds from the award to be spent and plans enacted within 12 months of funds being transferred to the awardee.
Termination
The awarding body reserves the right to cancel the contract with a Fellow at any time if it deems that a Fellow has not met the terms and conditions described on this page or has brought the Award into disrepute.
Fellows who are inactive (e.g. do not carry out the actions in their plan) and non-communicative (e.g. not responding to email or other contact requests within a month) risk the cancellation of their award and unused funds to be returned to the awarding body.