Open Call: ScienceServe, Boosting Research Software at Helmholtz

The Helmholtz Association makes a significant contribution to cutting-edge research addressing major societal challenges – not least through the use of highly innovative computational methods. Research software plays a central role in this endeavor and has become indispensable to modern science. As digital tools are increasingly used across all research domains, the need for reliable, sustainable, and high-quality development and maintenance of research software throughout the Helmholtz research ecosystem continues to grow.

With the call “ScienceServe: Boosting Research Software at Helmholtz”, Helmholtz explicitly places the development of research software at the center of attention. Important impetus for this initiative came from the Helmholtz Codes working group of the Information & Data Science Incubator, as well as from other key initiatives in this field, including the Helmholtz Research Software Forum, the Helmholtz Information & Data Science Platforms—particularly HIFIS—the Helmholtz Open Science Office and the Open Science Working Group, as well as the HIRSE Joint Lab within the Information Research Field.

The objective of this call is to support projects that substantially improve the quality, reusability, visibility, and long-term availability of scientific software solutions within Helmholtz. In addition to implementing established software engineering best practices, the call aims to strengthen collaboration between software developers and researchers and to promote the adoption of the FAIR Principles for Research Software (FAIR4RS).

Funded projects will benefit from a range of well-established networks and opportunities for collaboration within the Helmholtz community.

The objectives and requirements of the call are described in detail in the full call text below.

An online information event on the call will take place on 25 June 2026. Further details are available here: https://events.hifis.net/event/4112/

The deadline for proposal submission is 14 August 2026.

Contact: Elisabeth Jaumann

This article was originally published on the website of the Helmholtz Association.