S³ School — Sustainable Scientific Software School

Europe/Paris
Description

The S³ School is a one-week training program designed to teach good and modern coding practices tailored for scientific software development.

Our goal is to empower researchers, scientists, and Research Software Engineers (RSEs) with the skills to build sustainable, open, and reproducible research software following recognized best practices.

Context: Building Sustainable Research Software in the European Open Science Landscape

The S³ School is part of a broader European initiative to promote sustainable, high-quality research software within the framework of Open Science. This effort is supported by two key Horizon Europe projects: OSCARS and EVERSE.

OSCARS (Open Science Clusters' Action for Research and Society)

OSCARS brings together five Science Clusters — covering environmental sciences, life sciences, social sciences and humanities, photon and neutron science, and astronomy and particle physics — to strengthen their role in the European Research Area by consolidating their past achievements into lasting interdisciplinary FAIR data services and working practices across scientific disciplines and communities, and by fostering the implementation of Open Science projects and services.

EVERSE (European Virtual Institute for Research Software Excellence) focuses on creating a framework for research software and code excellence. Collaboratively designed by research communities across the five EOSC Science Clusters and national Research Software Expertise Centres, EVERSE aims to build a European network dedicated to Research Software Quality. The project emphasizes community curation, quality assessment, and best practices, contributing to high-quality, sustainable, and reusable research software.

Target Audience

  • Postgraduate students, early-career researchers, and junior RSEs at the start of their research or software development projects.

  • Researchers and scientists who regularly code, particularly those working in collaborative environments, and who want to improve their software development skills for open science and reproducible research.


Participants should:

  • Have basic knowledge of Python and shell command-line usage.

  • Bring a personal laptop with:

    • A Unix terminal,

    • Git installed,

    • An active GitHub account.

Key Information

  • Duration: 1 week

  • Participants: ~60

  • Instructors: ~10

  • Format: in-person lectures, workshops & hands-on sessions, with satellite sites for remote participation.

  • Location: Beautiful Annecy , between lake and mountains!

Unique Experience 

  • 🚌Visit of CERN
  • 🍽 Social dinner with instructors
  • 🏡 Accommodation and daily lunches provided
  • 📄 Collaborative publication: all participants will contribute to a joint article at the end of the school.
  • 🎓 Certificate of Participation
  • 🏅 Recognition on Apicuron — The platform to credit and acknowledge scientific contributions, for both instructors and participants.

 

Fees: 

Includes accommodation, daily lunches, social events, all course sessions, online materials, and Apicuron recognition.

On-site participants: €588.50. 

LAPP/LAPTH members : €245.30

Satellite site: €588.50


🏷️ Registration open until 14 November 2025

 

Content from the EVERSE project and related initiatives.

    • 9:00 AM 10:30 AM
      SUSTAINABILITY : Plan: Coding environment and IDE, good code practices
      Convener: Vincent Pollet
      • 9:00 AM
        Virtual environment, IDE, good practices 1h 30m
        Speaker: Vincent Pollet
    • 10:30 AM 11:00 AM
      Coffee break 30m
    • 11:00 AM 12:30 PM
      SUSTAINABILITY : Plan: Git and version control
      • 11:00 AM
        git and GitHub 1h 30m
        Speaker: Maximilian Linhoff (CTAO ERIC)
    • 12:30 PM 2:00 PM
      Lunch break 1h 30m
    • 2:00 PM 4:00 PM
      SUSTAINABILITY : Plan: git and GitHub
      Convener: Maximilian Linhoff (CTAO ERIC)
      • 2:00 PM
        git and GitHub 2h
        Speaker: Maximilian Linhoff (CTAO ERIC)
    • 4:00 PM 4:30 PM
      Coffee break 30m
    • 4:30 PM 6:00 PM
      SUSTAINABILITY : Plan: Project exercises
    • 6:00 PM 6:30 PM
      Collaborative writing 30m
    • 9:00 AM 10:30 AM
      Build and Code: Debugger and Unit tests
      Convener: Maximilian Linhoff (CTAO ERIC)
      • 9:00 AM
        Debugger and unit tests 1h 30m
        Speaker: Maximilian Linhoff (CTAO ERIC)
    • 10:30 AM 11:00 AM
      Coffee break 30m
    • 11:00 AM 12:30 PM
      Build and Code: Debug and unit tests - exercises
    • 12:30 PM 2:00 PM
      Lunch break 1h 30m
    • 2:00 PM 4:00 PM
      Build and Code: Integration tests and CI/CD
      Convener: Karl Kosack (CEA Saclay)
    • 4:00 PM 4:30 PM
      Coffee break 30m
    • 4:30 PM 6:00 PM
      Build and Code: Test and Evaluate my software
    • 6:00 PM 6:30 PM
      Collaborative writing 30m
    • 9:00 PM 11:00 PM
      Diner 2h

      Dinner – Friday, January 16, 2026
      Meeting time and place: 9:00 PM at Le Freti, 12 Rue Sainte-Claire, 74000 Annecy. Here is the itinerary: Google Maps

      Enjoy traditional Savoyard cheeses, including raclette and fondue.

      A bit of history: Le Freti started in 1973 with the opening of a creamery by Michel Collomb, the founder of the “Descente des Alpages,” in the heart of Annecy’s historic district.

    • 8:50 AM 2:00 PM
      Visit The CERN 5h 10m

      CERN Visit – Saturday, January 17, 2026
      Meeting time : 8:50 AM at the LAPP parking lot. Please arrive no later than 9:00 AM for a 9:00 AM departure.

      Transportation: Coach with 49 seats.

      Lunch: We will bring picnics (snacks) from LAPP before departure.

      Return: Departure from CERN at 1:00 PM, arriving in Annecy around 2:00 PM.

      More info about CERN: CERN Science Gateway

      To avoid any issues, please bring your passports/IDs as we will be crossing from one country to another.

    • 8:00 AM 5:00 PM
      Free day 9h
    • 9:00 AM 10:30 AM
      Profile and improve: Profiling in Python
      Convener: Karl Kosack (CEA Saclay)
      • 9:00 AM
        Profiling in python 1h 30m
        Speaker: Karl Kosack (CEA Saclay)
    • 10:30 AM 11:00 AM
      Coffee break 30m
    • 11:00 AM 12:30 PM
      Profile and improve: Code Optimization
      Convener: Karl Kosack (CEA Saclay)
      • 11:00 AM
        Code optimization 1h 30m
        Speaker: Karl Kosack (CEA Saclay)
    • 12:30 PM 2:00 PM
      Lunch break 1h 30m
    • 2:00 PM 4:00 PM
      Profile and improve: Code with AI
      • 2:00 PM
        Code with AI 2h
        Speaker: Hugo Bacard
    • 4:00 PM 4:30 PM
      Coffee break 30m
    • 4:30 PM 6:00 PM
      Profile and improve: Code with AI - exercises
    • 6:00 PM 6:30 PM
      Collaborative writing 30m
    • 9:00 AM 10:30 AM
      Secure & Deploy: Containerization
      • 9:00 AM
        Containerization 1h 30m
        Speaker: Alexander Moreno
    • 10:30 AM 11:00 AM
      Coffee break 30m
    • 11:00 AM 12:30 PM
      Secure & Deploy: Containerization
    • 12:30 PM 2:00 PM
      Lunch break 1h 30m
    • 2:00 PM 4:00 PM
      Secure & Deploy: Security basics
      Convener: Justin Bussery
    • 4:00 PM 4:30 PM
      Coffee break 30m
    • 4:30 PM 6:00 PM
      Secure & Deploy: Documenting (built and deployed online with CI - API and user doc)
      • 4:30 PM
        Documentation 1h 30m
        Speaker: Alexander Moreno
    • 6:00 PM 6:30 PM
      Collaborative writing 30m
    • 9:00 AM 10:30 AM
      FAIRness & OPENess : Publication: Software quality tools
      Convener: Dr Thomas Vuillaume (LAPP, Univ. Savoie Mont-Blanc, CNRS)
    • 10:30 AM 11:00 AM
      Coffee break 30m
    • 11:00 AM 12:30 PM
      FAIRness & OPENess : Publication: Software publication, from guidelines to practice
      Convener: Dr Thomas Vuillaume (LAPP, Univ. Savoie Mont-Blanc, CNRS)
    • 12:30 PM 1:00 PM
      Collaborative writing 30m
    • 1:00 PM 1:30 PM
      School wrap-up and farewell 30m