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Last week, the CAKE team travelled to Belfast to attend the Collaborations Workshop 2026 (CW26). The Software Sustainability Institute’s annual Collaborations Workshop is an immersive, three-day unconference, which emphasises active collaborations, inclusive discussions, and hands-on problem-solving.

Eleanor Broadway (CAKE co-I) reflects on a packed few days of workshops, delivering a keynote, and a very successful hack day!

Hello!

This was my first Collaborations Workshop, and unconference (!), so I was very curious to see how such an event would unfold. And, instantly, what I found was a lovely sense of commonality with so many of the attendees. I genuinely cared about many of the issues being discussed, and it was so great to be surrounded by others who felt the same way and were so willing to share advice, experiences and guidance.

The culture of openness throughout the event was also completely unmatched. Everyone was happy to say hello, no doors felt closed, and overall I don’t think I have ever felt so included and welcomed at a conference.

It was also a personal milestone for me, as I had been invited to give a keynote talk! I’m so honoured to have been given the opportunity and, now that it’s over and the nerves have disappeared, I’m so pleased I was able to challenge myself in such a friendly and supportive atmosphere.

I can’t summarise everything, but I did want to share my highlights…

Oops, did we do it right?

On the first day of the conference, Eva Fernandez Amez and I delivered a workshop focused on mapping the journeys of collaborations: exploring what makes collaborations successful, what resources and support people benefit from along the way, and how we can turn an “Oops!” into an “Aha!”.

The session sparked some really great and interesting stories from participants about the realities of collaborative work, the hidden challenges people encounter, and the practical ways we can improve support structures for teams and communities.

We particularly explored:

  • Science communication and the skill of gathering information from domain experts within time constraints, before people move away from a collaboration.
  • Making friends! How professional relationships can be challenging, and essential to provide a sense of belonging, community and collective buy-in to an output.
  • Hybrid vs in-person: Can successful collaborations happen purely online?

We had great discussions with participants throughout the workshop and came away with lots of valuable insights and reflections!

Our write-up and outcomes will be published on CAKEBox in the coming weeks.

The Work Behind the Work: Building Community & Careers

On Wednesday morning, I gave the opening keynote for day two of the conference. My task was to reflect on the conference theme, “Strengthening the Research Software Community”, and help frame discussions for the collaborative sessions that followed throughout the day.

I wanted to make sure I was speaking from experience, so I began by reflecting on my own career journey so far.

I would describe my path as a “curiosity-driven” career, following the things that genuinely interested and motivated me, both technically and personally. One of those passions has been community-building and Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI). Over the years, I have dedicated a significant amount of time and energy to initiatives such as Women in HPC and outreach activities focused on broadening participation within HPC.

This work has opened up many opportunities for me and helped me develop essential professional skills, particularly as I gradually took on more responsibility, leadership and coordination roles. For example, these experiences ultimately led to me being invited to become a co-investigator on the CAKE project — something that would likely never have happened had I only focused on technical work alone!

At the same time, whilst this work has had a hugely positive impact on my career, it has also required a significant amount of time, emotional energy and sustained effort. As more and more needs emerge within our communities, it can become increasingly difficult to balance this work alongside technical interests and responsibilities.

And this is far from unique to me.

Many of the most important conversations happening across research and technical communities are currently driven through volunteering initiatives and community-led groups. These are often the spaces where we tackle issues that cut across institutions, disciplines and roles — including EDI, career pathways, sustainability and community wellbeing. Community building is essential if our research and technical communities are to remain healthy, inclusive and sustainable. Yet this work is often carried by a relatively small number of people, under-resourced and difficult to sustain long-term.

So, a central theme of my talk was the need to move community work from being viewed as “extra” work to being recognised as essential work — embedded within careers and supported as a shared responsibility across organisations and institutions. We want to keep community voices central to change, while ensuring that participation is supported, visible and rewarding.

I asked people to reflect on these three actions:

Learn: Look at the communities you’re part of. Ask:

  • Who is holding the community together?
  • How is that work being supported?
  • How is it recognised?
  • What could you do to improve that?

Make it visible:

  • Talk about community work in meetings and annual reviews
  • Document contributions
  • Showcase the value it creates

Make it count: Community building work builds essential skills.

  • Translate this “extra” work into your capabilities
  • Name the skills you are building
  • Build your career, whilst giving back

YouTube recording coming soon!

Hack Day

CW26 concluded with the traditional hack day — one of the highlights of the event. On Wednesday evening, attendees pitched ideas for collaborative hack-day projects. Participants then formed teams around the ideas they were most excited about, before spending Thursday building prototypes and resources.

I joined the “What kind of community supporter am I?” group, where we worked on creating a short, fun quiz designed to help people identify their “community cook” type. The quiz introduces different styles of community support, including:

  • The Influencer Cook
  • The Community Cook
  • The Hostess with the Mostest
  • And more!

The goal is to help people find language for the support work they are already doing, while also highlighting the skills involved and some common pitfalls associated with each role.

Want to find out what kind of community supporter you are? Try the first prototype of the quiz here: Community Supporter Types Quiz

And even better — our project actually won the hack day!

Overall, I can’t recommend this event enough. It was a great place to connect, find new collaborators, discuss the broader issues of our field, and have a lot of fun along the way!

Eleanor