Volunteer Role Description

Role description for volunteers at the 2025 Research Software Engineering Conference

Who are RSECon25 volunteers?

Volunteers for RSECon25 come from many different backgrounds, ages, and experiences. We value our volunteers – from those who participate in set-up and assistance on the day to the weeks put in by our organising committee – and everyone in between. We welcome all applicants for volunteering and do not discriminate against sex, age, race, religion, identity or any other protected characteristic.

The volunteer roles we have open for RSECon25 consist of roles needed on-site at our conference facilities and remotely via a conference platform. Thank you for considering being a part of our volunteer team at RSECon25.

What do volunteers do?

Working in a team with rotating assignments so that you can attend different sessions of the conference, volunteers at RSECon25 participate in a wide range of tasks which help us to deliver a successful conference.  While this list is not exhaustive, in the past our in-person volunteers have:

  • Assisted with pre-conference set-up by:
    • Putting up signs/posters throughout the venue.
    • Preparing the cloakroom.
    • Setting-up the front desk with name badges and information for the conference attendees.
    • Setting up rooms for the conference sessions, including workshops/walkthroughs, and checking equipment is working.  
  • Helped on the front desk. The desk will be manned throughout the conference as a first point of contact for all conference attendees:
    • Registering conference attendees.
    • Handing-out name badges.
    • Helping with general information and directions.
  • Managed the cloakroom. Conference attendees will be able to check their coats and bags to be stored in the cloakroom:
    • Handing out tickets for each item and checking attendees are picking up the correct items.
  • Supported the delivery of workshops/sessions. Session Chairs will introduce each speaker and Chair questions to manage the session, our volunteers supported by:
    • Managing microphones by giving them to and receiving them from delegates in the audience.
    • Helping people in and out of the session.
    • Seating late entries after the doors have closed.
    • Providing additional assistance on AV or Q&A running or troubleshooting 
  • Assisted with evening social events by:
    • Directing guests to the venue
    • Welcoming guests to the venue
    • Directing and assisting guests as appropriate

What skills, experience and attributes do I need?

We ask that you are:

  • Friendly and enthusiastic about creating a warm and welcoming environment for a successful conference.
  • Willing to work as part of a team.

If you have specific skills and experience you think might be particularly useful, for example you have lots of experience using AV hardware, then please let us know when you apply.  We will do our best to align you with a volunteer role that suits you.

Who will I be volunteering with?

You’ll be volunteering as part of the team making the event happen, working with other volunteers and the RSECon25 committee to create a great experience for participants. Come, join in, and gain valuable experience.

How much time will I be expected to give?

Our main goal is to work with you and ensure you have a positive experience.  As we have pre-, during and post event volunteer tasks each assignment will have expectations set for volunteers to agree to prior to a volunteer starting their shift.

The conference is taking place at the University of Warwick between the 9th and 12th of September 2025, with 9th-11th being main conference days and Monday 8th and Friday 12th for social and co-located events. The volunteer team will gather before the conference begins for an on-site induction & we will expect you to attend an hour-long online induction session with the Volunteer Chair and Vice-Chair before the conference.

What benefits do I get from volunteering?

  • Complimentary conference ticket
  • Opportunity to meet people in the RSE network
  • Gain valuable organisation experience
  • Opportunity to attend some sessions you are interested in*
  • Amazing t-shirts to represent the RSECon25 team! (this is optional due to sensory sensitivities)

You will be expected to arrange your own transport and accommodation, if required, for the duration of the conference.  We will have a limited number of travel bursaries available to help those who would be unable to otherwise attend, information on these will be posted to the website in due course.

*We will do our best to accommodate any requests to attend specific sessions!

What is the selection process?

We welcome as many people to apply to volunteer as possible which last year resulted in more applicants than positions. In this scenario we will initially apply the following selection criteria:

  1. How many conference days are you available to volunteer for? (N.B. this only means being available, a rota is created so volunteers are not on call for full days)
  2. Would the complimentary conference ticket help facilitate attendance to the conference? (E.G. MSc/PhD students, foreign attendees or others where bursaries are not suitable/unavailable/could be supplemented)
  3. (For remote) availability across the whole time period of the conference (I.E. approx 9am to 5pm BST)

Following that we will judge candidates on their suitability to the available roles, based on the responses provided in the application.

What will RSECon25 look like for the volunteer team?

The details below are based on our preliminary programme and are subject to change. All deadlines are 23:59 BST.

20th June – Applications for volunteers will close.

4th July – Successful volunteers notified and asked to provide additional information (e.g. t-shirt sizes)

15th July – Deadline for submitting additional information

Opportunity to request attendance at specific sessions (priority will be given to those who need to present in sessions). There will be a deadline given for requests, any requests made after the deadline are less likely to be able to be accommodated.

W/c 18th August – Mandatory online briefing (approximately 1 hour), rotas will be issued at this point, any change in availability after this may require you to arrange your own cover from within the team.

Conference week

During the conference (Tuesday 9th – Thursday 11th) there will be:

  • at least 2 volunteers on the registration desk
  • 2 in the cloakroom
  • 1 in each session
  • 2 additional volunteers on standby

These roles will be rotated throughout the day, no one will be expected to be doing any particular role for the entirety of the conference (or even a whole day at a time), your downtime and self care is essential to a successful conference.

You will be responsible for ensuring your attendance at your allocated shifts and communicating any absences/issues that arise with the volunteer committee. This is facilitated by checking in with the team 20 minutes before your shift. There may be some ad hoc briefings to address any operational issues that may arise during the conference.

During evening social activities:

  • Help direct attendees to venues
  • Administrative tasks e.g handing out food/drinks tokens etc., likely only at the start

For the rest of the social activities we’ll get to enjoy ourselves along with the rest of the attendees.

We will finalise the arrangements for Monday and Friday in due course, however it is likely we’ll need a smaller number of volunteers to assist with activities taking place on these days.

Please note, while you may be on break or participating in social activities, people are still likely to recognise you as a volunteer and approach you if they need help. We’ll make sure you have details of who the responsible party is at any time, and a method of contacting them to pass the query on.

I’m interested, what’s my next step?

If you’d like to apply, complete this form. If you have any questions, please contact us via email at [email protected].