This session will facilitate the activities of this joint RDA/Research Software Alliance (ReSA) Working Group (WG) to support research performing organisations worldwide to develop, align and implement policies on research software, as a key component of FAIR and open science. 

In this session the PRO4RS WG will provide a summary of its activities and updates from 3 sub-groups which aim at:

1. Identification of relevant policies, building on the institutional policies already collected by the ReSA taskforce.

2. Collation of resources on how to support policy change in research institutions in practice, to support implementation. This will utilise work such as How to Introduce and Implement Policy in Your Institution and Still Have Friends After, a FORCE11 Scholarly Communication Institute course by Danny Kingsley and Sarah Shreeves.

3. Development of a common framework for research software policy through analysis of policies collected, allowing for different levels of commitment. This will build on the Open Research Funders Group (ORFG) Policy Clause Bank and Generator, which includes policy clauses for code and software sharing (for funders). 

Session participants are invited to join the work of these sub-groups and contribute to the PRO4RS WG.

1. Introduction to WG

2. Update and how to get involved with subgroup 1 – Identification of relevant policies

3. Update and how to engage with for subgroup 2 – Collation of resources on how to support policy change

4. Update and options for contributing to  subgroup 3 – Development of a common framework for research software policy

5. Future steps

The PRO4RS WG will be of interest in policy change in the research sector, or how to increase support for research software and the people who develop and maintain it. It will be particularly relevant to participants who: seek to change policies in their own research institutions (in any area, not just research software); are part of national and/or international organisations that engage with research institutions; or are interested in open science policies for any stakeholder group (such as Data Stewards, publishers, repositories, funders, research infrastructures).