Fergus Cooper

Research software engineer & open source contributor

I am currently working as a research software engineer at the University of Oxford. Together with Martin Robinson and David Gavaghan, I helped found the Oxford RSE group in December 2018. Since then, the group has more than doubled in size, and we’re looking forward to collaborating with researchers in and around Oxford, and with the open source community, in the years ahead.

My background is mathematics, completing my MMAth at the University of Warwick in 2013, before doing my DPhil in systems biology in the Wolfson Centre for Mathematical Biology at the University of Oxford.

My DPhil research focussed on the development of computational tools which I applied to the understanding of processes in developmental biology. Through the development of computational modelling tools I have become interested in, and an advocate for, software best practices within academia.

As well as my role as a research software engineer, I am a leading maintainer and developer on the Chaste project, and I contribute to a number of other open source projects including Trase and PINTS, and have a particular interest in the C++ programming language.

Get in touch

I would love to hear from you about research software engineering, any of the research or projects I’m involved in, or about anything C++! You can: