Software for research

• Revision and version control (GitHub)
  Manage changes to documents, computer programs, websites, and code version control.
  
• NVivo
  Organise, analyse and find insights in unstructured or qualitative data.
  
• SPSS
  Create a variety of statistics, organise outputs and draw models using a drag and drop interface.
  
• Mathematica
  Computational software for engineering, science, mathematics and other technical computing.

To find out what else is available, browse the full list of supported software and apps.

Software for Viking

Viking is our high-performance computing facility. It comes with a library of pre-installed software.

To see what's available, follow our Viking documentation. 

You can also download, build, and run software as long as it’s compatible with Viking. If you're interested in using a small or simple program, you might prefer to download and build the software yourself. 

If you'd like to request something specific, please contact us (part of IT Services). 

Virtual environments

Virtual environments enable you to maintain separate sets of libraries and dependencies for different projects, ensuring that updates or changes in one environment do not affect others. This is particularly important in research, where reproducibility and consistency are key. 

• Venv (Python)
  Create isolated Python environments, ensuring that each project can have its own dependencies, free from interference with others.
• Conda (multi-language)
  A versatile package and environment manager that supports multiple programming languages, including Python, R, and Java. Conda is ideal for complex projects requiring diverse dependencies and cross-platform compatibility.

Research Software Engineers can help advise you on which might be best for your project. They can also get more involved, helping you to develop programmes and troubleshoot errors in code.

To learn more about coding languages such as Python, browse our list of training resources.