On request of members, the following letter was sent to the Director general, science director and the ESS chair on the 19th of February before an ESS council meeting.

We have not received a response.

DMSC DM/IDA Union Members’ Club

members@dmsc-akademiker.club

17 February 2023

Dear Director General, Director for Science, and Delegates to the ESS Council,

Data at ESS has been spearheaded by the Data Management and Software Centre (DMSC), based in central Copenhagen since ESS’s foundation. As you are aware, our current tenure at the COBIS building has come to an end and new locations are being considered. There are two proposals: one to co-locate DMSC on the campus of the Danish Technical University (DTU), which is north of Copenhagen, and another that will keep DMSC in a central Copenhagen location. In this open letter, we (DMSC staff represented by our DM/IDA Union Members’ Club) want to communicate why the relocation of DMSC to DTU will be detrimental to the success of DMSC, and ESS as a whole, instead the proposal to keep DMSC in central Copenhagen should be approved.

DMSC has had a broad ambition; to serve as a professional software house that drives success at ESS while producing world-leading research including the application of data-driven strategies to neutron scattering. Among other considerations, the desire for DMSC to form scientific links with local Universities led to the placement of DMSC on the science campus of Copenhagen University. Despite this location, the scientific ambitions of DMSC have not matured as fully as many had hoped. It has been suggested that moving to DTU would improve this situation. To date, DMSC has had a singular focus on the completion of the ESS project, leaving staff with little time to develop their scientific interests or engage in collaborations.

When we consider collaboration, we should remember that DMSC’s closest collaborator is the ESS site, with instrument scientists and engineers. Hot commissioning will take place after DMSC is relocated and staff will be required to travel to ESS in Lund regularly. Even in DMSC’s current location, there has been a reluctance to travel between the two sites due to distance. We feel that moving further from the ESS Lund site will exacerbate this, hindering the ESS project, communication, and installation work.

The alternative proposed location is close to Copenhagen University’s Søndre campus and the IT University of Copenhagen, with good transport links to Copenhagen University’s science campus, DTU, and ESS Lund. These connections are all important for the success of DMSC scientifically and the ESS project as a whole. The hope was always that ESS users will visit DMSC to take advantage of expertise and participate in collaboration. This concept is significantly less attractive when DMSC is over 2 hours from ESS by public transport.

The staff composition of DMSC is unlike that at ESS; the majority of staff at DMSC self-identify as software engineers, scientists or a mixture of both. DMSC is an attractive place to work, for many scientists, as it aligns with their research interests and allows them to work on cutting-edge scientific topics. Software engineers are driven to work with novel and interesting technologies and challenges, DMSC is not unique in offering such opportunities in the Copenhagen job market. More than half of DMSC’s staff are software engineers and the ability to work in central Copenhagen was a significant driver for their decision to join DMSC. Indeed, most moved to Copenhagen so that they could work in one of Europe’s leading cities.

Currently, DMSC struggles to remain competitive in the Copenhagen job market, where DMSC is not a known employer and cannot match the salary or benefits available elsewhere. To move to DTU will impair the already wounded hiring power of DMSC and limit DMSC’s ability to attract veteran developers, who drive projects and mentor those who are starting their careers. Staff already at DMSC will likely look for new employment, where they can use their skills and develop their interests, without excessive commute times. The alternative proposed location limits this problem as the average travel time for staff would not change significantly.

The relocation of ESS from central Copenhagen to DTU will:

• Reduce interaction between ESS and DMSC,
• Result in staff leaving DMSC and make hiring harder in the future,
• Erode the culture and individuality of DMSC.

These factors will directly impact the ESS project and the ability of ESS to produce first and continued science. We support the alternative proposal and believe it will limit these drawbacks, keeping ESS and DMSC on track and a place where talented individuals would want to be employed. We hope that you will consider this letter carefully in the decision-making process regarding the proposal for relocating DMSC to the DTU campus.

Yours sincerely,

DMSC DM/IDA Union Members’ Club