By Chris Cannam, Dirk Gorissen, James Hetherington, Simon Hettrick, Caroline Johnson and Mark Woodbridge.

Today, we're launching a website which marks an important step in our campaign to gain recognition and reward for Research Software Engineers. This campaign will only succeed through weight of numbers. If you agree with the campaign's objectives, then please step up and be counted by signing up to the mailing list!

We believe that better software leads to better research (it's written on our T-shirts), but you can't have better software if you overlook the people who develop it. Back in March 2012 we started to talk about Research Software Engineers (RSEs): people who combine expertise in both research and software development and - it would appear - underpin much of today's research. Academia has not kept up with the rapid pace of change in software-fuelled research, so it lacks the mechanisms to recognise and reward Research Software Engineers. It is this that we are working to change.

There are many things you can do to help the campaign. If you want to see the people behind research software gain the recognition and reward they deserve, please visit the RSE website and - most importantly - sign up to the mailing list. The mailing list will keep you up to date with the latest developments in the RSE community and will provide updates on the campaign to support them.