🇸🇳 December 2023: Meet Karim Mané

What did you study?

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I got my BSc in Bioinformatics-Biomathematics at Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar in Senegal. I got my MSc in Bioinformatics at the same university.

What is the title of your current role?

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I currently work as a Research software engineer (RSE) at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) as part of the Epiverse-TRACE project.

Give a one-sentence summary of what you do in this role

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I develop R packages for epidemiological data analysis.

How much time do you spend coding?

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I spend more than 90% of my daily time coding.

How many projects do you work on?

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I am involved in at least 3 projects.

Give some keywords that summarise the topics of your projects.

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R, epidemiology, software development, early outbreak response

How often do you work with non-coding researchers?

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In my current role, I mostly work with coding researchers. However, we collaborate with non-coding researchers and public health staff to account for their needs while developing the packages.

What is their primary objective?

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The LSHTM aims at improving health and health equity in the UK and worldwide; working in partnership to achieve excellence in public and global health research, education and translation of knowledge into policy and practice.

How many people in your organisation are involved in research software development (a thumbsuck is okay)?

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The LSHTM have 3,300 staff based all around the world with core hubs in London and at the MRC Units in The Gambia and Uganda, which joined LSHTM in February 2018.

What training has had an impact on your current career?

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A datacamp data science course I took at the beginning of my masters studies I have learnt by myself and from the Senior RSE in my team about the best practices for R package development. This also includes some training to better understand git for a better collaborative package development.