Episode 130: Connecting Open Source and Research in Australia with Rowland Mosbergen

Thank you to the folks at Sustain for providing the hosting account for CHAOSScast! CHAOSScast – Episode 130 In this CHAOSScast episode, host introduces Rowland Mosbergen, a research software engineer at Australia’s WEHI, and discusses experiences in CHAOSS Asia and open source community connections. Rowland compares research labs to startups and explains that CHAOSS Asia’s regular online meetings help him engage with the broader open source ecosystem despite not traveling to conferences. They mention tools like the OSC DB directory for finding communities and discuss how Chaos Asia helps share events and CFPs. Rowland describes his “practical diversity and inclusion” approach: embedding inclusion into processes by centering marginalized people, sharing power, creating safe spaces, and offering online, non-exploitative open source internships that assess achievement relative to opportunity. He also describes organizing Research Software Asia Australia (RSAA 26) and supporting new Research Software Africa and Latino America conferences through shared documentation and a large, flexible volunteer committee to prevent burnout. They close with personal value-adds: Rowland’s family time and the host’s move to Bangkok. 00:00 Welcome to CHAOSScast 00:21 Meet Rowland 01:41 Startups and Research Parallels 03:04 Why CHAOSS Asia Matters 03:40 Finding CHAOSS Asia 07:03 Mapping Asian Communities 09:38 Practical DEI in Action 13:31 Internships as Micro PhDs 16:27 Conferences and Global Expansion 20:17 Building Inclusive Frameworks 25:09 Value Adds 28:03 Wrap Up and Call to Action Panelists: Leon Nunes Guests Rowland Mosbergen Links CHAOSS CHAOSS Project X CHAOSScast Podcast CHAOSS YouTube CHAOSS Slack [email protected] https://www.wehi.edu.au/ https://www.solo.io/ [https://equersa.org/]([https://equersa.org/) - Research software Africa and Latin America https://developers.events/#/2026/calendar - OSCDB https://chaoss.github.io/oscdb/ https://www.practicaldiversity.org/Special Guest: Rowland Mosbergen.