Abstract
This article examines whether the UK Software Sustainability Institute (SSI) Fellowship programme meets its core goal of supporting its fellows to become advocates of good software practice in research. Using survey and interview data, we demonstrate that the Fellowship strengthened most participants’ knowledge and use of good software practices and supported their professional development. However, participants expressed less confidence that their activities achieved their intended aims within their institutes and/or research domains. We also identify key mechanisms that jointly support both the fellows’ advocacy work and their career progression such as peer-level knowledge exchange, professional network growth, programme flexibility, and financial support. Areas for improvement include the lack of time buy-out and the absence of a standardised impact evaluation. Based on these findings, we offer evidence-based, theoretically informed practical recommendations alongside a programme model for those designing similar fellowships related to advocacy or career development schemes for research technical professionals and other non-traditional roles in academia.