The scientific Python ecosystem powers research, education, and innovation across disciplines from physics and biology to finance and AI. But its long-term sustainability doesn’t just depend on code, it depends on people!

As maintainers, we often focus on the technical infrastructure of our projects: CI pipelines, packaging, release cycles. Yet the more enduring challenge is sustaining the human infrastructure that makes open source possible in the first place. While new contributors continue to find their way into the ecosystem, many don’t stay. Unclear career pathways, emotional labor, burnout, limited funding, and governance challenges all play a role in attrition.

This round table is an opportunity for maintainers to step back from triage and talk candidly with peers about the human side of open source: mentorship, collaboration, recognition, and belonging. We’ll explore the shared challenges we face in attracting and retaining contributors and the practical strategies that have helped us build healthier, more resilient communities.

This session is designed as a participatory, peer-to-peer discussion. However some topics that we could explore are:

• Why contributors join—and why they leave
• Mentorship models that actually scale
• Recognition and credit (in academia and beyond)
• Balancing paid and volunteer contributions
• Avoiding burnout (yours and others’)