UCLEconomics Research

UCL Economics

Research Computing

IT support (MyServices)

Installation and licence

R is free software distributed under the GNU General Public License. RStudio Desktop Open Source is free and distributed under the GNU Affero General Public License. A UCL licence key is not required for either open-source product.

Install R first, then install RStudio Desktop.

Windows

  1. Open CRAN and choose Download R for Windows.
  2. Download and run the base R installer.
  3. Open Posit's download page and download RStudio Desktop Open Source for Windows.
  4. Run the RStudio installer.
  5. Start RStudio. It should locate R automatically.

macOS

  1. Open CRAN and choose Download R for macOS.
  2. Download the installer matching your supported macOS version and processor, then install R.
  3. Download RStudio Desktop Open Source from Posit.
  4. Open the disk image and move RStudio to Applications.
  5. Start RStudio and confirm that its console reports the expected R version.

Myriad

R is installed centrally. Discover the versions and load the recommended module:

module avail r
module -f unload compilers mpi gcc-libs
module load r/recommended
R --version

Use the login node to prepare work and submit jobs, not for substantial computation. A minimal serial job script is:

#!/bin/bash -l
#$ -l h_rt=0:10:0
#$ -l mem=2G
#$ -l tmpfs=10G
#$ -N r_example
#$ -cwd

module -f unload compilers mpi gcc-libs
module load r/recommended
Rscript analysis.R

Submit it with qsub r-job.sh. The official UCL R guide also covers parallel jobs and user-installed packages.

UCL Economics users can access the Economics RStudio Server from a web browser while connected to the UCL network or VPN. This avoids installing RStudio on Myriad and runs the R session on the service.

Condenser

Ask the VM administrator whether R or RStudio Server is already installed. On an Ubuntu VM, the administrator should use the current CRAN and Posit instructions for that exact Ubuntu release. RStudio Server is a multi-user service and should be installed, secured, updated, and exposed to the network only by the VM administrator.

For command-line work, users can run R without RStudio once R is installed.

Licences

R and RStudio Desktop Open Source do not require paid UCL licences. R packages have their own licences. RStudio Desktop Pro and Posit Workbench are separate commercial products and are not implied by this guidance.

Last reviewed: 29 September 2026.