Responses to the UK Government Agenda EUNIS Workshop

Responses to the UK Government Agenda EUNIS Workshop March 2010 good practice & innovation Stuart Bolton Frederique Van Till March 2010

Research Funders in the UK National FC H. E. I. Research FC Non Gov. good practice & innovation

Government Drivers for Change in Research Management • General trend towards greater transparency, accountability and a need for cost saving • Manifests itself in two ways for Research Management: • Research Excellence Framework • Shared Services/Flexible Delivery Agenda • Relying of HEFCE and other funding councils to take the agenda forward good practice & innovation

The Research Excellence Framework (REF) good practice & innovation • Being driven by HEFCE • Replaces a series of Research Assessment Exercises (RAE) which ran 1992 – 2008 • Aimed to inform funding of research by national funding councils • Used in a number of bench marking metrics (league tables), • REF final specification imminent • Intended to actively encourage a wider range of research outputs • More coherent than RAE

The REF (cont. ) • Originally intended to be more automated than the RAE and envisaged a role for Bibliometrics • Ran a pilot summer and autumn of 2008 • Role now more restricted • Still a large element of peer review (subject panels) good practice & innovation • Shorter and more regular period than RAE

Research Management & Administration System (RMAS) • HEFCE funded project in response to government’s drivers • Run at Exeter University (http: //as. exeter. ac. uk/rmas/overview. htm) • An attempt to build a coherent, transferable specification for a complete Research Management System. • Supports REF and the Shared Service agenda. good practice & innovation

Research Funding Councils’ Initiatives good practice & innovation • Joint Electronic Submission Service (JE-S) • Fully operational • Common gateway to RFCs for institutions making funding proposal • Research Outcomes project (formally known as OOCS) • Ongoing • Mechanism for monitoring Research Outputs associated with a specific grant for up to five years • Supports both the Shared Service and transparency agendas

JISC Initiatives • JISC info. Net ‘Shared Services/Flexible Delivery’ infokit • JISC info. Net ‘ICT Implications of the Research Excellence Framework (REF)’ infokit • ‘Readiness for REF’ (R 4 R) project • ‘Exchanging Research Information in the UK’ project (EXRI-UK) • ‘Research Information Management’ (RIM) Project good practice & innovation

ICT Implications of the REF • Based on the HEFCE bibliometrics pilot • Assessed the ICT needs specifically for the REF • Online survey of all pilot institutions and a series of case studies. • Concluded that Publications DB or Institutional Repository needed, but …. • http: //www. jiscinfonet. ac. uk/research/ref good practice & innovation

EXRI-UK Project good practice & innovation • Finished end of 2009 • Tasked to investigate whethere is a need for a common format for the exchange of UK research information and if so recommend what the standard should be. • Final report now published • Based on scenarios of who needs information, what information they need and when they need it. • Key recommendation that the UK adopt CERIF 2008 as a common exchange format.

R 4 R Project • Ongoing • Led by King’s College London and Southampton University • http: //www. jisc. ac. uk/whatwedo/programme s/inf 11/sue 2/r 4 r. aspx • Looking to streamline information gathering for REF • Assessing match between CERIF standard and REF requirements (CERIF 4 REF) good practice & innovation

RIM Project good practice & innovation • Ongoing • Looking at the wider question of Research Information Management • Similar in structure to ‘ICT requirements’ project • Online survey to establish: • Current status of institutions • Plans • Awareness of initiatives (REF, ROP, EXRI etc) • Concerned with business cases for development projects as well as technologies being developed and/or deployed • Looking at RIM strategy development and governance

RIM Survey Findings • Very few end-to-end RIM systems • Very large majority of institutions have Publication DBs or IRs or both • Integration between RIM systems is weak • Uptake of CERIF is currently low and principally located in IRs but increasing • Seventy percent of institutions are planning to develop their RIM systems in the current budgetary year. good practice & innovation

Drivers for Change Esteem or other external factors Required technical upgrade Efficiency gains to reduce costs Anticipated implications of the REF Efficiency gains to increase capacity Complience with other funding body requirements good practice & innovation Improved service delivery for end users

The three initiatives that institutions are most aware of • JE-S • ROP • RMAS good practice & innovation

Three Strongest Strategic Drivers • Improved Service to End Uses • Implications of the REF • Efficiency Gains to Increase Capacity good practice & innovation

Resources • http: //as. exeter. ac. uk/rmas/overview. htm • http: //www. rcuk. ac. uk/aboutrcuk/efficiency/R esearchoutcomes/default. htm • http: //www. jiscinfonet. ac. uk/infokits • http: //exri. ilrt. bris. ac. uk/about/ • http: //www. jisc. ac. uk/whatwedo/programme s/inf 11/sue 2/r 4 r. aspx good practice & innovation • Stuart@stuartbolton. com