News
Equipment Sharing Platform Manager Update: November 25, 2024
While completing the annual report for HEIF project funding, I realised it would provide an opportunity to report to the wider community on this year’s activities. As many will be aware, I’ve engaged across the HE sector, representing Cambridge on the Science and Engineering South Consortium for over six years and the Equipment Sharing Project for over a decade. I really enjoy engaging with University staff and students at all levels of the University and have been pleased to support a number of recent initiatives across the institution, and I would particularly like to highlight the following workstreams –
- The School of Biological Science’s Facilities Working Group led by Simon Carpenter
- The Technicians Network led by John Nicholson
- The School of Biological Science’s Strategic Procurement Group led by Caius Liu
- The West Cambridge Project led by Anthea Messent and Greg Strachan
It is wonderful to see the enthusiasm and drive being deployed to improve technician representation, development and progression, alongside more strategic approaches to cost-recovery and the procurement of scientific research equipment and consumables.
In other news, I have been in discussion with the University of Birmingham with regard to co-organising and chairing a nationwide PPMS User Group. For those that are unaware, PPMS is a widely used equipment booking and management system and, following a piece of work in 2018, I created the University’s PPMS user group to share knowledge, ideas and best practice. The group now boasts a membership of over 60 individuals, and membership was extended to members of Science and Engineering South (SES) in 2022.
I have continued to work closely with SES and was able to identify a number of Small Research Facilities within the institution who were keen to participate in SES’s work with the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS). This focussed on how Small Research Facilities had been used by other universities (especially those outside of the region), spin outs and SMEs. If you would like to promote or highlight your Small Research Facility (SRF) or Equipment do get in touch as the new communications coordinator would love to hear from you! You can read the current article here: https://www.ses.ac.uk/royce-cambridge/
More locally, I’ve worked Export Control, Sustainability, Research Strategy, Research Operations (within which I’m based), Contracts, Legal Services, Finance, and Fixed Assets. A recent development has been confirming the Policy on Equipment Donations in collaboration with Cambridge University Development and Alumni Relations (CUDAR). If you’re contemplating receiving donated equipment of significant value, do look at the following information: https://www.equipment-sharing.cam.ac.uk/equipment-donations-disposal-and-recycling
Relationships have been further strengthened with the Department of Sustainability, following a suggestion regarding how we might streamline the processes in place for rehoming unwanted equipment. I’m optimistic that Uni Green Scheme – an asset resale service provider with whom we’ve worked for many years – will ensure that any unclaimed equipment listed on the University’s WARPit platform will be rehomed and not merely be scrapped or disposed of. The WARPit platform, designed for exchanging furniture, equipment, and other resources between university departments has to date, helped generate £1,158,863 in financial savings for the University, equivalent to diverting 105,348 tonnes of waste. To my knowledge very few items have been scrapped when not claimed from WARPit, but any opportunity to improve the process is welcomed. More details on equipment upcycling and disposal can be found here: https://www.equipment-sharing.cam.ac.uk/equipment-donations-disposal-and-recycling
More widely, as the notion of sharing equipment and equipment sustainability appears increasingly in equipment grant applications, in the context of scientific research equipment we consider that the concept of sustainability encompasses not only the production, acquisition and longevity of the equipment but, equally, the staff and technicians who manage equipment and facilities, and their career opportunities, progression and recognition. Sharing equipment provides further opportunities to grow existing networks and facilitate equipment cost recovery and provides valuable real-world experience that enables us to remain at the forefront of science. This adds value to current research, raises impact at subject boundaries, and allows researchers to rapidly respond to emerging new areas. For our staff, the exchange of ideas, knowledge and experience enhances our local skills base and develops expertise in emergent and cross-disciplinary fields.
This contributes to the institution’s commitment to the Technicians Charter and supporting staff development and progression. Toward this objective and on a more personal level, this year I became a qualified mental health first aider and official mentor to University staff and students. Working closely with others within the institution to support the Technicians Charter, individual technicians and research staff and students, is something I am honoured to do.
Equipment Sharing Platform Manager Update: April 4, 2024
Having designed a poster that won a display place at the 2024 Technician's Conference - part of the University's first Conference for Professional Services - I realised that updating our outreach and engagement material was long overdue. I was made aware of the Reprographics Team’s extremely reasonable banner production costs at the previous New Comers Induction event organised by PPD, and must say that they have been absolutely superb throughout and I cannot recommend them highly enough.
The Reprographics Team were able to rapidly develop the original poster into a full size banner with the addition of the University logo and the images I’d curated in PowerPoint. These specific images reflect the diversity of equipment that the equipment database contains, including some of my personal favourites; a bovine simulator to help vet med students learn how to help cows calf, the automotive simulator in my old department, and the various drones, unmanned all-terrain vehicles, and weather balloons that can remotely capture data on geographical, topographical and atmospheric conditions.
The event was a huge success, and the banner itself has become an integral tool in the process of communicating and interacting with conference attendees. The project has a very broad set of stakeholders, and the message to be delivered differs, depending upon the audience. The banner allows me to direct different stakeholder groups to the different aspects of project support available; PI’s and Postdocs looking for funding opportunities, those looking for equipment they don’t currently have access to, those looking to set up new collaborations between departments or research groups, lab managers wishing to encourage users into their facilities, and those wishing to understand funder requirements and compliance. The visuals also pique the interest of viewers and are a useful and, hopefully, entertaining talking point.
A victim of my own success, by the end of the conference, I had given away all the pens, sticky notes, and notepads (the notepads were also supplied by Reprographics at a very reasonable price point) that contain the publicly-accessible Equipment Sharing Hub web address. On the positive, this resulted in less weight to return to the office by bicycle!
Equipment Sharing Platform Manager Update: August 29, 2023
It's been a busy few months in terms of the Equipment Sharing Database. The database now holds records of over 4500 individual items of equipment and almost 130 Small Research Facilities available to staff and students across the University. The vast majority of these records are shared with the publicly accessible and recently revised National Equipment Portal, increasing the exposure of University resources beyond the institution and increasing awareness, use and potential research income. A big thank you to all who've helped make this happen. The database has been accessed over 21,000 times by members of staff and students who have collectively viewed almost 180,000 pages of equipment-related information, and the equipment sharing hub you're currently viewing has itself been viewed by over 11,000 members of the public.
We've streamlined the equipment record approval process which has allowed us to provide quicker turnaround times for record updates. This improves the user experience from a multi-stakeholder perspective and is a big win from a personal perspective. Horizon scanning, we're looking to replace the internal architecture that supports the database although we don't envisage this impacting individuals using the resource or those uploading their equipment to it.
In articles published by the Department of Engineering and on the Sustainability Team's website, an analysis late last year indicated that the average item was first in service (purchased, installed, and made operational) in 2014. This means that equipment is being used well beyond its 4-year depreciation point and is maximising its return on investment. This is useful confirmation that the University is committed to keeping assets for the long term and that we are prioritising use and reuse. We also provide detailed information on rehoming and disposing of equipment, including donating unwanted but functional equipment to African charities and international organisations.
Some of the more interesting (admittedly a subjective term) recent additions include a weather balloon in Astronomy, an all-terrain vehicle (ATV) in Engineering, and an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) in Geography. These now sit alongside my previous personal favourites, namely a cow simulator and a scanning magnetic microscope located within at atmospherically magnetically shielded room.
The equipment sharing project also received an honourable mention at the British Embassy in Poland last September during an event entitled Polish-British Research Excellence Dialogue. The purpose of the meeting being to promote British-Polish collaborations and sharing best practices.
We've supported another successful round of EPSRC Core Equipment Funding to the tune of approximately £1.1M. The sustainability of equipment is coming under increasing scrutiny, and referencing the infrastructure in place in grant applications adds a crucial aspect that funders consider, and increases the potential income generation to individual PI's, Departments, and the institution as a whole. Do consider viewing the guidance on grant applications here, and follow @cam_equip on X to learn about upcoming funding opportunities, events, and all the latest equipment sharing information.
Equipment Sharing Platform Manager Update: May 5, 2022
Earlier this year I published the article above in the Journal of Computer Sciences covering Equipment Sharing, Equipment Booking Systems, Design, User Experience, Remote User Feedback and Commercial Product Development. The reason was twofold: it was an opportunity to reveal the results of a user survey I conducted during the lockdown period, and an opportunity to highlight how these results could be used in developing a business case for booking system investment and adoption.
It is worth remembering that the pandemic forced many laboratories and businesses to close and to reduce admission to sites and occupancy of labs. Thereafter, these booking systems and their inherent functionality became an even more effective tool to manage, control and maintain access to laboratory equipment and facilities, and formed an integral part of institutions recovery strategies.
As a User Centred and Participatory Design Practitioner, I was able to demonstrate how a participatory design approach was applied, remotely, to an existing equipment management software product to identify the benefits of adoption as reported by actual users of the system. This feedback mechanism helped the developers identify how they could further improve their service offering and provided the opportunity to form a data-driven approach to business case development for those wishing to purchase the software.
The approach described gained insight into the strengths and weaknesses of the existing system and was used to enhance the products user experience; the look, feel, functionality, and performance of the application. The study and its findings provide a useful benchmarking tool for those wishing to explore equipment management and booking system adoption, and will - I hope - assist those wishing to develop stronger business cases for system adoption in the future.
Reusing, Recycling and Rehoming Equipment: Jane Miller, Addenbrookes Hospital: November 1, 2021
I am the Administrator within the Division of Anaesthesia which is part of the Department of Medicine which, in turn, is part of the School of Clinical Medicine at the University of Cambridge. We are located in embedded office accommodation in Addenbrookes Hospital and we have enjoyed a long-standing relationship with Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Trust through visiting researchers, specialist NHS training, and our own clinicians and University lecturers and students. In the past we have recycled lab equipment that was not being used by donating to other University Departments and research labs. Years ago, you just asked around to find homes for equipment that was not not needed. Now it is made easy and when we wanted to rehome a Bruker EPR Analyzer, we were pointed in the direction of the equipment sharing project.
Aware that the project supports not only equipment acquisition and the sharing of resources, we were told it offered support in reusing and rehoming operable equipment within the institution. Initially I contacted the project coordinator who explained the support and resources available. There is an expectation that equipment will be made available within the institution in the first instance, although it can also be offered, philanthropically, as a gift or donation to a number of international organisations. Having exhausted the local options first, the item was listed on the University's Science Purchasing and All Company intranet platforms to ensure awareness across the institution, while the details were also promoted on Twitter. Makespace and Biomakespace who aim to refurbish equipment for local use were also contacted.
The item was then listed on the University's WARPit account. WARPit is a free online tool for exchanging furniture, equipment, and other resources between University departments in order to reduce unnecessary procurement, reduce waste, save time on purchasing and disposal, and to free up space. An additional option is UniGreenScheem (UGS) who are an asset resale service endorsed by the University. The listing remained active on WARPit for three weeks before we made contact with UGS, who happened to be collecting equipment from the Department of Chemistry. UGS were happy to add the item to their collection and collected it later that day.
Thank you, you made it easy. Now we just have the space under the bench in our CAT2 lab to clean up!
For more information on recycling and reusing equipment, please visit: https://www.equipment-sharing.cam.ac.uk/equipment-donations-disposal-and-recycling
Equipment Sharing Platform Manager Update: May 17, 2021
Understandably, the last 12 months has seen a decrease in traffic to the database and public pages due to lockdowns and restrictions on access to equipment reducing demand in some areas. However, we're now in the process of approving an additional 900 individual items of equipment to the database and a further 70 small research facilities: a 25% and 50% increase respectively.
Project-wise, the database as a platform and piece of infrastructure continues to form a pivotal part of strategic equipment funding bids and is referenced in numerous equipment funding applications to UKRI and other funding bodies. This year we're been involved in successful applications to the EPSRC's Core Equipment Fund totalling over £1.6M and provided input into a multi-partner £3M application for the AHRC's Capability for Collections Infrastructure Award.
The latter award supports the Heritage Science Hub - a research and collection programme involving the Fitzwilliam Museum, the Hamilton Kerr Institute the McDonald Institute, and the University Library. The hub will facilitate the development of partnerships and collaborative projects in the area of Archaeological and Heritage Science across a number of institutions, including Cambridge University Library, other Cambridge Museums and the Department of the History of Art.
Separately, as an Operational Lead on the University's Recovery Programme, I have been involved in the University's Recovery Task Force and West Cambridge development, looking at infrastructure for equipment booking and management and I've worked with numerous suppliers who are leading the way in providing guidance on both restricting and reopening access to core equipment. There are also plans to revamp and revise aspects of the equipment sharing platform itself, which is very exciting.
Remember to get in touch if you're writing an equipment grant proposal. Funders increasingly expect to see that processes are in place to maximise the use of funded equipment and the database provides the necessary infrastructure to accomplish this. Contact us for details of the processes in place and information on existing equipment to include in your proposal: equipment_sharing@admin.cam.ac.uk
Need inspiration? Follow @cam_equip on X for news and funding opportunities.
Equipment Sharing Platform Manager Update: April 25, 2020
The equipment database was developed in 2012 as a response to changes proposed by RCUK to the way that equipment on research grants would be funded and expectations of improved efficiencies in the use of equipment and, in particular, increased shared usage. Typically it is used as a platform to help researchers find equipment and facilities available for sharing, and to encourage internal, national and international research collaborations. In addition, it can be used to increase the exposure of facilities to recover equipment costs, highlight the University's commitment to share equipment, and as a way to contribute toward waste reduction, reduced consumption, and recycling.
The equipment database provides members of staff and students across the University with details of over 3400 individual items of equipment and more than 70 small research facilities, as well as funding application guidance and news via the publicly accessible equipment sharing hub that operates in parallel. To date, 12,000 users have viewed almost 130,000 pages of equipment-related information, and I too use the database to search for equipment and create lists of primary contacts with whom to connect.
Earlier this year I was tasked with speaking to laboratory and equipment managers in order to support the Government's COVID-19 Test Facility in Milton Keynes by ensuring they had sufficient quantities of reagents and equipment to meet their internal targets by the end of April. Using the database, I was able to identify and contact 130 members who were keen to help.
Catherine Hasted, Head of Business Partnerships, University of Cambridge: Thank you so much...it is incredibly helpful to reach so many people...and great to know such a productive exchange is taking place.
The University created a Slack Workspace to promote discussion around these topics and a dedicated response channel to maintain oversight of the activity across the institution. I was able to coordinate offers of equipment and liaise with Randox Biosciences. PVC for Research Professor Chris Abell had been instrumental in developing a collaborative Screening Centre involving the University, GSK, and AstraZeneca, and I was again tasked with locating equipment to help it become functionally operational. Within four days the equipment had been sourced with additional expertise available to train users.
To witness the support and collaborative efforts of people pulling together has been truly awe-inspiring. The database excelled in facilitating this endeavour and it extended the opportunity to work with colleagues across departments, institutions, external organisations, and local and national coordinated responses.
Professor Stephen Toope, Vice Chancellor, University of Cambridge: Colleagues have been extremely busy recruiting the staff and collecting the equipment needed. We are all infinitely grateful to the people who have donated scientific equipment, and to the people who have volunteered to work in the Centre. The Cambridge community has stepped up remarkably to the challenges we all face together. I thank everyone involved.
Lab Equipment Re-Use and Resale: Mike Mcleod, Uni Green Scheme: April 20, 2019
A common problem across the sector is unwanted and outdated research equipment accumulating in laboratories and facilities. While this equipment is potentially valuable, re-use options can be limited, especially when equipment is disposed of as waste. To tackle this, the University's environmental team launched a pilot of the Uni Green Scheme resale service in February 2018.
UGS collect, store, and sell surplus equipment and return a share of the profits from sales to departments. They were awarded the EAUC Green Gown Award and have prevented over 200,000kg of equipment waste across the UK since 2016.
Mike Mcleod, Uni Green Scheme CEO: The results so far are very promising with over 1,400kg of equipment diverted from waste disposal into reuse. The University has received £4,500 from sales and saved a further £5,000 in time-saving and avoided disposal costs.
The external research sector has saved an estimated £30,000 by buying second-hand equipment sold by the University through UGS, versus buying new equivalents. These figures are significant, not least because only 18% of the stock collected has been sold to date. These figures will continue to rise as more equipment is resold. The Cambridge equipment collected includes incubators, water baths, vacuum pumps, cardiology equipment and much more. Further, the Cambridge Biomedical Campus recently purchased an inverted research microscope from UGS for one of the facilities.
To sell or purchase used equipment, contact UGS directly via info@unigreenscheme.co.uk
Equipment Sharing Platform Manager Update: January 25, 2018
2018 was an exceptional year for equipment sharing. We witnessed a 66% increase in traffic to the database and a 62% increase in traffic to the publicly accessible equipment sharing hub. The database is used by students and researchers to determine the equipment available within the University whilst planning research projects, and this facilitates Cambridge continuing to perform the ground-breaking, impactful, and effective research for which it is renowned. 2018 also saw Cambridge renew its collaboration with the Science and Engineering South (SES) regional equipment sharing consortium; something that is fundamental to progress in the sector and a reflection of the University's commitment to the project, internally and externally.
In order to leverage better investment and value for money, the creation of various user groups has been well supported by 21 core lab managers across 19 departments. Central Procurement and Finance's input was key, and relationships with suppliers has been strengthened throughout the year. I co-authored a successful application to the EPSRC that resulted in the University securing £250,000 for our Early Career Researchers to use on new equipment.
We now have 3365 individual items of equipment and over 70 small research facilities, accessible to all staff and students for current and future projects. External users are able to access the majority of these items via the National Equipment Portal, allowing Cambridge to share at a local, national, and international level.
One of the highlights this year was to receive the following email from a PhD student who managed to secure access to a specific piece of equipment: Just wanted to say a massive thank you for successfully finding us a HoloLens. It is good to know that many people are open to sharing their equipment and I hope this becomes more widespread across departments. It's a brilliant thing you do and it saved us from having to buy our own HoloLens.
Not only does this reinforce the value of the project, it also highlights exactly how it provides a platform for the creation of new internal collaborations, this time between the Departments of Psychiatry and Engineering.
A User's Perspective: Dr Marek, Department of Engineering: December 14, 2018
I work as a post-doctoral research associate investigating non-catalytic and catalytic oxidation reactions, mostly for energy-related applications. My main project focussed on solid fuel gasification and combustion in a chemical looping setup using fluidised beds. This is a new technology where oxygen for reactions is provided from solids instead of air. In my research, I used natural iron ore. My results indicated that the rate of gasification increases when the reaction takes place in the presence of the ore. To determine if these effects were due to other components in the ore acting as a catalyst, I needed to perform X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) analysis. My group did not posses any XRF machines and I was advised to look at the Equipment Sharing Database. This was straightforward and I found what I was looking for right away.
Besides the information about the capabilities of the XRF scanner, the database entry provided the contact details of the primary contact in the Department of Earth Sciences, who kindly agreed to run an analysis for me to help interpret the results. Their help was invaluable and I was able to publish a paper entitled Enhancement of char gasification in CO2 during chemical looping combustion. I am proud of this work, and thanks to the Department of Earth Sciences, I received unambiguous answers and was able to focus on the leading theory presented in the paper.
I have used the database many times since and almost always receive a friendly and positive answer. I believe that sharing research facilities is extremely helpful for researchers as it opens up possibilities to more forward with research ideas even without an all-contained laboratory of your own.
Booker: The Equipment and Room Booking Service: Rob Smith, UIS: October 2, 2018
Booker is primarily designed to permit the booking of rooms across the University Estate with 3500 registered users to date. It offers information about each room and provides customisable options for room managers. User-friendly and versatile, it offers functionality to search for "rooms near me". If the pilot is successful, it will be rolled out across the wider academic community over the coming months. Booker is available to all staff and students and the intention is that it will become a one-stop-shop for booking rooms, equipment, vehicles, bikes, laptops and other resources. You can read more about the booking service here: https://www.educationspace.cam.ac.uk/room-booking/about-booker
An Academic Perspective: Professor Katherine Stott, Department of Biochemistry: August 1, 2018
I manage the Biophysics Facility in the Department of Biochemistry, providing expertise and cutting edge equipment for a range of research projects across the School of Biological Sciences and beyond. The facility was formed in 2011 to reconcile equipment that were distributed around the PI-led laboratories in the department, many of which were either poorly maintained or over-used. A robust financial model was also set up to ensure long-term sustainability of instruments and staff cost-recovery. The benefits of moving to a shared facility format have been manyfold: a wide range of complementary techniques is available in a straightforward and cost effective manner; there is continuity of expertise; a high level of technical support and maintenance; and fair and open administration of bookings.
The instruments are also much more effectively used, with some previously dormant instruments operating over 200 days a year after the move to the facility. A hands-on approach is encouraged in almost all circumstances and after training users join a community of >100 experienced users who share and disseminate their knowledge of methodology and best-practice both informally and formally in instrument "user days" or in some special cases by becoming an expert user/deputy instrument manager. Over the last seven years, an energetic and thriving research community has grown up within and around the facility, with enormous positive impact on the students and postdocs who receive high-quality training and go on to share their experiences, and on the success of research programmes university-wide.
Looking forward, we wish to utilise our strength in numbers and successful sharing model to make maximum use of our equipment (most of which is too expensive for individual labs to purchase and support) and leverage funding for new platforms as required. In the current financial climate it is essential that the funding bodies perceive that they are getting value for money when they fund new equipment. Key to this is an awareness of what is already available locally, and also a means to demonstrate that new equipment will have a wide user base.
Cambridge is an organisation consisting of many departments, often with little communication between them, despite their common aims and often highly overlapping research needs. We use the equipment database both to advertise our own equipment and to source complimentary equipment, and also to direct others when we can't fulfil their needs. This centrally managed, searchable and slick tool is vital to overcoming these obstacles.
An Industry Perspective: Mark Portsmouth, Discovery Analytical Consulting: June 12, 2018
In drug discovery, Open Access LC/MS systems for reaction monitoring and compound QC have been the norm for around 20 years to support Medicinal Chemists. Similarly, for structural elucidation, open access to NMR machine for the faster, routine techniques is provided during core hours with more specialised techniques requiring greater instrument time being deferred to an overnight queue.
Latterly, many companies have moved HPLC purification onto an OA platform especially where mass spec - directed technology is taken advantage of. In all cases, Chemists don't require great knowledge of the software as they simply log-in their samples via a simple interface. They can also see the status of individual instruments and queue lengths via the company intranet. Data is generally returned via email and can be opened in an appropriate browsers of third-party, platform-independent software package. Systems may either be located in chemistry labs or in a central analytical facility. Smaller organisations may benefit from the availability of communal equipment if they are located in one of the several science parks or incubators that are increasingly available in the UK. Availability of equipment in this way may be a significant factor for a start-up when looking for a home or when the look to move on to larger premises.
The Equipment Project at Cambridge provides similar support to external organisations by listing a number of facilities and individual items of equipment that may be suitable for use by industrial and commercial entities as well as University staff and students. Equipment can be used unsupervised providing the appropriate training is in place, used with the supervision of a lab manager or technician, or external samples may be submitted for analysis and the results returned. It is a strategic aim of the University to encourage and ensure the use of shared facilities to support and facilitate greater collaboration and advancement of scientific research. Over 60 small research facilities have been developed that permit access to University staff and students as well as external clients interested in collaborating, or who wish to use the services as part of their R&D strategy.
Equipment Sharing Platform Manager Update: April 23, 2018
When I returned to the role in January this year I was keen to learn was how the sector and equipment sharing movement had developed in the intervening period. I contacted regional and national equipment sharing consortia and key individuals across the country. Equipment booking systems remained a hot topic for all universities contacted, and seen as a way of increasing efficiency and effectiveness whilst reducing burden on local administration. Those that hadn't yet implemented systems were investigating the options available. This is an expanding market. JISC produced a useful guide last year to a number of the products on the market for those wishing to learn about the options available. More solutions appear on an almost daily basis reflecting the growing interest in this area. In terms of collaborative successes, The Royce initiative - a strategic partnership between the Universities of Manchester, Sheffield, Leeds, Liverpool, Cambridge, Oxford, and Imperial College London - is now bearing fruit with Royce equipment housed within the Maxwell Centre at Cambridge becoming operational in April last year.
On my return I was keen to action one of two surveys we administer on a local basis to contacts responsible for individual items of equipment on the Cambridge equipment database. Engaging with our lab and facilities managers has been a really useful way of gaining a snapshot into the sharing activity at Cambridge. I've also gained feedback from users of the system about how we can do things better. This user-centred focus is gaining momentum. The recent UKRI Infrastructure Roadmap Survey brought user consideration to the fore. As well as seeking to understand how utilisation and capacity is measured and understood, it also posed a number of interesting questions -
- Does your Research and Innovation Infrastructure have a single point of access for users?
- What is the most appropriate way of estimating the number of users your RII has?
- What is the most appropriate timeframe for this (annual, since records began, or something else)?
- Using this measure, approximately how many users does your RII have?
- How do you measure the capacity of your RII?
- What percentage of your RII's capacity is used?
- What percentage of your RII's capacity do you aim to use?
It does seem as though the sector drivers are listening and are keen to understand how accurate, effective and useful metrics can be developed. However, a consensus or definition of terms remain outstanding. One sector colleague observed: "Utilisation is a subjective term that can be interpreted in multiple ways, making direct comparison flawed. For example, booking a driving simulator for one week's use requires a week allocated to set-up, a week of client use, and week of data analysis: doe utilisation cover the full 3-week period or merely the clients booked time on the equipment?".
In the case of some microscopes, current setups will have to be dismantled and the required configuration assembled and calibrated. The 'booked use' may then take place, before the setup is gain dismantled, reassembled and recalibrated. This reinforces the need for all of us within the sector, when assessing usage and capacity, to reach consensus on what constitutes the user, utilisation and capacity.
A user may prioritise where an item of equipment is located above the number of publications associated with the equipment. Practically, the lead times associated with publication may mean an item of equipment is no-longer ground breaking by the time publication occurs. However, publication tagging can be useful in reporting activities such as the Research Excellence Framework (REF).
The Research Data Alliance's Persistent Identification of Instruments Group seeks to explore a community-driven solution for the globally unique identification of active instruments in the sciences, and this, linked to publication tagging, could provide a powerful mechanism for future data analytics. This is a topic the User Facilities and Publications Working Group are exploring under the ORCID banner. Laura Haak has written a compelling article on using identifiers to capture and expose facilities use. An ORCID report entitled Findings and Opportunities summarises the discussions around ORCID increasing data capture and reducing the reporting burden for researchers.
Thinking about our users and user groups is central to the development of usable systems and exceptional user experiences.
Are our users internal or external individuals, internal or external research groups, or commercial entities? Are they looking to find a short term, local solution to a mechanical failure, develop a long-term collaborative partnership, or do they merely have a finite number of samples that require analysis? Are they involved in reporting activities at local, regional or national levels? Are they funder-orientated, wish to submit research proposals, and do they want to increase the awareness of their equipment or facility?
Thinking about and speaking with each of these stakeholder groups will help elicit their unique needs and requirements, and will help us develop systems that add value at the cutting edge. Ultimately that focus could help deliver efficiencies to local and national institutions as well as the sector globally.