BBSRC and data visualisation Head of Policy Evidence Dr Beverley Thomas Head of Policy Evidence Beverley.Thomas@bbsrc.ac.uk

Visualising Research BBSRC’s interest in this space are two-fold: supporting the research community to visualise biological data data visualisation tools to inform strategic planning and decision making

Challenges of visualising biological data AHRC and BBSRC workshop, Nov 2010 To showcase current activities, tools and technologies relevant to the visualisation of biological datasets. To encourage cross-disciplinary collaborations aimed at encouraging creative visualisation tools for the biosciences. To explore the opportunities and bottlenecks associated with visualising biological datasets. Also to initiate interdisciplinary discussions and seed collaborations between bioscientists and data visualisation experts.

Community Network in data visualisation: scope Bring together developers of data visualisation software and algorithms with researchers with biological datasets that they wish to be analysed. Provide a forum for the discussion of cutting edge data visualisation techniques. Provide a mechanism to enable multidisciplinary collaborations. Provide a central point of contact for data visualisation and dissemination of information regarding current visualisation tools for biological data.

Community Network in data visualisation: operation The network should be established and instigated by a group (20+) of community representatives, brought together by invitation to a dedicated meeting. The network should be open, to ensure that attendees from the breadth of disciplines are able to attend. The network should periodically consider, identify and invite representatives of disciplines not already attending the network.

BBSRC’s Tools and Resources Development Fund (TRDF) Aims to pump prime the next generation of tools, technologies and resources that will be required by bioscience researchers in scientific areas within BBSRC’s remit. TRDF operates via two calls (next closing dates will be in Sept 2014): Call 1: to support novel technology development, focusing on tools and instrumentation Call 2: to support the development of bioinformatics, computational biology software or algorithm development, including data sharing. Grants of up to £150k (duration up to 18 months); industry collaborations are encouraged if appropriate to the proposal.

Data visualisation tools to inform strategic planning and decision making Static plots of funded research portfolio developed using Sci2 software.

Data visualisation tools to inform strategic planning and decision making ReSOURCe: internal system of funded research 25,000 records, exceeding £5 billion, from 1997 onwards. Collaboration developed with Katy Borner (University of Indiana) 2012

Interactive tool for strategic planning and decision making developed Dec 2013

Why Gateway to Research? The original signal came from BIS Innovation and Research Strategy for Growth (December 2011) which stated the intention to maximise the impact of our research base on economic growth and make research findings more accessible to all users. Create a single public point of access to search and analyse information on who, what and where the Research Councils fund. The Research Councils committed to work with their partners and users to ensure information is presented in a readily reusable form, using common formats and open standards.

Key data fields in GtR Projects data People data text (e.g. title, abstract, technical summary) start and end dates funded value organisation of award, organisations of collaboration People data awards with role (e.g. principal investigator, co-investigator) current organisation Outcomes (each associated with an award) includes publications or other outcomes (e.g. collaborations, further funding, impact)