Shared Research Infrastructure Professor Jane Millar Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research) University of Bath

National context Wakeham review (2010) encouraged sharing of research equipment and facilities Reduction in capital budgets in 2010/2011, new Research Councils processes – separating resource from capital, and requiring HEI leverage Diamond review for UUK on efficiency and effectiveness (2015) “Well managed, strategic asset sharing arrangements can produce a range of significant benefits beyond efficiencies. The sharing of assets can lead to better science.. sharing can bring together different research disciplines, which can enable new and multi-disciplinary scientific and technical advances, and improves the training and skills-sets …These benefits are in addition to savings from shared investment and running costs.” BIS, Higher Education Funding Letter , Annex 1 para 18 “we will want you to promote openness and collaboration through the better sharing of infrastructure, data assets, and other research resources to improve the efficiency and productivity of research in a more agile sector” BIS, 2014, response to consultation on capital investment in science “a view to supporting a sector - led, national approach to equipment sharing which will benefit both academia and industry”

1.Strategy to enhance our common research infrastructure 2.Effective systems for procurement and sharing of infrastructure and research equipment 3.External funding to support the development of shared GW4 infrastructure 4.External recognition and input into UK and European policy and practice GW4 Ambition: Outstanding Research Infrastructure

GW4 Activities Strategy Governance – GW4 support for bids, principles for access and charging IT infrastructure survey Systems for procurement and sharing Shared equipment data base – with 1324 items searchable Review of High Performance Computing procurement Library archives and research data management Great Western Treasures External funding GW4 support to institutional bids JISC project: Open Access article processing charges Compiled research capital shortlist to identify future possible bids External recognition and input Recent reports (e.g. Georgiou and Jackson, 2014 for input to Diamond review; Harrison, Smith and Kinton 2015, on ‘new regionalisation’ in higher education). Response to BIS Capital consultation July 2014

Final word – from the Diamond Review “It is important that sharing is not seen as a panacea, and significant barriers remain. Establishing effective sharing mechanisms can involve substantial transaction costs before operational efficiencies can be realised, which means that there is currently only a strong business case for the sharing of very high-cost equipment items. Increased operational costs include spending on consumables, maintenance, travel, training and technical support, plus an additional VAT charge on sharing if the appropriate arrangements are not put in place.” (page 6).

How to turn good ideas into reality… Kate Robinson, University Librarian, University of Bath On behalf of the GW4 Libraries Group Libraries Group

Spotlight on Three Areas Strategy to enhance our research infrastructure: Research Data Management Green Paper External funding to support development: Jisc Pathfinder Project Effective systems for sharing assets: Great Western Treasures

Research Data Management

Jisc Pathfinder Project Two year project Jisc funded: £35,750 Led by Bath, supported by GW4 libraries

Great Western Treasures: scope GW4 Libraries hold: Key library collections, encompassing centuries of knowledge. The collections cover a range of themes including the environment, women, medicine, written word, ways of thinking, and science and technology

Great western treasures: REF REF Subject PanelsBath (REF position)Bristol (REF position)Cardiff (REF position)Exeter (REF position)Special Collections Notes 1,2,3: Medical studies3 (6)1,2,3 (19,4,31)1,2,3 (8,20,4)1,2 (13,21)History of medicine collections 7, Earth / Environmental studies -7 (2)7 (20)7 (14)‘Environment’ collections 16,17, Architecture / Planning / Geography / Archaeology 16 (1)17 (1/61)16,17 (13/9, 32)17 (22/29) History of architecture, Planning/Environment, Archaeology collections 19, Business / Management studies 19 (8)19 (24)19 (6)19 (39)Historical business records? 20,21, Law and Politics -20,21 (9, 36)20,21, (13, 13)20, 21 (19, 9) Historical political, legal collections ? 25, 26, Education, Sports / Leisure studies 26 (5)25, 26 (10, 1)25 (5)25, 26 (8, 10) Historical sport, leisure, and tourism collections 27, 28 Area studies, Modern languages 27 (16)28 (31)28 (7)27, 28 (3, 36) ? Geography, travel, Welsh, Islamic studies etc! 29 English studies-29 (60)29 (10)29 (30) English historical literature and drama collections. 30, 31 History, Classics-30, 31 (35, 10)30 (17)30, 31 (9, 11) ‘Historical’ unique archives, rare books, etc ! 32, 33 Philosophy, Theology/Religion -32, 33 (12, 19)32, 33 (21, 10)33 (13)Historical religious collections 35 Music, Drama, Dance-35 (25/22)35 (13)35 (32)Historical music and drama collections

Great Western Treasures: scale 10 kilometres of Rare Books: from the 1470s to the 1940s 5 kilometres of Manuscripts and Archives: from the 14 th to 20 th Century Unmeasured research potential...

Great Western Treasures: potential For researchers: Access to a wider range of historical materials in their subject Access to specialist staff knowledgeable about collections in their field For undergraduates: Workshops including ‘hands-on’ use of original historical source materials Dissertation work based on unexplored archival or rare books collections in their field Student ‘internships’ with practical work in special collections and archives, related to their interests and developing their research skills

GW4 community clusters Environmental Humanities Project The GW4 Environmental Humanities Group will bring together a new community of researchers in the Human Sciences focused on raising the profile and collaborative potential of interdisciplinary work on issues of climate and environmental change in Wales, the South West and internationally … to develop new ways of addressing the challenges of climate and environmental change by foregrounding historical experience, cultural values and meanings of landscape and place…

GW4 Libraries Research support and compliance: we can help Grant applications: we can help Impact & external engagement: we can help Learning enhancement: we can help Student employability: we can help Oasis of calm for serious study: we can help! Innovation: why not try us?