The future for sharing
Professor Sir Ian Diamond’s report on efficiency in higher education highlighted universities’ achievements in asset sharing and called on them to build on this work. Rosie Niven rounds up the views of leading thinkers in the sector around the future of sharing and collaboration in research.
N8 Research Partnership: making it easier to share equipment
Sarah Jackson, Director of the N8 Research Partnership, published her report on efficiencies in higher education earlier this year. We thought we’d catch up with her now that she’s gone back to her day job.
Peter Simpson of N8: ‘deep collaboration is now the norm’
The N8 group of northern universities has a new director, Dr Peter Simpson. We caught up with the former AstraZeneca department head who nurtured collaborative projects at the pharmaceutical giant to find out his plans to encourage collaboration in higher education.
Raising the return: the benefits and opportunities from equipment sharing
Sharing equipment will be a key theme in Professor Sir Ian Diamond’s forthcoming report on efficiency in higher education. Sarah Jackson and Luke Georgiou introduce findings from the study of this activity which show that it is helping to advance scientific research while delivering value to the public purse.
Kit-Catalogue – making sharing easier
Kit-Catalogue is a online database that can help universities to keep track of equipment, internal and external technology gaps and also to identify equipment sharing opportunities. Developed by Loughborough University and funded by Jisc, promotes better use of assets within and between institutions and makes them available for public and commercial application.
Productive efficiencies in higher education – three case studies
These case studies were selected from the report ‘Making the best better – efficiency and effectiveness in higher education’, produced by Sarah Jackson of the N8 Research Partnership on secondment to BIS.
Martin Farley: ‘my work should never harm the science, but rather aims to improve...
Straddling the disciplines of facilities management and scientific research support, the sustainable labs co-ordinator is an emerging role in universities. Rosie Niven meets Martin Farley, who became the first such appointment in the UK when he was hired by the University of Edinburgh and has since moved to King’s College London to take on a similar role.
Raising the return – how do we do it?
In the final blogpost in our series on asset sharing, Sarah Jackson and Luke Georghiou say that despite the progress in this area, more work must be done to deliver full benefits.
Managing research contracts: Report for Brunswick Group October 2013
This report examines research contracts administration and includes benchmarking of resourcing levels and identifies best practice. Produced by Research Consulting for the Brunswick group of research intensive universities, October 2013.
Brunswick agreements
Template agreements for use between institutions with reference to materials transfer, research collaboration and studentship. Produced by the Brunswick Group.