Over the past few months we have been busy working on a number of different projects which are to enhance the support for research at the University. Some of these are already running and others are still being embedded as part of normal process.
Worktribe
The latest version of Worktribe was introduced in March and had a number of improvements to the user experience. We also had the addition of new functionality around Contracts and REF. Since April the contracts workflow been in the process of being embedded by RIO and is now being used for all new contract requests.. There has been a lot of work on the REF module, which is taking a little longer to set up, to ensure it can manage the complexities relating to new rules around staff and outputs.
Project Activity types
We have changed the dropdown lists of project activity types to be more specific. This has changed from ‘Research’ and ‘Other’ to
- Externally Funded Research
- Commercial
- Non-Commercial and
- RIO research funding competition
We have also added an internal funded category. However this should only be used if the School Director of Research has agreed in advance that this is appropriate for inclusion in the system and notified the relevant Research and Innovation Manager. Any Internal projects added which do not follow this process will be deleted.
Contracts workflow
This new addition to the system will record the process of contract negotiation which will increase the visibility of this complex process. This will allow you as an academic/researcher to keep abreast of where a contract is in the process and who is dealing with your contract at any time. This can be used for contracts related to projects already in the management system or for standalone contracts.
You can view any contracts related to your work via the contracts menu or on the contracts tab of a specific project within the system. This will only be used for current and future contracts. You can request a contract via the system or your School Research and Innovation Manger or Business Engagement contact can do this for you as part of the usual support for projects. If you add the contract request yourself you will be required to provide a number of details about the contract via the form generated and a questionnaire. Details of how to this can be found in the training documentation.
Worktribe REF module
This tool in development will support the administration of REF related data. This will allow RIO to collect and model data for REF2021. Once implemented those involved in the REF processes and admin will have access to add and view data around publications. With time this will also include other information required for the REF submission.
Cognos
In collaboration with the Planning & Business Intelligence team we now have a Research and Innovation dashboard within Cognos. This uses project data from Worktribe to display:
- Research Funding Applications,
- Research Awards, and
- Research & Innovation performance indicators
Research Data
Over the past 9 months I have been running research data management training sessions. In addition to this I have been working with Information Governance and Grainne Barkess on GDPR for research at the University. This includes providing research specific documentation and training around GDPR and research data. Research specific training sessions have been held at Sighthill and Merchiston. We will be holding sessions at Craiglockhart in June. We intend to hold more sessions in the future.
Training and Information
All sessions related to Worktribe, research data management and GDPR are advertised and are bookable on Learning Events/ HR connect
More information on Workrtibe, research data management and GDPR can be found on the intranet.