A number of JISCMRD Projects have been looking at regional collaborations. Organised by Jez Cope of Bath Research 360, the projects in the south west of the country (Bath Research 360, Bristol’s Data.Bris, UWE’s MRD Pilot and Open Exeter) met recently. There are two blog posts about this meeting which may be of interest to other projects, from the UWE MRD Pilot and from Open Exeter.
Both posts highlight areas of commonality and areas – mostly architectural and to do with the choice of repository or CRIS – where the projects differ. These patterns doubtless play out across the programme too. What the regional meeting allows – clearly – is for projects to meet without a great travel burden and perhaps on a regular basis. I shall be very keen to hear of other and further initiatives like this.
Having attended the DCC’s Regional (East Midlands) Roadshow in Loughborough, Rachel Proudfoot of the Leeds Roadmap Project asks whether and where ‘there is a regional role in fostering a community of data management practice’. Rachel P. makes a particularly pertinent point: ‘Maybe regionalism is not relevant in the research data management world – but we certainly see shared research projects across the White Rose Consortium and a regional approach does offer opportunities for exchange of experience: the question is whether this can/will/should translate into regional shared services – for example, computing and storage.’ Rachel would be grateful for your thoughts at the Roadmap blog.
Similarly, I’d very much like to encourage other JISCMRD projects to follow the South West example, if you see that as being useful. Whether just for sharing ideas or exploring activities further along the collaboration continuum, I would like to hear what projects and institutions think about regional meetings and collaborations.