Within the research futures and digital resources directorates at Jisc, we spend a lot of our time liaising with university repository and library staff to discuss their priorities and needs for research support services and resources. However, university research support staff work don’t just work in the library or IT departments, but are instead spread across a wide range of central and academic departments, schools and directorates.
ARMA, the professional association for research managers and administrators in the UK, represents all professionals working in the full range of research support areas, from research grant administration (both pre and postaward), ethics and best practice, postgraduate research management, research development and planning, policy development, metrics, impact and open access management. As such, attendance at their annual conference gives us a great opportunity to reach out to a wide pool of research support managers and administrators. Last year, the conference attracted over 700 delegates and this year’s event in Liverpool (5-7 June) looks set to be even bigger.
A packed programme
Alongside two plenary sessions from Dr Lesley Thompson and Rebecca Endean, there are six parallel sessions organised into diverse themes including policy and governance, information management, research impact and service organisation and delivery. This year, Jisc staff are leading two sessions, as well as a contributing a stand where delegates can come to informally discuss issues relating to digital technology and research support.
Making open access more efficient
In this session, Helen Blanchett, Bill Hubbard and Anna Vernon from Jisc digital resources will discuss some recent findings and recommendations of the Open Access Efficiencies Working Group, a sub-group of the Universities UK Open Access Coordination Group. The sub-group is tasked with producing an overview of the implementation of UK open access policies, in terms of best practice and efficient administration. As part of this, the group has launched initiatives to look at expanding the use of identifiers and improving communication on open access policies. Work is also being carried out to identify and mitigate pain points for stakeholders in the payment of article processing charges (APCs).
Getting more out of our current research information infrastructure
In this session, Catherine Grout and Tamsin Burland from the research futures team will be exploring the current state of the UK research information infrastructure and the current work being undertaken to improve interoperability between higher education institutions, funder and government systems in the short, medium and long-term. We will be discussing progress on the development and use of identifiers and standards to advance the goal of ‘enter once, use often’ in research information management. We will discussing what can be done in the short, medium and long term to work towards a more joined-up landscape for the management and reporting of research information.
Jisc networking breakfast
As well as the two parallel sessions, Jisc will be hosting a networking breakfast at our stand on the morning of 7th June (8.30am). This is an opportunity to network with other delegates, hear more about the existing and new services we are developing in the research area, and to informally discuss with Jisc staff topics around equipment sharing, APC offsetting, APC management at the institutional and UK level and recruiting participants for research studies.
This year’s ARMA conference promises to be a great event and we’re looking forward to seeing you there.
