Skip to content
Skip to navigation menu

 

Promoting research enablement at National IT Research Liaison Conference

29 January 2010

Logo for UCISA, the Universities and Colleges Information Systems Association.

Information Services' Marina Whitmore and Chris Dickson played leading roles in the recent UCISA National ICT Research Liaison Conference.

The Conference, which was held in Manchester at the end of January and attended by over 60 delegates, looked at the challenges faced by Higher Education ICT providers in liaising with researchers to better support their ICT needs.  The event facilitated the understanding of good practice, and enabled delegates to share and discuss their experiences.  It was sponsored by JISC who have also commissioned a report on models of research liaison across the sector.

Marina Whitmore, Principal Consultant and User Enablement Manager, organised and facilitated the Conference in her role as Chair of the UCISA Communications Working Group.

Chris' presentation, 'IT Liaison to Enable Research - Doing More With Less', looked at the opportunities for Universities to improve research outcomes and the impact of the IT service, by developing a strong partnership between the research community and IT service providers. Chris gave some suggestions to the delegates about how to achieve a larger impact in research support, using limited research liaison resources.

Marina said: "The Conference was a great success, with delegates providing useful and positive feedback that will be used to inform both future events and the JISC report.  The relationship between ICT service providers and researchers is key to successful Higher Education, with both parties contributing hugely to the reputations of their institution. In this environment, it is absolutely vital that a positive relationship can be forged."

Chris added: "One of the main benefits of the Conference has been the opportunity to discuss liaison and relationship building with colleagues throughout the UK’s Higher Education sector. There are some very positive examples of best practice emerging in this area and we, as a sector, need to embrace and build upon these practices."

Find out more about Information Services’ provision for researchers.