Virtual Research Environments: VRE Programme Phases 2 & 3

A Virtual Research Environment (VRE) enables a group of researchers, often across several institutions, to work collaboratively by forming a social structure and sharing resources over the internet. According to Michael Fraser, University of Oxford, ‘a VRE comprises a set of online tools and other network resources and technologies interoperating with each other to facilitate or enhance the processes of research practitioners within and across institutional boundaries’.

When the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) VRE programme began in 2004, the aim was to develop an ‘off-the-shelf’ VRE that a group of collaborating researchers could integrate into their normal research cycle no matter what their discipline. The focus was on developing technologies and testing their effectiveness across disciplines. Since those early days, the emphasis has shifted away from ‘one-size-fits-all’ towards the definition and development of a common VRE framework that researchers can populate with applications, services and resources appropriate to their needs to create their own bespoke VREs.

The key aims of the present programme are:

• To enhance research practices through the development and deployment of VREs
• To involve and engage the research community in building and deploying VREs
• To start exploiting and extending VREs in higher education
• To continue raising awareness of the benefits of VREs amongst researchers

Four pilot projects are taking this work forward. They involve a wide range of users in real-life research settings within UK higher education and partner institutions. As well as working to define a common VRE framework, they are looking at the need for discipline-specific tools and how VREs can be embedded in different types of institution. They are also evaluating the impact of VRE technologies on research practices and identifying and addressing any barriers to their adoption, whether social, behavioural, technical or institutional. A brief description of each project follows along with an outline of plans for the third phase of the programme.

‘A VRE comprises a set of online tools and other network resources and technologies interoperating with each other to facilitate or enhance the processes of research practitioners within and across institutional boundaries’
Michael Fraser, University of Oxford

Plans for the future

The third phase of the JISC VRE programme will begin in spring 2009 and continue for two years.

It will take forward the goals of the second phase plus the following aims:

• To build self-supporting communities of practice and expertise
• To investigate how VREs can be embedded in institutions

Activity will be grouped under the following headings:

VRE community A VRE community hub will act as a nerve centre for the exchange of tools and experiences. It will collect demonstrators that are exchangeable between disciplines and that inspire and help people to find ways to cater to their own research needs. A VRE archive of expertise will include a tools and standards inventory, user engagement reports and papers and international reports. The aim will be to facilitate self-supporting communities of practice

VRE frameworks This strand will support further research on the development of generic tools and investigate how they can be embedded within VRE frameworks

VRE tools and interoperability Research into tools and interoperability, undertaken during the first two VRE phases, will be taken forward. The tools inventory developed for the VRE community will serve as a resource for further projects

National embedding of VRE resources The aim will be to embed VREs at every stage of the research lifecycle, including:

• Resource discovery, involving databases, data preservation, curation and access
• Research processes, which are different for different disciplines
• Research administration and linking to institutional systems

Publication of results including deposit in repositories (see the full article)