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Jisc helps project to improve international research collaboration
Jisc is helping a consortium, led by the Association of Research Managers and Administrators (ARMA), to assess the feasibility of, and scope for, a platform to help international research collaboration. The aim is to streamline and standardise due diligence processes to increase research efficiency and quality and promote trusted research. The project, funded by the Research England Development (RED) Fund, aims to implement recommendations in ARMA’s April 2021 report ‘Due Diligence in International Research - Options for Improved Efficiency, Equity and Quality’ to ‘establish a due diligence clearing house and national service in support of due diligence for international research’. The project aims to create a process
to help researchers and education institutions comply with guidelines and legislation, such as the NSI Act. Thanks to its expertise in providing digital infrastructure and services, Jisc is
acting as a technical partner, helping to assess the feasibility of a clearing house platform to help make due diligence easier, quicker and more secure. Over the next few months, the
consortium – which includes Northumbria University and the University of Stirling – will explore ownership and funding models and will produce a detailed cost-benefit analysis to quantify the potential saving that can be modelled for the sector. A series of stakeholder engagement events
is planned and a written report will be presented to funders, Research England, in October 2022. Victoria Moody, Jisc’s director of
research and innovation sector strategy, said: ‘Jisc is very pleased to help assess the feasibility of, and scope for, technology to support trusted research and research security, helping international research collaboration and enhancing trusted research. We are delighted to be working with ARMA to scope and design it.’
Remote collaboration ‘leading to more scientific breakthroughs’
A new working paper from the Oxford Martin Programme on the Future of Work has determined that, during the past decade, remote collaboration between academic teams has led to more scientific breakthroughs. Analysis of data for more than ten million research teams, across 11 academic fields from 1961 to 2020, revealed a reversal of what was observed from the 1960s to the 2000s, when remote collaboration led to fewer scientific breakthroughs and more incidents of incremental innovation. At first, this might seem to contradict the established understanding that face- to-face and serendipitous interactions spark creativity and new discoveries. However, researchers think that remote collaborations are complementary and additive to working in-person. Carl Benedikt Frey, director of the Oxford
Martin Programme on the Future of Work, said: ‘What we think we are seeing here is the impact of cross-pollinating ideas across different institutions and cities.
28 Research Information Summer 2022
When remote collaborations happen, individual academics still discuss their ideas within their knowledge networks at their institution. That means we might be seeing a multiplying effect of serendipitous encounters and complementary skills of multiple individuals from different institutions sparking breakthroughs across remote teams.’ This research comes against the
background of disruptive ideas and scientific breakthroughs becoming increasingly rare and harder to find, with incremental discovery now more common than groundbreaking new findings. Yet the research could indicate change in the near future. New teams tend to create more disruptive science than existing teams, and academics with access to better digital infrastructure see better results from remote collaborations. As broadband internet access continues to expand, and more researchers and institutions can harness the new benefits
of remote collaboration in the digital age, we may see this change. ‘We could be at the start of a new
J-curve of research productivity,’ continued Frey. ‘Looking at the historical record we see that steam and electricity led to delayed productivity gains between their introduction and the time it took to improve and learn how to use them efficiently. It is possible that we will see science and innovation at the start of the 21st century mirroring the start of the 20th as the benefits of digital collaboration tools enable researchers to think and work differently.’ ‘As we are learning to succeed with
remote work – minimising its drawbacks while maximising its benefits – not just in day-to-day operations, but also in science and innovation, productivity seems set to surge.’ The working paper, ‘Disrupting Science’, is published in full by the Oxford Martin School at
www.oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk/ publications/disrupting-science/.
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