This guest blog from Digital Research Services (DRS) provides an overview of the digital research tools, training and case studies available to researchers at the University of Edinburgh. DRS cover the full research lifecycle, bringing together resources provided by Information Services Group, EPCC, SSI, EDINA, DCC and others. Beyond this, the DRS team have also organised a programme of activities designed in collaboration with representatives from the user community. Dr Sarah Janac, Research Facilitator, outlines in this blog post, how Digital Research Services’ support, events and activities will help you gain new skills and take your research to the next level.
Tailored Support
Although we provide a single point of access, we understand that every researcher will have different needs – depending on what discipline they are in, what stage of their career they are at and what digital expertise they already have. This is why we have created different access routes to Digital Research Services that can be tailored to an individual level.
To start off with, you can check out our guide for PGRs and our guide for research staff. These have been particularly useful in the Welcome Week and for new staff inductions, outlining the key tools and support available at different stages of an academic career. Please help distribute these guides to groups who could benefit from them, and of course we are also available for Induction or Welcome talks at your School/Institute/Centre!
The Computing Staff across Colleges are key to supporting the services and promoting best research practice. We had the first of several Computing Officers events to support further skills development, help network and create a dialogue between Computing Officers across the University.
Looking for more tailored support?
You can check out our interactive Resource Finder tool on our website. By answering a simple set of questions across the research lifecycle, a customised list of tools will appear which can benefit your project. You can save, share and revisit this list easily by copying the URL.
We also have a new Book-a-Meeting functionality, so you can easily get in touch with one of our college-specific Research Facilitators. The Research Facilitators can discuss your project needs and help you develop a plan to store, manage and share your work.
Skill Development
We bring together lots of different service providers to help you develop all-round skills in digital and computational aspects of your project. And we make sure that the skill development sessions work around you and your schedule.
Want an intensive two-day workshop? Join our Digital Research Bootcamp on 4th and 5th December 2023 to deep-dive into Digital Research. You will learn more about how to plan your project, how to manage your data and different publishing pathways. There is also research compute sessions for beginners and advanced.
Can’t commit to 2 full days? Our Lunchtime Seminars in Semester 2, Academic Year 2023/24, will look at a different portion of the research lifecycle – and associated digital tools – across a series of events. Including some time for lunch and networking. However, if you can’t make it in person, the Lunchtime Seminars will be hybrid and recorded for you to view in your own time.
Want to learn at your own pace? Our Media Hopper channel has lots of recordings and various how-to-videos, such as how to get started with Unix Shell. Have a browse, and get in touch if you have any questions.
Best practice sharing and networking
All our in-person events have time for mingling and chatting. Sometimes the best ideas and inspiration come from 1:1 interactions with others who may be in the same disciplines, or in an entirely different part of the University. We have also organised some specific events dedicated to exchanging ideas and best practice.
College-Specific Research in Action Events (November 2023) – Join us for these in person, to find out more about how researchers make the best use of digital research tools at your College. You can discover how digital tools help you scale up your research project and comply with best research practices and find out more about the fascinating research at your College. The CMVM Research in Action event will take place on 15th November 2023 and the CAHSS one on 21st November 2023.
Spotlight Events (Semester 2) – These events will help uncover particular stumbling blocks in digital research and help you get your head around particularly difficult topics areas. The schedule is still to be finalised and will be guided by the questions we at Digital Research Services, and our research support partners across the University, get asked most. You are also very welcome to suggest topics yourself by getting in touch with one of our Research Facilitators!
We hope that you enjoyed this round-up of digital research facilitation, and perhaps we will meet you at one of our events. To stay up to date, please follow us on social media (X or LinkedIn) and subscribe to our mailing list.
