iFutures2014 - researchbeyondacademia

Research Beyond
A d iAcademia
Some personal reflectionsSome personal reflections
Professor Paul Clough
I f ti S h lInformation School

2
My brief:
“Research Beyond Academia” - will look at how to
engage with industry as part of the research process, with
a focus on how to identify research questions that area focus on how to identify research questions that are
relevant and interesting to non-academic institutions, how
to determine appropriate potential non-academic partners
for grant proposals and how to approach them and "sell"for grant proposals, and how to approach them and sell
your new research ideas.
“My thought was that people attending that would beMy thought was that people attending that would be
interested in working at that industry/academia interface
and might be wanting early career advice along those
lines ” (James)
23/07/2014 © The University of Sheffield
lines. (James)

3http://www.sheffield.ac.uk/is/staff/clough
http://ir.shef.ac.uk/cloughie/

5
Current research projectsj
• Visual Sense: tagging visual data with semantic descriptions
(EPSRC)(EPSRC)
• User-Centered Design of a Recommender System for a
‘Universal’ Library Catalogue (AHRC and OCLC Inc.)
• Developing a taxonomy of search sessions (Google)
• User Preference vs. Performance for Business Intelligence
Dashboards (University of Sheffield and Peak Indicators Ltd)Dashboards (University of Sheffield and Peak Indicators Ltd)

6
Working outside academiag
“Research Beyond Academia” - will look at how to engage with
industry…
• In this session ‘industry’ could include
• Private companies (e g SMEs)• Private companies (e.g. SMEs)
• Non-profit organisations (e.g. charities)
• Public organisations (e.g. local government, public
lib i )libraries)
• ….
• Any non-academic (external) partner

7
Your thoughtsg
• Engaging with non academic• Engaging with non-academic
organisations can be hard work – so why
do it? Why do academics engage withdo it? Why do academics engage with
non-academic partners?

8
http://info sciencedirect com/ecr booklet
http://info.sciencedirect.com/ecr_booklet

9
Why engage with industry?y g g y
• More and more national/international funding bodies
want commercial outcomes (i.e. less “blue sky”)want commercial outcomes (i.e. less blue sky )
• Support from external organisations may strengthen
grant applications
I d t i t ifi• Industry gives you access to specific resources,
challenging problems and possible funding
• May open up potential future job opportunities
• Academia industry/practice use/impact!

10
• Impact a big part of Research Excellence Framework
2014: outputs, environment and impact2014: outputs, environment and impact
• “The assessment of impact will be based on expert
i f t di b itt d b hi h d tireview of case studies submitted by higher education
institutions. Case studies may include any social,
economic or cultural impact or benefit beyond
academia that has taken place during the assessmentacademia that has taken place during the assessment
period, and was underpinned by excellent research
produced by the submitting institution within a given
timeframe”timeframe

11But what about non-technical
subjects?

12

13
Your thoughtsg
So why would non academic organisations• So why would non-academic organisations
want to engage with academia?

14
Why would industry engage with
d i ?academics?
• Kudos associated with (good) universities• Kudos associated with (good) universities
• Access to specific expertise, resources and
knowledge
• Route for submitting to academic publications and
research council funding
• Access to large numbers of students (e.g. forAccess to large numbers of students (e.g. for
research projects, prospective employees)
I d t A d i ?• Industry Academia ?

15
http://osp.mit.edu/sites/osp/files/u8/bestpractices.pdf

16
How can academics engage with
i d t ?industry?
• Partners in funded research projects• Partners in funded research projects
• Offering consultancy and/or training
• Membership of advisory panels/boardsp y p
• Short-term visits/internships/sabbaticals
• Co-supervision of student projects
• Invited talks at business-oriented events
• …

17

18
How can industry ‘support’ academics?
• Funding for conducting research
• Letters of support (e g for grant proposals REF case• Letters of support (e.g. for grant proposals, REF case
studies, etc.)
• Provision of (specialised/unique) resources/data
• Intellectual input and specialised skills
• Connections with people you wouldn’t normally be
able to accessable to access
• …

19
Identifying projects and partnersy g j
• Three major routes (Johnson, 2011)
• You have research idea and seek interested
partners to support the research
• You know potential partner and ask if they have• You know potential partner and ask if they have
research you could undertake
• Potential partner already doing someone and youp y g y
could add value/contribute

20
My own engagement “stories”
• OCLC Inc
• UK National Archives
• Peak Indicators• Peak Indicators

21
• OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Inc., US-based nonprofit
corporation, provider of information products/ services and researchp p p
organisation. OCLC own Dewey (DDC) and manage WorldCat.org
• Through former boss, I developed links with people from OCLC in
Sheffield (formerly Fretwell Downing). Gave talks on our research
• OCLC and Sheffield were involved in EU-FP6 funded project
(MultiMatch)
• Key researcher from US (Dr. Lynn Connaway) visited iSchool in
2008 and after meeting we identified common interests in
transaction log analysis and information retrieval
• Lynn invited me to Dublin, Ohio, to meet OCLC staff and give
compan ide talk as part of their Disting ished Speaker seriescompany-wide talk as part of their Distinguished Speaker series

22
• Lynn came to Sheffield for 3 months funded by EU Marie
Curie grant (Memoir) grant. We developed ideas aroundCurie grant (Memoir) grant. We developed ideas around
transaction log analysis, recommendations and WorldCat.org
• Some initial work undertaken through student projects and
then opportunity for funding from AHRC came aboutthen opportunity for funding from AHRC came about
(Collaborative Doctoral Award)
• “User-Centered Design of a Recommender System for a 'Universal'
Library Catalogue”
• OCLC provided money ‘in-kind’, access to resources, access to end
users, support for student visits
• OCLC now establishing presence in Netherlands to allow forg
future participation in EU projects

23
“....The findings and recommendations have been used
t t h t d d t W ldC tto support enhancements and upgrades to WorldCat.org,
as well as a marketing strategy... An enhanced version
of WorldCat is available to member institutions and the
changes to the system will impact most of the 25,900
OCLC member libraries, archives, and museums .”
Senior Research Scientist Online Computer LibrarySenior Research Scientist, Online Computer Library
Centre
Informed information systems: integrating information
behaviour into effective systems development and evaluation
y p

24
• UK National Archives (TNA) is publisher of the UK
Government’s official archive containing over 1000 yearsGovernment s official archive containing over 1000 years
of history
• Initial connections formed through former MSc studentg
(Head Of Digital Preservation and Resource Discovery)
• Relationship developed through student projects,
teaching and meetings with TNA staff (London)
• Developed common interests around spatial analysis of
datasets and enriching the user experiencedatasets and enriching the user experience

25
• Main collaboration with TNA came through £70,000
funding to undertake work on enriching the searchfunding to undertake work on enriching the search
experience
• TNA also provided resources: transaction logs and web content
• Sheffield provided access to specific skills and resources
• Outcome of collaboration
Two co authored journal papers (plus conference papers)• Two co-authored journal papers (plus conference papers)
• Additional JISC funded work through Search25 project (with TNA
member of staff)
D bl i /• Demonstratable impact/use

26
“The outputs of the work were provided in such a“The outputs of the work were provided in such a
focused and timely way that they have been able to
dovetail with our system development activities this year
[2011] and inform critical decisions in designing our new
resource discovery system to the benefit of the
organisation and ultimately the public that use it”organisation and ultimately the public that use it
Head Of Digital Preservation and Resource Discovery
Informed information systems: integrating information
behaviour into effective systems development and evaluation

27
• Peak Indicators are local (Derbyshire) BI consulting firm
P k l d l f t d t ( l i li k )• Peak employed several of our students (alumni links)
and already provided input to our BI module
• Recently Peak are contributing to our new MSc Datay g
Science (guest lectures, case studies and marketing)
• Opportunity came up to work on small research project
with external organisation – Peak had specific problemwith external organisation – Peak had specific problem
and were willing to contribute funds (£3,000) and staff
• User Preference vs. Performance for Business Intelligence (BI)
DashboardsDashboards

28
• Project involved reviewing literature, conducting data
collection and data analysis (skills we have)collection and data analysis (skills we have)
• On day-to-day basis the project involved regular meetings and
discussions about data collection
• Peak are very well connected and since provided us with a BI• Peak are very well connected and since provided us with a BI
case study in John Lewis Partnership (unique opportunity)
• Outcomes
• Access to end user groups we simply can’t get at
• Co-authored research papers (to come)
• Invited talk at BI conference (London) with Peak staff( )
• Future collaborations for larger grant proposals

29
Locating non-academic partnersg
• Online searches
• Alumni (known way in)• Alumni (known way in)
• Colleagues (e.g. PhD supervisor) and FoaF
• Business events
• Specific networking events (e.g. EU)
• University research office (e.g. Business Development
teams)teams)
• …

30
Forming relationshipsg
• Get to know individuals within organisations, e.g. through
alumni, networking events etc. (cold calling has not worked forg ( g
me)
• Where possible try out initial research ideas (e.g. through
student projects or self-funded work)
• Try to have discussions with industrial partners to ascertain
their interests, problems and where you could contribute
• Get yourself known in the field and try to communicate your
h i l i d t i l t ill d t dresearch in a language industrial partners will understand
• Look for opportunities to undertake placements within
organisations

31
Locating non-academic partnersg
• Online searches
Alumni (known way in)• Alumni (known way in)
• Colleagues (e.g. PhD supervisor) and FoaF
• Business events• Business events
• Specific networking events (e.g. EU)
• University research office (e.g. BusinessUniversity research office (e.g. Business
Development teams)

32
‘Issues’ that can (and do) arise( )
• Need to manage expectations and differences in work
practices
• Academics typically work at a slower pace; industry wants it
done now (time is money)
• Aims of academics in research tend to be more theoretical than
industry or commercially focusedindustry or commercially focused
• Academics typically have teaching and administration
constraints to contend with
• Goals may/will be different (e g papers vs patents; need for• Goals may/will be different (e.g. papers vs. patents; need for
ethics approval etc.)
• Industry often has more bureaucracy than academia (yes it’s
true!) making it hard to get things done
• The academics are the first to get pushed down the priority list
when “emergencies” come along

33
‘Issues’ that can (and do) arise( )
• Trying to find suitable funding and the timescales involved in
this can put some industry partners offy
• University funding models can make it hard to work with
industry (e.g. overheads)
• Building up reputation/trust with organisation will take timeg p p g
and effort
• Quality of research can make a big impact on perception
towards academia (e.g. if relying on student projects)
• In current economic climate industrial partners typically have
much less resource to dedicate to research activities (e.g.
funds or personnel for research grants)

34

35
Your turn
• How to identify research questions that are
relevant and interesting to non-academic
institutions

36
Your turn
• How to determine appropriate potential
non-academic partners for grant proposals

37
Your turn
• How to approach them and “sell” your new
research ideas

Thanks for listeningThanks for listening

iFutures2014 - researchbeyondacademia

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

What's hot

What's hot (20)

Similar to iFutures2014 - researchbeyondacademia

Similar to iFutures2014 - researchbeyondacademia (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

iFutures2014 - researchbeyondacademia