iFutures2014 - researchbeyondacademia

Research Beyond A d iAcademiaSome personal reflectionsSome personal reflections

Professor Paul Clough

I f ti S h lInformation School

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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/cloughhttp://ir.shef.ac.uk/cloughie/


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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)


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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) partner23/07/2014 © The University of Sheffield

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Your thoughts g

• 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?


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http://info sciencedirect com/ecr booklet


http://info.sciencedirect.com/ecr_booklet

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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 applicationsI 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!


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• 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?


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Your thoughts g

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


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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 ?


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http://osp.mit.edu/sites/osp/files/u8/bestpractices.pdf23/07/2014 © The University of Sheffield

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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• …


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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• …


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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 you p y g ycould add value/contribute


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My own engagement “stories”

• OCLC Inc• UK National Archives• Peak Indicators• Peak Indicators


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• OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Inc., US-based nonprofit corporation, provider of information products/ services and research p p porganisation. 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


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• 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 for g

future participation in EU projects


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“....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

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• 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 student g(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


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• 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 collaborationTwo 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


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“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


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• Peak Indicators are local (Derbyshire) BI consulting firmP 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 Data y gScience (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


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• 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


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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)• …


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Forming relationshipsg• Get to know individuals within organisations, e.g. through

alumni, networking events etc. (cold calling has not worked for g ( gme)

• 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


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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)


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‘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 along23/07/2014 © The University of Sheffield

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‘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 time g 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)


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Your turn

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


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Your turn

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


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Your turn

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


Thanks for listeningThanks for listening

iFutures2014 - researchbeyondacademia

Presentations & Public Speaking

Transcript of iFutures2014 - researchbeyondacademia