JISC digital Research Community Council (External organisation)

Description

MEMber of council for the Digital research community council
Draft digital research community charter
[NB This charter is for external use to guide the whole digital research community]
• The digital research community explores how technology innovation can help improve current research
practices and enable leading research with global impact, cutting across disciplines, mission groups and
geography.
• The community is for researchers, research leaders, research managers and other professionals involved in
facilitating research, such as researcher developers, research software engineers, library and IT staff.
• It is a forum for showcasing and sharing practice, for discussing ideas and concerns related to technology
innovation for research, and for encouraging collaboration and unified approaches where appropriate.
• It is a place for discussion of concerns and sharing of ideas across a full spectrum of activities related to the
research process. It considers where technology solutions might alleviate concerns and support objectives, as
well as the culture, skills and processes for effective implementation of those solutions.
• Our community supports our members to solve problems and learn from each other’s experience by providing
an open and trusted environment to interact with peers about how technology supports research.
• We tap into the collective wisdom of the group and actively share our insights with the wider world through
content in various forms.
• Members agree to follow community guidelines / code of practice (to be developed).
• We meet X times per year, use Teams community / Zoom.Jisc is the UK’s higher, further education and research sectors’ not-for-profit organisation for digital services and
solutions. We operate shared digital infrastructure and services, negotiate sector-wide deals with IT vendors and
commercial publishers and provide trusted advice and practical assistance for universities, colleges and learning
providers. Jisc’s work to support research is summarised in the attached Document 1 Jisc’s value to research.
As part of our support for members, we facilitate several communities, around topics including accessibility, student
experience and most recently, planning for coronavirus (see the Get involved page for further details). Jisc also runs
a series of open access community events and has previously run a Research Data Network.
Over the last 18 months, Jisc has convened a group of Pro Vice Chancellors for Research; the Research Strategy
Forum, to inform the development of its research sector strategy. As well as providing invaluable input to Jisc, the
group itself has become a welcome forum for discussion amongst the members.
In addition, we are running a series of focus groups with national academies and research funders, exploring
capabilities for future research environments and the potential of Research 4.0. Feedback from these groups has
suggested Jisc can play a role in facilitating sharing of practice and the ‘art of the possible’ related to technology and
research practice. Feedback is summarised in Document 2 Exploring capabilities for future research.
As a result, Jisc now aims to build a digital research community in partnership with a community council.

Period	1 Jul 2020 → 1 Jul 2025