The University is about to start the first full-Faculty pilot phase of the new Research Information System – RIS.

Information Services, Research, Enterprise and Graduate Services and the Faculties have worked together to deliver this first step on a project that will evolve further over the next year.

RIS provides a structured mechanism to handle the preparation, approval and submission of grant applications and a user-friendly interface to enable more effective management of live projects. It will replace pFact, ePrints and other systems with a single, modern and integrated tool.

The Faculty of Engineering is now using RIS as its primary tool for research project costings. The team will test workflows and support models through the pilot. All Engineering staff with responsibility for research project data now have access to the tool.

This pilot is expected to last around four weeks. Once it is complete, a schedule outlining the release of RIS to the rest of the University will be released. Training for RIS will be provided in a number of ways, including through Moodle and group sessions. Training schedules will be available prior to full launch and researchers will be notified as soon as it’s available.

Project Sponsor Prof Kevin Shakesheff said: “More than 100 proposals have been entered into the new system and checked before the Faculty pilot was launched, and we look forward to assessing how it operates in a live environment. I’d like to thank the many people across the University who have worked together to get the RIS project to this stage.”