Welcome to our new blog series showcasing Open Data Manchester’s decade of data-driven change.
For over ten years, ODM has been at the forefront of raising awareness about the opportunities and challenges of using data. We’ve supported countless individuals and organisations in building their understanding and skills. In this series, we’ll dive into eight case studies that demonstrate the real-world impact of our projects.
Today, we’re kicking things off with our recent collaboration with the University of Manchester’s Research IT department.
Research IT Strategy Data Gathering: A Data-Driven Approach to Academic Support
The University of Manchester, one of the world’s top 25 research universities, boasts a diverse research community of over 7,000 researchers across three faculties and nine schools. The university’s Research IT department plays a crucial role in supporting this community, but faced challenges in assessing whether its services were meeting the diverse computational needs of researchers.
Our User-Centric Approach
Over two months, Open Data Manchester conducted an extensive engagement programme, including workshops, interviews, and surveys. We engaged over 60 researchers across 9 university schools, placing their experiences at the forefront of our investigation:
- Diverse Engagement: We ensured representation from various disciplines and career stages;
- Mixed Methods: We gathered both qualitative insights and quantitative data;
- User Journeys: We identified pain points and opportunities for improvement;
- Persona Development: We created research personas to help Research IT empathise with different user groups;
- Accessibility Focus: We ensured consideration of researchers with diverse backgrounds and abilities.
Key Findings
Our research revealed significant insights into the research community’s needs and challenges:
- Common research needs across schools included access to data storage, high-performance computing resources, and tailored training.
- Major barriers included lack of awareness of the department’s services, communication challenges, and technical skills gaps among researchers, meaning many weren’t aware of what services they required.
- Future needs for researchers included increased AI/Machine Learning capabilities, enhanced data governance, and a focus on environmental sustainability.
Impact
The insights gathered from this study are directly informing the development of Research IT’s first-ever strategy. As Gillian Sinclair, Relationship Manager at University of Manchester Research IT, noted:
“Your work gave us our first real starting point for our strategy in terms of identifying customer needs and requirements and looking at how we can address those. Your findings really have been invaluable to us for the creation of our strategy framework, goals, priorities and ambitions.”
This project demonstrates the power of data-driven decision making in higher education, paving the way for more effective and tailored research support services. By bridging the gap between service providers and users, Open Data Manchester has helped Research IT plan for enhanced research capabilities at one of the world’s top universities.
Looking Ahead
This project highlights the importance of comprehensive stakeholder engagement and data analysis in developing strategies that meet the needs of complex organisations. As research landscapes continue to evolve, putting users’ needs at the centre of future planning is crucial in ensuring that services can adapt and thrive.
Read more posts in this series, where we explore more impactful ODM projects. Together, these case studies showcase our commitment to using data and user research for positive change and building a more informed, ethical, and data-empowered future.
If you want to learn more about how ODM can support your organisation’s data strategy, get in touch.