FarU research infrastructure at hand

24.01.2022

Scientists of the Fahrenheit Universities have gained a new tool, which will make projects and research work significantly easier. As part of the grant project titled Supporting University Consolidation Processes, a system of joint management of member universities’ infrastructure was developed. 133 items of large apparatus and 59 laboratories (core lab), including 2 strategic ones, were placed on the list. Based on the analysis of the MUG, Gdańsk Tech and UG infrastructure in terms of the technologies and applications in use, 18 key categories were distinguished and the share of each university’s infrastructure in each of the categories. The browser is available at www.resources.faru.edu.pl and can be also reached through the FarU website at www.faru.edu.pl/en.

The first phase of this task involved an inventory count of key research infrastructure owned by the Fahrenheit Universities.

– This was an extremely complex and challenging process. The inventory count was conducted independently at each university with relevant IT tools. Infrastructure that constituted the so-called large research apparatus was catalogued. This category included scientific and research equipment with a value exceeding PLN 500,000, as well as scientific and research apparatus of a lower value but of a unique nature or constituting a key piece of equipment in a given laboratory and enabling unique analyses – explains Prof. Adriana Zaleska-Medynska, Director of the FarU and Team Leader for Research Infrastructure.

In addition, the inventory count included the core labs defined as laboratories containing a unique set of scientific and research apparatus and supporting infrastructure, and enabling comprehensive research with the use of a specific technology. Included in the list was also infrastructure of strategic importance, i.e. infrastructure shown on the strategic infrastructure map of the Ministry of Science and Education or in other national or foreign documents.

It is anticipated that the benefits of the consolidation of the FarU universities at the level of key scientific and research infrastructure, especially within common categories, will include the optimisation of infrastructure use, better selection of equipment and the rationalisation of operating costs. In addition, closer cooperation between the universities at the further stages of consolidation, e.g. special organisational links within the hubs, will enable more efficient management of the development and modernisation of the Fahrenheit Universities’ infrastructure.

Diagram 1. Categories of FarU key research infrastructure, by Anna Wróblewska/Intercollegiate Faculty of Biotechnology of the UG and MUG. The thickness of the line connecting the university logo with a hub corresponds to the share of the infrastructure of that university in the hub. The hub diameter is proportional to the sum of the weights given to the infrastructure belonging to a given category for all Fahrenheit Universities

With the use of information obtained during the work, software introducing the research infrastructure of all three universities was designed and developed. As a result of this work, an English-language service was launched to allow public access to and the search of information on key FarU apparatus.

– That database will be updated on an ongoing basis and will permit the best use of research infrastructure resources by the researchers of the Fahrenheit Universities, and will make the presentation of the resources to units outside the FarU more efficient thus making promotion easier and supporting collaboration with external entities – adds Prof. Zaleska-Medynska.

Information presented in the database includes a brief description of the apparatus, its location, contact details of the supervisor of the apparatus or a laboratory, and information on the type of activity for which the apparatus may be used. The rules for making apparatus available should be agreed on a case specific basis with the supervisor or operator of particular apparatus.