Evaluation of Impact of e-Infrastructure Investments : a UK view point Jane Nicholson, Head of Research Infrastructure and International, Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, UK
Over view What is EPSRC and how do we define impact Approaches to evaluating the impact of investments in research Examples of impact evidence Challenges for measuring impact in e-Infrastructures Conclusions
What is EPSRC One of the seven UK Research Councils that work together as RCUK EPSRC is the main UK government agency for funding research and training in engineering and the physical sciences EPSRC invests around £850m a year in world class research and training to promote future economic development and improved quality of life EPSRC is key to tackling challenges such as energy security, climate change, our ageing population, crime and economic resilience EPSRC is generating the fundamental knowledge and skilled people essential to business, government and other research organisations
How we see the future Our strategy has 3 clear goals Delivering impact Shaping capability Developing leaders
Delivering impact We will ensure excellent research and talented people deliver maximum impact for the health, prosperity and sustainability of the UK We will build strong partnerships with organisations that can capitalise on our research and inform our direction We will promote excellence and impact, and ensure it is visible to all
Definitions What is impact ?
The facts and figures WE HAVE SUPPORTED WE COLLABORATE WITH MORE THAN 2,300 12, 300 COMPANIES AND MORE THAN HIGHLY SKILLED POSTGRADUATES 100 TO INDUSTRY AND THE PUBLIC SECTOR OVER THE PAST DECADE PUBLIC BODIES INCLUDING 12 GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENTS OUR £4BN PORTFOLIO WE SUPPORT AROUND SECTORS DEPENDENT HAS LEVERAGED AN ON ENGINEERING AND 8,000 ADDITIONAL THE PHYSICAL SCIENCES ACCOUNT FOR £700m ACADEMIC RESEARCHERS 30% AROUND IN BUSINESS AND OF GDP AND 43% COLLABORATOR 88% CONTRIBUTIONS OF OUR PORTFOLIO IS OF MANUFACTURING EXPORTS MULTIDISCIPLINARY
e-Infrastructures
EPSRC’S role in support of e Infrastructure RCUK Managing agent for provision of shared national HPC systems Ran core programme of RCUK e Science programme Have previously joint funded with JISC the development of the National Grid Service (UK NGI in EGI) Fund software development activities in Engineering and Physical Sciences Fund research programmes of users of e-infrastructures
Support for e-Infrastrcuture : Hardware example UK National Supercomputing Service HECToR – the UK National HPC service. Based on a 366 TF Cray XT6 system plus 114TF Cray XT4 System. Operated by EPCC, University of Edinburgh with science support provided by NAG Ltd. Funded by EPSRC,NERC and BBSRC
Support for e-Infrastructure :Software Example Software Sustainability Institute EPSRC funds the The Software Sustainability Institute (SSI). Run by researchers from the University of Edinburgh, Manchester and Southampton , it works in partnership with research communities to identify key software that needs to be sustained. SSI’s vision is to make software useful for future generations of researchers by improving usability, maintainability and quality. This increases research productivity by enabling more people to use software, delivers added value by leveraging our expertise and connections, and ensures researchers can continue to use their chosen software as a cornerstone of their research. SSI works with groups to facilitate the self-sustainability of research software within the communities that develop and use it, drawing on a skilled team based at the Universities of Edinburgh, Manchester and Southampton. This team includes talented individuals with a breadth of experience in software development, project and programme management, publicity and dissemination, and community engagement .
Approaches to Evaluation of Impact Bibliometrics Collection of Statistics Feedback from Collaborators Case Studies Peer review e.g. Theme days, International Reviews
Bibliometrics : Supporting excellence EPSRC sponsored researchers achieve a higher citation rate of 1.6 compared to the UK average of 1.4 and a world average of 1.0 Figures from 2009/10 Annual Report
Approaches to Evaluation of Impact Bibliometrics Collection of Statistics Impact on Collaborators Case Studies Peer review e.g. Theme days, International Reviews
Support of next generation skills Around 12,300 of the highly-skilled postgraduates supported by EPSRC have moved on into careers in industry and the public sector in the past decade Career Path studies - comparision of average salaries vs. PhD salaries First Destination statistics for PhD students – working with learned societies to track career paths Number of research students who have used facilities – e.g, use of National Grid Service Figures from 2009/10 Annual Report
Impact from excellence Nearly 40% of the research and training we fund is directly involved in collaboration with industry The prototype magnetometer. To date, 132 follow-on projects worth £11.5 million have been supported Our Partnership with the Technology Strategy Board has led to over 270 research projects being sponsored and a joint portfolio of over £250 million Our 28 Strategic Partners bring in £77 million of additional funding Figures from 2009/10 Annual Report
Statistics on use of e- Infrastrcuture HECToR has 1400 UK academic registered users :40% of the users from the Engineering and Physical sciences area have industrial collaborators Over 800 attendees on HECToR training courses to date , OMII has delivered 111 training events to 2000+ researchers The Taverna workflow tool supported by the e-Science programme has had 65,000 downloads and has been used by 350 organisations and 23 companies in 35 countries. The EPSRC funded OMII has supported software deployment on NGS sites plus on Lyceum, Legion,ECDF and Iridis campus infrastructures plus on TeraGrid, NAREGI, D-Grid and EGEE
Approaches to Evaluation of Impact Bibliometrics Collection of Statistics Impact on Collaborators Case Studies Peer review e.g. Theme days, International Reviews
Collaboration Example with regional impact Funding to the University of Newcastle by the e-Science Programme led to substantial regional impact through collaboration with Arjuna Technologies. Seven PhDs and thirty MScs from Newcastle University have worked for Arjuna, one PhD, many MScs and a Business Development Manager have returned from Arjuna to Newcastle University, and the institutionalised network of knowledge transfer to local companies has led to “cutting - edge technologies:” e.g. web services, grids and clouds and the regional involvement of Red Hat, Amazon and Microsoft. Newcastle University estimates that Arjuna/RedHat have contributed ~£16M GVA to the regional economy.
Collaboration example with spin out Nationally, the Distributed Aircraft Maintenance Environment Project (DAME) partnered with Rolls-Royce, Data Systems and Solutions and Cybula Ltd to use e-Science to reduce engine maintenance times and to improve the interoperation of the maintenance team. The technologies developed are now used on Rolls-Royce Trent engines and the result was a spin-off company: Oxford Bio-Signals (OBS).
Approaches to Evaluation of Impact Bibliometrics Collection of Statistics Impact on Collaborators Case Studies Peer review e.g. Theme days, International Reviews
Case Studies of Impact – Example 1 Two EPSRC funded EngD students from the University of Southampton developed the technology used in the building of Amy William’s gold medal winning skeleton sled Credit: Sarah Winterflood/UK Sport
Case Study Example 2: Reducing Noise Pollution in Aircraft Aircraft pressure relief valves are used to protect the fuel tanks of wide-body civil aircraft from over-pressurization. The relief valve outlet is typically in the shape of a cylindrical hole, or cavity, cut in the underside side of the wing skin. At typical approach speeds of around Mach 0.3, the flow past the cylindrical cavity can become unsteady. This produces an unwanted tonal contribution to the airframe landing noise. A numerical investigation of this phenomenon was performed in consultation with Airbus France, as part of the EU programme AeroTraNet. Dept of Engineering, University of Leicester, UK
Case Study Example 3 : Improving the modelling of Cardiac Arrythmia Medical science is increasingly turning to computational models to study the possible effects of drugs and surgical interventions, before moving on to patient trials. One active area of research is in heart modelling. Researchers at the Oxford e-Research Centre (OeRC) and EPCC (University of Edinburgh), will be using HECToR to optimise heart-modelling software. If successful, this work will enable much greater integration of computer simulation with the operating theatre and could, ultimately, lead to personalised medicine.
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