QUT to overhaul research management system

The Queensland University of Technology is in the market for an “innovative” new system to manage research projects in a bid to set itself up for growth in research demand.

The overhaul forms part of its wider transformation program, which is overseen by QUT director of information services Chris Bridge. The program is intended to implement a modern digital workplace for staff and students, simplify how users access information, and improve mobile accessibility.

It involves the replacement of the university's research management platform, which currently suffers from a range of issues including manual or semi-manual integration with other business systems.

The system currently consists of two separate applications: ResearchMaster 5.18 and a second bespoke system called RAD (Research Activity Database), built on an Oracle database.

There is also a separate library repository called QUT ePrints that uses a MySQL database and a web-based front end called Postgraduate Office Research Training Information Assistant (PORTIA).

The platform manages, monitors and measures a broad range of government, commercial, and student research activity carried out by the university.

It currently holds records for 23,000 historical projects dating back to the 1990s, and 3500 active projects, with an additional 2000 projects expected to be added each year.

The university has indicated its need to introduce a scalabe system that will provide efficient administration and allow it to respond to increases in research demand and future changes in the higher education sector.

Initially the new system will be used by 2500 students, 2250 academic/research staff and 250 administrative users, although this workload is expected to grow significantly over the coming years, meaning the system will need to be able to scale accordingly.

The university is looking to shortlist potential vendors during the week of November 21 to 25, with a solution ideally in place in early 2018.