Introducing Research Computing
In May 2015 the Research Computing Team joined the Library from IT Services as part of the new Digital Research Division. There are three developers in the team: Swithun Crowe, Patrick McCann and Mary Woodcock Kroble. The main function of the team is to provide support and expertise to researchers across the University with regard to the IT components of their research.
When a researcher is applying for funding, we can help them write the technical components of their bid. As well as covering any software development that we would carry out on the project, this can include helping them to understand what relevant solutions and services are available within the University (e.g. with regard to data storage and collaboration with external partners) and advising on appropriate approaches. The work that we do on projects ranges from simply providing hosting through setting up and maintaining project websites and blogs to creating custom applications, according to the requirements of the researchers. The software we have developed for projects includes custom databases, tools to enable the marking up of documents and searchable document indexes, all typically accessed via web interfaces. A number of projects make use of the Image Database, which is maintained by the team. We try to make use of open-source software and apply open standards so as to provide the most sustainable solutions possible.
Support is available for unfunded work as well as funded research projects, though funded work takes priority. Additionally, we support St Andrews Digital Collections along with the Digital Humanities team and provide support to the Research Data team, particularly with regard to the provision of storage for research data.
That’s a very brief introduction to the Research Computing team – hopefully you will gain more insight into what we do in future posts. This section of the Library blog replaces our old blog. Check back here for regular posts on our different activities. If you think that we can help you with your research, please get in touch by emailing [email protected].