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A Virtual Research Environment (VRE) enables a group of researchers, often across several institutions, to work collaboratively by forming a social structure and sharing resources over the internet. According to Michael Fraser, University of Oxford, ‘a VRE comprises a set of online tools and other network resources and technologies interoperating with each other to facilitate or enhance the processes of research practitioners within and across institutional boundaries’.
When the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) VRE programme began in 2004, the aim was to develop an ‘off-the-shelf’ VRE that a group of collaborating researchers could integrate into their normal research cycle no matter what their discipline. The focus was on developing technologies and testing their effectiveness across disciplines. Since those early days, the emphasis has shifted away from ‘one-size-fits-all’ towards the definition and development of a common VRE framework that researchers can populate with applications, services and resources appropriate to their needs to create their own bespoke VREs.
The key aims of the present programme are:
* To enhance research practices through the development and deployment of VREs
* To involve and engage the research community in building and deploying VREs
* To start exploiting and extending VREs in higher education
* To continue raising awareness of the benefits of VREs amongst researchers
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