Collaboration with Oxford e-Research Centre

Strategic collaboration between the Wolfson College Digital Research Cluster and the Oxford e-Research Centre.

Since the Cluster was launched four years ago the pace of digital research has accelerated.  To exploit this potential the Cluster established a strategic alignment and collaboration was established with the Oxford e-Research Centre in June 2015.

The President of Wolfson College, Dame Hermione Lee, and the Director of Oxford e-Research Centre, Professor David de Roure, signed a Memorandum of Agreement between the Centre and the College’s Digital Research Cluster in June 2015. The Agreement was formulated by David Robey and Donna Kurtz with. Gillian Hamnett, Wolfson's Senior Tutor, Jackie Carter, OeRC's Lead Administrator, and two of OeRC's Associate Directors.. Wolfson College is the natural home for this new venture: it is graduate, large, strong in sciences and arts, forward-thinking, and has a tradition of fostering cross-disciplinary collaboration. The Cluster aims to lead the way in this rapidly advancing field.

A University department established in 2006, the e-Research Centre leads digital research and drives innovation in technology. It connects disciplines, applications and computation to accelerate research and collaboration within the University, nationally and internationally.  It provides a world-leading environment that enables collaborative research, interfacing innovative technologies across academic and commercial partnerships to address the grand challenges of today and the future.

The Digital Research Cluster, established in 2010, is concerned with the application of digital technologies to research across disciplines, where sharing of ideas and methodologies can bring mutual benefit. 

The aims of the Centre and the Cluster are therefore substantially similar, and the potential benefits of collaboration considerable. Wolfson will gain increased access to expertise in the Centre. The Centre will gain access to the College and to its members with digital research interests.

Areas envisaged for collaboration include research projects, research fellowships and college membership, building a critical mass of postgraduate students in the College with cross-disciplinary digital interests, events and joint fund-raising. The collaboration is a significant opportunity to exploit, reinforce and extend cross-disciplinary connections within the College, and to add new dimensions to the Centre’s range of activities.

There Associate Directors of OeRC were elected to Membership of Common Room in May 2015 -  Susanna Assunta-Sansone, Andy Richards and Wes Armour

Andy and Wes will serve on the Wolfson/OeRC Coordinating Group with Donna Kurtz (Director) and David Robey (Events Coordinator).

The Clusters Advisory Board (summer 2015)

 David De Roure , David Shotton , Eric MeyerSebastian RahtzMarc Ventresca ,and David Zeitlyn