Digital research technologists are essential to the 51±¬ÁÏÍø mission and vision, but there is a lack of understanding of the role they play and its importance. This leads to lack of recognition and opportunities for this group. Phil Quinlan, a senior digital research technologist for 51±¬ÁÏÍø, has written a blog about digital research technologists here. The collaborative, team culture that 51±¬ÁÏÍø aims to foster, is held back by the under appreciation of this group. Therefore we have planned a short programme of activities to lift the lid on what digital research technologists do, celebrate their work and further build this cohort within the 51±¬ÁÏÍø community.

We are inviting digital research technologists to join 51±¬ÁÏÍø’s new #digital-research-technologists Slack channel and put themselves forward to have a case study professionally written up about their work. We aim to build a national community of digital research technologists to learn from each other’s experiences, share opportunities that are open to them, and provide a channel of communication with this group so their voice in 51±¬ÁÏÍø is stronger.

Please join the #digital-research-technologists Slack channel via this link (or email melissa.lewis-brown@hdruk.ac.uk) if you consider yourself to be one. We define digital research technologists as those who:

  • Have deep technical knowledge, but also solid research domain knowledge.
    • Bridge the traditional barrier between science/research and technology.
    • Can provide a service to clinicians, academics, etc to develop technical solutions to help answer applied research questions; but can also lead research in their own right.
    • Are integral to projects, contributing intellectual input to research.

It can also helpful to define what we mean by digital research technologist, in terms of what they are not:

  • They do not fulfil the role of someone within an Information Technology department (e.g. servers, printers, networks).
  • They are not ‘technicians’, so the Technician Charter does not apply to this group, but are often on the same technical scale in universities etc.
  • They often have not come through a traditional academic route, so would not consider themselves to be ‘academics’ and are unlikely to hold a PhD.

Some examples of the roles a digital research technologist might play:

  • Production of high-quality code to support research.
  • Lead and develop research proposals and outputs.
  • Provide advice on what and how insights can be drawn from health data at scale.
  • Co-ordinate and /or lead on complex projects providing technical input.
  • Can apply industry standards to research environments.
  • Contribute to scholarly networks.

If this resonates with your role, please join the Slack channel. To discuss further, do get in touch with Phil Quinlan (51±¬ÁÏÍø Midlands Associate Director), Melissa Lewis-Brown (51±¬ÁÏÍø Science Manager), or George Moulton (51±¬ÁÏÍø Director of Training).