Celebrating Collaboration

Trying to summarise the changes that have occurred during the past 12 months within the Clinical Research Networks with which we work so closely is too big a task for one evenings work and I’d only be scratching the surface which wouldn’t really do it justice. Therefore I’m going to concentrate on an aspect that has almost come as an unintended side effect.

The procurement and implementation of LPMS systems across England has been challenging, time consuming and to some very frustrating. To others the provision of a system to manage their research portfolio on has been a blessing, allowing them to reduce the number of onerous spread sheets that contain silos of information and combine this all into one place.

This implementation of a single system across an entire network geography has created an opportunity for people to come together and discuss the issues they are having with their research management. R&D departments especially are sharing more and more advice and support with each other and through this are helping create new standards and ways of working that will drive forward research management. These communications networks that have formed amongst research staff haven’t been forced, they haven’t been the result of a new policy or countrywide attempt to make people communicate more. They have come as a result of people willing to share their hard work with others, and people willing to pick up the phone and ask how someone else has done it.

There is still a long way to go and we really have only skimmed the surface of what can be achieved via collaborative working like we have seen, but what we have seen so far has been more than anyone expected. Who’d have thought databases could have such a social effect on people!

By Dave Osler (EDGE Knowledge Officer)

EDGE users and the importance of ORCID identification

The launch of ORCID in 2012 has provided unique benefits to both individual researchers and their institutions worldwide. Millions of researchers and clinicians at various institutions around the world currently reap the benefits of having an ORCID ID. Here at EDGE HQ, we have fully embraced ORCID IDs in our line of work, and have recently begun a quest to urge all of our users to obtain one as soon as possible. In this blog post, we highlight what an ORCID ID is, and why it is crucial for our users.

 What is ORCID?

 ORCID (Open Researcher and Contributor ID) is a global, free-to-use registry that provides research staff with unique persistent identifiers (ORCID IDs). Most immediately, ORCID makes a fundamental difference to a researcher’s ability to gain full credit for their work as they track, evaluate, and publish research.

 What does ORCID do?

 With millions of researchers worldwide, it is inevitable that many of these will share the same name. Adding to this confusion, individuals may change their name at some point during their careers (for example, after one gets married), which may result in different variations of the same name. Therefore, it seems obvious that a researcher’s name is simply not enough to identify an author of a paper or a dataset uploaded to a research repository. However, a unique identifier – as provided by an ORCID ID – works to ensure that links can be made accurately and efficiently irrespective of repeated names and name variations. As a result, James Smith from a research facility in Wessex can be uniquely identified as the author of his recent research paper published in Nature.

 ORCID IDs are now embedded in most workflows, such as manuscript submission or grant application processes. As such, it has become a vital part of the metadata associated with research outputs, and ultimately reduces administrative burden for researchers. Universities and research facilities are encouraged to note the take-up of ORCID IDs due to their power to recognise researchers irrespective of who and where they are in the globe.

 How does ORCID ID relate to EDGE?

 As you know, an ORCID ID solves the name ambiguity problem in research and allows researchers to easily and uniquely attach their identity to research objects. In relation to EDGE, objects include experiments and uploaded datasets. As such, we have recently implemented ORCID IDs as part of our identification process, whereby we will now ask our users to provide their unique ORCID ID when consulting with our help team. Due to the volume of EDGE users in the UK (with hundreds of the same names being used across various institutions), we have found that asking users to provide an ORCID ID speeds up the identification process and helps us deliver the assistance that our users need quickly and more efficiently.

Please get your unique ORCID ID code by clicking the link below. It only takes 30 seconds! Then, assign it to your profile on the EDGE database.

http://orcid.org/

EDGE at the R&D Forum

We took a shining role as Premier Sponsor at this year’s R&D Forum with our brand appearing in the delegate guides, onscreen adverts and at the front of the conference room throughout the 2 day event. If that wasn’t enough we also had a giant inflatable Luna pod used as our exhibition structure, which definitely caught the eye of every conference attendee. It was safe to say EDGE was everywhere, and what a success it was!

The event took place at the Holiday Inn, Stradford-upon-Avon (23rd-24th May) and was for those involved in leading, supporting, managing and delivering research. With over 500 people attending each year we were very excited to be part of such a big National event. On registration to the forum each attendee received an EDGE notebook and stylus pen ready for the day. With our stand in prime position inside the main conference room it meant we could not be missed (especially with our gleaming pod!) The Luna pod not only worked as a great attraction but allowed us to house two computer screens with tables and chairs. This worked fantastically when showing visitors demos of the EDGE system.

Each person who came to our stand was keen to take some of our fabulous freebies which included EDGE branded pens, mints, mugs and of course the EDGE branded bag (also known as the #swagbag on Twitter!) For the majority of the two days all five members of the EDGE Knowledge team were completely run off their feet with demoing, taking photos, videoing, answering EDGE related questions and handing out our merchandise.

The networking continued at the Gala dinner which we were also the sponsors of. You could find our EDGE logo presented on the dinner tickets as well as on the food menus which was another great promotional aspect for us. As sponsor we provided each table with some EDGE branded mint chocolates which came out with the tea and coffee (always a good way to finish any dinner!)

At the end of day two the team came away feeling positive and had each enjoyed their time at the forum. There were fantastic comments said about EDGE and the feedback received over the two days was discussed on return to the office. Overall, it was a real success and we look forward to next year!

The Importance of "Blended Working" on Work Motivation When Job Demands are High: A Note to Organisations

Have you ever felt that there aren’t enough work hours in the day to get everything done? Have you ever felt under pressure to effectively manage your workloads and complete them in a timely fashion? As it turns out – you are not alone.

Job demands, referred to as work overload or work pressure, has been identified as a major cause of work-related stress. In a recent survey conducted by the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (2013), approximately 66% of almost 17,000 workers representing 31 European countries identified “hours worked” or “workload” as common causes of work-related stress. In this day and age, organizations increasingly rely on new information and communication technologies. Thus, flexible working or “blended working” has become more common-place. Blended working, defined as having flexibility in when (e.g., traditional hours, weekends) how long (e.g., short vs. long hours), and where (e.g., on-site or off-site) work activities are performed, has been shown to boost intrinsic work motivation among workers (Van Yperen, Rietzschel, & De Jonge, 2014). Intrinsic work motivation is referred to as motivation to perform work-related activities in order to experience pleasure and satisfaction associated with each activity (Fagerlind, Gustavsson, Johansson, & Ekberg, 2013). Researchers have recently recognized the importance of individual differences in boosting and maintaining intrinsic motivation in the workplace – especially in organizations where workloads are heavy. In the case of blended working, perhaps this is beneficial to some workers, but not others?

In a study soon to be published in Computers in Human Behavior in July 2016, researchers at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands explored the effects of autonomy needs – referred to as the desire to experience a sense of choice and psychological freedom – and opportunities for blended working on intrinsic motivation at work. They surveyed 657 workers representing a large variety of industries (e.g., healthcare and social assistance, information technology, education, research and science, retail) who were employed for at least 8 hours per week. The survey asked them to report on a series of validated measures. These assessed how demanding their jobs were, what opportunities existed in their jobs for blended working, their personal need for autonomy at work, and how intrinsically motivated they were at work.

The researchers found something striking. High perceived opportunities for blended working (OBW) in the workplace maintained workers’ abilities to cope with increasing job demands, and this occurred for workers with a high need for autonomy (Figure 1 left). Specifically, workers who preferred to work independently and perceived opportunities for blended working maintained levels of intrinsic work motivation as demanding work pressures increased. In contrast, however, workers who preferred work independence but perceived little opportunity for blended working reported significantly lower levels of intrinsic motivation at work. Workers who were low in need for autonomy benefitted less from the opportunity for blended working (Figure 1 right).

This study is significant because it highlights the importance of workers’ psychological needs on maintaining intrinsic work motivation, especially in the event of increasing workloads. Specifically, the study provides evidence that perceived opportunities for blended working is an effective form of job autonomy in itself, which, in turn, can maintain workers’ intrinsic work motivation when job demands increase.

More generally, these findings suggest that organisations and managers should increase efforts to create conditions at work that are in line with workers’ psychological needs, especially in jobs involving high workloads. Thus, psychological assessments could be administered (e.g., assessments of autonomy needs) with work conditions tailored to individual workers. Previous studies have shown that managerial support for psychological needs is positively associated with workers’ psychological health and work-related functioning (e.g., Van den Broeck et al., 2010). When job demands are high, managers should find opportunities for time- and location-independent working for individuals with high autonomy needs, whereas workers with low autonomy needs may benefit more from structure and routine in the workplace. This may also apply to other individual needs in the workplace, such as a need for structure or social support.

What are your thoughts on psychological testing of individuals in the workplace? Do you agree that organisations should make more effort to tailor conditions according to the psychological needs of workers? Tweet us! @EDGEClinical

The Monthly EDGE Release

Each month we bring you a new release of the EDGE system which can include new functionality, bug fixes and updates. Before the release goes onto EDGE Live and Demo we first deploy it to the Beta environment a month before for user acceptance testing. Users are given the chance to test any updates or fixes made which are listed on release notes sent out to our local admins, usually on the day after the release. The following month is when the Beta release will go onto both EDGE Live and Demo so if there are any problems we ask our users to let us know before this date via our support line edge@soton.ac.uk

Helpful points:

• The release window is usually on the evening of the first Monday of every month (or the first working day after a bank holiday)

• Release notes are sent to local admins explaining the updates made

• Contact our support email edge@soton.ac.uk for any queries or problems with the release

• EDGE Live & Demo are always in sync

• EDGE Beta is one version ahead of Live and Demo

The EDGE Environments

There are three different environments of EDGE available to our users, these being: EDGE live, EDGE Demo and EDGE Beta. Here’s a quick guide on when to use each environment:

EDGE Live

The live system used by EDGE and NHS staff. No testing, training or demonstration must ever be carried out on this site.

http://www.edge.nhs.uk

EDGE Demo

Designed for demonstration and training purposes in a safe and secure environment. This is also used by EDGE and NHS staff and is maintained as a like for like system comparable to the live system.

http://edgedemo.edge.nhs.uk

EDGE Beta

Designed for development and testing of functionality updates and this again is used by both the EDGE team and NHS staff. All development work is deployed here first before making its way onto Live and Demo. This means that Beta is one version ahead of the current live and demo systems. The main use of Beta is for user acceptance testing of the new functionality and any testing executed by the EDGE development team.

Prior to the release onto Beta, testing is completed internally to make sure that all enhancements and bug fixes are fit for purpose and suitable for the Live and Demo environments. We then allow users to check new features in Beta to allow an extra level of confidence with our system.

http://edgebeta.edge.nhs.uk

If you have any queries on any of these environments, please contact us at edge@soton.ac.u