IRIS | Towards a research information system at UNIL
IRIS is the new research information system in the making at UNIL.
Designed as an inclusive tool, it will help to preserve UNIL's scientific heritage, highlight its diversity and meet international, national and institutional requirements forOpen Access
Gone are the days of multiple entries and multiple search tools: with IRIS, content will be accessible for multiple institutional purposes in a single one-stop shop, highlighting institutional research capacity while being transferable to external sources in an interoperable format.
"Aware that changes linked to technological developments are synonymous with opportunities that should be seized, the UNIL Direction will support [...] the transformation [...] of the tools available to researchers for sharing and promoting their research activities."
UNIL Intention Plan 21-26
IRIS in read-only (beta version) is now available at iris.unil.ch.
IRIS goals
IRIS aims to support and enhance the institution's research ecosystem by providing a centralized platform for the management, visibility and collaboration of research activities.
IRIS, based on the DSpace-CRIS software, offers functionalities for coherently integrating the profiles, publications, research calls/projects/funds and various research products of UNIL researchers.
It brings a global, diversified and contextual perspective to the world of research at UNIL.
Key IRIS objectives:
- Provide a comprehensive, thematic, varied and contextual overview of research at UNIL
- Maintain and enhance UNIL's scientific heritage (in all its diversity)
- Ensure data integrity and promote research evaluation in the spirit of DORA/CoARA
- Improve and simplify processes through integration/automation
The benefits of research information systems
A research information system aims to collect, store and process research-related information within an institution. It encompasses all the resources put in place to facilitate automated information management, and brings together several interconnected players to manage data and information.
Current tools, such as Serval and Unisciences, have been built up in successive layers over the last twenty years. They suffer from technical shortcomings and lack flexibility, preventing them from providing a modern showcase for the research undertaken at UNIL.
This new tool will also modernize and digitize certain administrative processes, enabling our researchers to concentrate more calmly on their research.
The program
The IRIS program is divided into several projects, the first of which is the migration from Serval to the new tool. Other successive projects will enrich the content of IRIS over time.