New Zealand Research Information System Update
Issue # 3

Welcome to the third update from the NZRIS programme.

In this issue we:

• announce the members of the NZRIS Stewardship and Oversight Group
• talk to new NSOG member Paul Hoskin of GNS Science
• give an update on our pilot with AgResearch
• introduce three new team members.

As always, please get in touch with the team at nzris@mbie.govt.nz if you have any questions, and remember to encourage your colleagues to subscribe to our newsletter.

Richard has just confirmed the members of NSOG and says he’s delighted with the breadth of experience, skills and knowledge they bring. Here are brief profiles of each of our new members (including Richard):

Professor Richard Blaikie (NSOG Chair)

Richard is the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Research and Enterprise, and Professor in Physics, at the University of Otago. He received a B.Sc. (Hons) degree from the University of Otago, New Zealand, in 1988 and the Ph.D. degree in physics from the University of Cambridge, U.K., in 1992. As Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Professor Blaikie oversees all of the research and commercialisation activities of the university.

Esther Viljoen, Health Research Council

Esther is Senior Advisor, Business Operations at the Health Research Council of New Zealand and has extensive experience in science and statistics, having worked as a senior biostatistician at the South African Medical Research Council. As a member of one of the NZRIS early data provider organisations, Esther has good knowledge of NZRIS and how it has evolved since its inception.

Dr Jason Gush, Royal Society Te Apārangi

Jason manages the Insights and Evaluation Programme at the Royal Society Te Apārangi. In this role he is responsible for overseeing evaluation activities and in-depth analysis of Te Apārangi’s research funding data to inform policy and strategy. He is also programme manager for the New Zealand ORCID Consortium, for which Te Apārangi is the lead agency. Like Esther, Jason’s organisation is one of the early data providers for NZRIS, and he has been instrumental in refining NZRIS as it develops.

Dr Paul Hoskin

Paul is Manager Research and Business Partnerships at GNS Science. A qualified geochemist, management consultant and former university professor, Paul’s current focus is on helping GNS Science build partnerships with industry and research organisations across all the areas that align with GNS's strategic directions. As a representative of a CRI, Paul will provide NSOG with valuable insights into the needs and requirements as they relate to research organisations. You can read more about Paul’s perspective of NZRIS in our article below.

Pamela Moss

Pamela is the Director of Planning at the University of Auckland. In this role, she leads the teams responsible for providing information and analysis, including research activity information, within the university. The university provides business intelligence and internal information across a range of areas – which requires a strong reliance on good quality data. Pamela brings strong experience and expertise in data governance, information sharing and research metadata and analysis to the group.

Dr Alex James

Alex is an associate professor at the University of Canterbury, and also Deputy Director of Te Pūnaha Matatini, Auckland University’s Centre of Research Excellence. Her areas of expertise include mathematical modelling and data science, which she applies to a range of problems from social science to ecology. Alex has extensive experience in research and data analysis, and will bring this expertise to NSOG.

Dr Donna Cormack

Donna (Kāti Mamoe and Kai Tahu) is a senior lecturer at Te Kupenga Hauora Māori, University of Auckland. Donna also has a joint position as senior researcher at the University of Otago.  Donna has expertise in the research and data sector, having been heavily involved in work on the collection and classification of ethnicity data in Aotearoa. She will bring knowledge and experience in Kaupapa Māori approaches to research, data and data sovereignty to NSOG.

Russell Cooke

Russell is the Government Chief Privacy Officer (New Zealand), leading an all-of-government approach to privacy and supporting public sector privacy practice. Russell joined the Department of Internal Affairs in late 2014, leading the team that manages strategic relationships between the Government Chief Digital Officer and government agencies. Before this, Russell was the Chief Information Officer at the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA), where he was also involved with the establishment of NZQA’s Future State strategy.

Reece Moors

Reece (Ngāti Mahuta – Tainui, Ngāti Pikiao, Ngāti Whakaue – Te Arawa) is the Programme Office and Strategic Relationships Manager for the Science for Technological Innovation – National Science Challenge. With more than 20 years’ experience in Māori development and extensive knowledge of the innovation and business development eco-system, Reece will bring valuable knowledge, insight and experience from working with Vision Mātauranga and his connection to a number of kaupapa Māori led projects.

Joanne Looyen

Joanne is the Manager Service Design and Reporting in MBIE’s science investments branch. Her team is responsible for providing analysis of science data for science investment decision making and supporting reporting requirements. She is highly experienced and skilled in a range of areas relating to information management, strategy and general management, having worked in government and private sector organisations in science funding, quality assurance and information management roles. Joanne has an Executive Masters in Public Administration.

Benefits of NZRIS greater than the sum of its parts: research scientist

As well as better quality data, reduced reporting requirements and less duplication, Paul believes that NZRIS will provide organisations like his with the leverage to improve commercial performance.

“It’s a connectivity thing. It can be extremely time-consuming to do all the groundwork in finding out what’s happening in your field. As a CRI, we are often wondering who’s out there, what they are doing and where the connections are,” Paul says.

“NZRIS will help us because it will allow us to make the right connections, make the right funding decisions and do more for less. It’s a case of one plus one making three – and who doesn’t want to be part of that?”

Paul says a common challenge for research organisations is to look at where science is going in three, five or 10 years, and to have the capability to invest in those trends.

"NZRIS will provide a map of stakeholders and future partners so we can deliver on future trends in different industries. It will help us intersect those commercial trends with the science trends.”

Paul says accountability will be important for NSOG.

“I see NSOG’s role as helping to create a system that is trusted, effective and assured. People need to know that the group will be accountable, that their interests will be heard and taken seriously."

AgResearch pilot – what we’re learning

Our pilot programme with AgResearch has been progressing well, and is teaching us a lot about how to work with CRIs to help them get ready.

Even though research organisations such as CRIs won’t be joining NZRIS until 2021, the pilot has been useful in identifying how we can best support other research organisations going forward.

Amily Kim, one of our NZRIS team members, says a key take-out is that CRIs should start thinking about NZRIS requirements now.

“Even though CRIs don’t need to provide data until 2021, I would recommend they get themselves familiar with the NZRIS data specifications. This is especially important if they’re planning any kind of system upgrade in the future, as the NZRIS data specifications will act as a good guide on the type of data to collect,” she says.

Charlie Stanners of AgResearch, who is working on the pilot with Amily, agrees.

“The earlier that CRIs can start understanding the data model and how NZRIS will work, the better. That’s because every organisation's data tells a different story. We’ve found that by starting to map the data required now, we’re getting a stronger understanding of our own processes and data and how we can align those with the NZRIS standards and start creating more consistency.”

Charlie says that as AgResearch is currently upgrading its systems, the timing of the pilot is ideal.

“We’re looking to NZRIS to be at the core of our management reporting which means that instead of re-engineering and re-sourcing from the ever changing information landscape, ultimately we’ll be able to just go to NZRIS. There is a significant amount of work required to do this now, but we’re looking at NZRIS as an enabler that will allow us to solidify our business systems.

“NZRIS will give us that single trusted source of data that every organisation wants, and a big benefit will be that when we’re talking to other CRIs and research funders, we’ll all be on the same page using the same terminology.”

If you work for a CRI or other research organisation and you’d like to talk to the NZRIS team, email us at nzris@mbie.govt.nz.