Loughborough University Shortlisted for UK IT Industry Awards 2015 with Figshare and Arkivum Combined Solution

Figshare are delighted to announce that their flagship UK customer, Loughborough University, has been shortlisted for the UK IT Industry Awards 2015 in the “Best use of Cloud Services category”. Loughborough University entered the awards based on the innovative project they undertook to answer the EPSRC mandate on open access to research data.

The solution uses a blend of the Figshare for institutions for research data management, discovery & dissemination and Arkivum for long-term preservation & archiving. The centrally managed cloud-based solution addresses two key challenges faced by Loughborough University: 1) securely preserving the data coming from publically-funded research; and 2) raising the profile of the institution by making this valuable data discoverable and reusable by other researchers and the general public. The outputs of Loughborough University are showcased on the Figshare portal where all files are visualised in the browser to allow for quick inspection and interrogation. The full details of the implementation can be found in Figshare’s case study and webinar.

The UK IT Industry Awards 2015 benchmark outstanding performance throughout the UK computer industry. They focus on the contribution of individuals, projects, organisations and technologies that have excelled in the use, development and deployment of IT in the past 12 months.

The full shortlist announcement can be seen on the UK IT Industry Awards website. Other companies that have been shortlisted in the “Best use of Cloud Services” category include:

• National Rail Enquiries and Content Guru
• British Gas, Environments as a Service on the Cloud
• Confused.com, Azure Migration
• National Institute of Health Research
• University of Dundee and Box

Mark Hahnel, Founder and CEO of Figshare said:

“We’re extremely proud to be nominated for this award along with Loughborough University and Arkivum. This really highlights Loughborough University’s desire to not only satisfy the EPSRC mandate but to provide an excellent service to their researchers that goes above and beyond the funder’s minimum requirements.”

Loughborough University, together with Arkivum and Figshare will submit finalist information on 8th September and if successful will be invited to present at a finalist judging day in Reading, UK on 25th September.  Winners are then announced at a prestigious awards dinner and ceremony on 18th November 2015.

If you would like to hear more about how Figshare can satisfy funder mandates on open data, or to see how ‘Figshare for Institutions’ could be a good fit at your University or College, please get in touch with Figshare via twitter, facebook