Photo courtesy Centre for e-Research at Kings College London

Virtual Research Environments(VRE) are one of the most exciting developments in digital research. The integration of resources, tools and the ability to collaborate using VREs has the potential to transform the research process, leading to groundbreaking new insights.

We want to know how researchers are using Virtual Research Environments worldwide, and would like to hear from you if you are a user, developer, manager or provide support for VREs. Help researchers improve Virtual Research Environments (VREs) by taking part in this survey of on-line research collaboration. Filling in the survey should take 15-20 minutes.

The VRE Landscape Study project, led by the Centre for e-Research at Kings College London http://kcl.ac.uk/iss/cerch/,and the Oxford e-Research Centre at the University of Oxford, will scope developments in virtual research communities around the world. A particular focus is the collaborative practices of researchers in Virtual Research Environments. The study aims to stimulate debate about the nature of research collaboration facilitated by VREs.

If you know of anyone around the world who might have something to contribute, including librarians and information management specialists, please pass on this invitation.

Survey link: http://www.survey.bris.ac.uk/kcl/vrelandscape

What is a VRE?

"...a Virtual Research Environment (VRE) is an an online framework of collaborative tools and resources that allow researchers to share and re-use data, combine services, and undertake tasks to promote new collaborative research practices...."

This study has been commissioned by the UK Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC)