National Platform for Applied Sciences: Increasing the visibility of applied sciences together

• ArtEZ 
• Breda University of Applied Sciences 
• Codarts 
• Haagse Hogeschool 
• Hanzehogeschool Groningen 
• Hogeschool van Amsterdam (penvoerder) 
• Hogeschool van Arnhem en Nijmegen  
• Hogeschool der Kunsten Utrecht 
• Hogeschool Utrecht 
• Saxion 
• Van Hall Larenstein 
• Zuyd Hogeschool  

These are the universities of applied sciences that have delegated a director to the Strategic Council, which fulfills the role of commissioner for this project. 

In addition, almost all the other universities of applied sciences are involved in the project in one way or another, for example, because staff members participate in one of the four working groups or have been interviewed for the purpose of designing the platform. These include the following universities of applied sciences: 

• Aeres Hogeschool 
• Amsterdamse Hogeschool voor de Kunsten 
• ArtEZ University of the Arts 
• Avans Hogeschool 
• Breda University of Applied Sciences 
• Christelijke Hogeschool Ede 
• Codarts Rotterdam 
• De Haagse Hogeschool 
• Design Academy Eindhoven 
• Driestar Hogeschool 
• Fontys Hogescholen 
• Gerrit Rietveld Academie 
• Hanzehogeschool Groningen 
• HAS Hogeschool 
• Hogeschool de Kempel 
• Hogeschool der Kunsten Den Haag 
• Hogeschool Inholland 
• Hogeschool iPabo 
• Hogeschool Leiden 
• Hogeschool Rotterdam 
• Hogeschool Utrecht 
• Hogeschool van Amsterdam 
• Hogeschool van Arnhem en Nijmegen 
• Hogeschool Viaa 
• Hogeschool voor de Kunsten Utrecht 
• Hogeschool Windesheim 
• Hotelschool The Hague 
• HZ University of Applied Sciences 
• Iselinge Hogeschool 
• Katholieke Pabo Zwolle 
• Marnix Academie 
• NHL Stenden Hogeschool 
• Saxion Hogeschool 
• Thomas More Hogeschool 
• Van Hall Larenstein 
• Zuyd Hogeschool 

By March 2021, the design of the platform will have been delivered in outline form. In May 2021, the Proof of Concept (POC) of one link and a mock-up of part of the technology behind the platform will follow. The schedule for delivery of the entire project is mid-2022.

The Ministry of Education, Culture and Science is making a total of 900,000 euros available. SURF is contributing EUR 200,000. Various universities of applied sciences are contributing manpower and expertise, for example by having staff members participate in pilots or working groups.

You can participate as an individual in several ways: 

• Sign up for one of the working groups around Metadata, Privacy, Communications and Governance. 
• Make yourself available for one of the testing of the designs, now or in a future phase.  
• Do you have a good idea, knowledge of certain source systems, experience in editorial work or some other expertise you think we should really use? We are always open to consultation! 

It is also possible for a university of applied sciences to participate in this project, in consultation with the Open Science Advisory Board.  
 
Contact Eva Woertman (eva.woertman@surf.nl) about participating. 

The platform will be accessible to anyone with an interest in and knowledge from practice-based research. A number of target groups will be actively involved and served: 

• Lecturers and other researchers 
• Educators
• Professionals from the professional field 
• Media

We spoke with 20 - 25 researchers in the first phase of this project, both professors and teacher-researchers, from over 10 different colleges. These interviews, workshops and group discussions have formed the basis for the next phase plan. 

In the current phase, 32 people have been interviewed so far, 8 of whom are researchers. At this time, additional interviews with researchers are planned for the coming weeks.  

The project team involves researchers in the following ways: 

• A lecturer participates in the steering committee to represent the perspective of researchers there; 
• two researchers participate in the ThinkTank; 
• a lecturer was involved in the tendering of the building party;  
• a lecturer and a researcher were involved in the tendering of the UX design party;  
• a lector participates in both the Communications and Governance working groups. 

In all phases, teachers and professionals also spoke in interviews. The design of the platform is iterative, and after each iteration the design is discussed with various people from the different groups.  
 
The Think Tank, the independent advisory board for this project, will also include perspectives from educators, journalists, and communications consultants.  
 
In March-April 2021 an extensive test round will be held, during which design, functionalities and content developed by an editorial team will be evaluated and tested. This will be done not only with researchers, but also with people from the media, professional practice and higher education.  

In cooperation with the working group Metadata and Mark de Jong (in the position of NPPO IT architect) we will choose standards for linking systems. For each system will be determined what information may be exchanged. We will provide the necessary flexibility in the platform. 

At the moment we have "in scope" to link with source systems based on SURFsharekit, PURE, Metis and the RIS system of Saxion. Linking with other systems based on one of the offered links is of course possible. 
There are also ambitions to link with other systems where information from the platform can be used, or where additional information can be retrieved. 

The goal is to have the platform operate on a metadata basis whenever possible. Content related to the research will be in the source system and will be referenced. Where possible, we will show it in the platform though. Content that is used to enrich the metadata (for example, an interesting photo that is not in the source system) can be stored on the platform. Storage will then be the responsibility of the platform administrator, and that organisational form is still being determined in this project.

One of the basic principles for the platform is the "create once, publish everywhere" principle. Where possible, we will apply this principle, for example by linking up as much as possible with exchange standards and retrieving as much existing information as possible, for example from universities of applied sciences. To what extent this will succeed and how exactly we will give it shape is still part of the research, and naturally also depends on the possibilities and conditions offered by the source systems of the universities of applied sciences.

Both this project and the dcc fall under the open science program of the Association of Universities of Applied Sciences (VH). This program was created because much is happening in the area of open research in higher education. This requires, among other things, the necessary research support. To ensure that support for open research is properly organised, it must also be given administrative attention, and a joint programme can help in this regard. 
 
The results that the Metadata Working Group produces for the platform are also useful for the dcc. Conversely, the dcc's infrastructure working group is again useful for the platform. So there is not so much overlap, but they are complementary. There is good communication between the two projects. 

Indeed, there are already several organisations and platforms that have been working on making research available for some time. This project was started because it was identified that despite the existing initiatives, the necessary visibility and availability of practice-based research was lacking on a national level. In this context, "national" means transcending colleges and disciplines.  
In order to properly monitor whether this signal was correct, we conducted a preliminary survey among researchers and their contacts in the field before the start of the project. This underlined the need to improve the current knowledge infrastructure: the conclusions are in a report.  
In the subsequent stages of the project, we will also enter into detailed discussions with various (prospective) users about what the platform needs to offer in order to provide real added value to existing platforms and initiatives.  
 
It remains a fact that researchers already have to or can provide information in many places. An important part of the design of the platform are therefore the links to social media, for example, and the links that ensure that as much as possible of the information already registered can be reused on this platform. 

An exploration of the needs in dealing with research information in higher education has recently been conducted. By research information is meant everything that describes research, such as data on individuals, funding, results, etc. In the academic sector and in a few cases in the higher professional education sector, so-called current research information systems (CRIS), such as PURE from Elsevier, are used to register this data. There are quite a few differences between the universities of applied sciences and research universities, for example in the form of research results or the extent of the research. Different universities of applied sciences will therefore have different ways of dealing with research information. A report has been published on this subject which offers guidelines for dealing with research information.

Publinova will soon feature pages with:

- Products; the results of research that can be viewed and/or downloaded, and information about those products 
- Projects; projects that are in preparation, underway or completed can have their own page with information
- People; profile pages with information from and about researchers (professors, teacher-researchers, etc.) and their areas of expertise 
- Parties; the universities of applied sciences, cooperation partners, partnerships etc. who wish to do so, can profile themselves on a page on Publinova
- Editorial items: contributions from the editorial staff about themes on which research has an impact. These can be articles, interviews, infographics, videos or other expressions. 

In addition, there are pages where all available information on a specific domain is clustered. Of course, information is also shared about the purpose and organisation behind Publinova, and practical information about how to work with the platform. Which information on products, projects, people and parties is shown depends on what the researchers and colleges involved make available.

Most information is supplied by the source systems of the institutes affiliated with Publinova. SIA, the Netherlands institute for higher education, can also supply information. The source systems involved differ per university of applied sciences. They can be institutional repositories such as SURFsharekit, a CRIS such as PURE, or other systems. One example is a well-structured CMS for a university of applied sciences website. Information is exchanged as much as possible in accordance with standards. 

In addition, it is possible for end users to add information themselves. In order to guarantee the quality of the information, there may be restrictions on this. For example, it is only possible for staff members of universities of applied sciences to post new products. This is controlled by logging into Publinova via eduID.

Supplying duplicate information is a real problem. For example, there may be people who work or have worked for several universities of applied sciences, and whose information is therefore in the various systems. There may also be products and projects on which different universities of applied sciences work together and which are therefore in different places. 

Where possible, technical functions will be built in that check and compare data and thus detect possible duplications. In the event of doubt, this will, where possible, be submitted as a suggestion to those involved (e.g. authors of a product, or research support staff involved in projects, etc.). 

There is an editorial team involved in Publinova that publishes regular items highlighting the social impact of practice-based research from various angles. These editors always work together with various stakeholders in the field of applied research. The target group is mainly interested visitors who are not yet closely involved in applied research.

The information on the other pages is not edited; the responsibility for that information lies with the researchers and their communication advisors and supporters. They have the opportunity, within the framework of their university of applied sciences, to present their research in the way that they think is best. 

However, agreements will be made about the metadata: for example, which metadata are compulsory and which metadata model will be used. 

We agree with each participating university which information will be shown on Publinova. Often, the administrators of the college's website are involved in this; sometimes there is even a direct link whereby the website's CMS functions as Publinova's source system. In this way, we try to handle information efficiently.

In addition, we offer functionalities that make it easy to embed information from Publinova on the university website, or vice versa, and the editorial items can also be used for the communication strategy of individual universities where appropriate. Publinova can thus also be a useful source of information for communication advisors.

College websites and Publinova complement each other; college websites often focus on the work of that specific college, whereas Publinova works across colleges and brings together information from different places. In addition, Publinova truly focuses on applied research, whereas this is often only one of the topics on a college website, next to information on education for example. 

Publinova and the HBO Knowledge Bank share some common characteristics: both are fed by a number of source systems of the universities of applied sciences, and both display products of applied research. Both aim to share knowledge and transcend the boundaries of a university of applied sciences.

There are also a number of important differences:
- Publinova has more source systems than the HBO Knowledge Bank.
- The HBO Knowledge Bank offers space for student products and research from lectorates, with the former forming a large majority. Publinova does not focus on student work, partly because this is already done very well in the HBO Knowledge Bank
- HBO Kennisbank is exactly what the title says, namely a good knowledge base; Publinova also wants to provide space for interaction, articles written by editors and perhaps more activities in the future.

The HBO Knowledge Bank and Publinova thus complement each other, both working to realise open science ambitions. The organisation behind the HBO Knowledge Bank and Publinova's project team are also in close contact, ensuring that developments on both platforms are well coordinated.

Publinova offers the possibility to easily share information such as research results or projects on social media, including LinkedIn. A link with Researchgate is still being explored.

Publinova is a national tool that makes all practice-based research more accessible for all interested parties. If there is a regional partnership of researchers who would like to profile themselves on a national level, they are welcome to use Publinova. 

At the moment, it is really about information about research and the intermediate and final results of that research, but research data is excluded. This may change in the future, but at the moment, no links are made to data repositories and research datasets are not shown.