July 1st marks one year since the end of the initial ERDF funded Lincolnshire Open Research and Innovation project, which saw the renovation of a Grade II listed building on Newport in Lincoln into a multipurpose hub for researchers and Greater Lincolnshire SMEs. The project also involved supporting small and medium sized enterprises to implement data driven innovation in their businesses, and helped them to bring new products and services to market. Since the ERDF funding ended, the LORIC project has been developed by Bishop Grosseteste University into a commercial enterprise, with data consultancy available for all organisations in Greater Lincolnshire and beyond.
Contracts
Over the last year, LORIC has worked with a number of locally based organisations, including the Greater Lincolnshire LEP, Lincolnshire County Council and the NHS Neighbourhood Teams in order to work on varied research projects and to provide expertise on the use of Open Data. The team has also been successful securing a bid to lead on a project as part of Defra’s Future Farming Resilience Fund, which is researching the impact of Farmer Support Networks on the mental and physical well being of farmers and land managers. This project is due to continue until October 2020.
A successful bid to Research England’s Strategic Priorities fund allowed the team to provide support to enable collaboration between researchers and policy makers and to host workshops on subjects such as GDPR and bid writing.
LORIC are also delighted to announce the renewal of their ongoing relationship with the The National Centre for Rural Health and Care for 2020/2021, with LORIC staff supporting the Centre with its research and membership co-ordination, and the building itself playing host to the registered office of the Centre.
LORIC Retainer Scheme
As well as larger contracts, LORIC also launched its “retainer” scheme, whereby organisations can sign up to receive 2 days of data support, and then enjoy reduced rates on further days’ support, and on our other services, such as digitisation. In line with the ethos of the LORIC project to make services as affordable as possible, a staged scheme of membership is in place, with rates varying depending on the size of organisation supported.
Staffing
Over the last year we have said goodbye to our initial LORIC project co-ordinator, Laura Spencer, who has moved on to work on a project with the University of Lincoln. We have also supported a Lincoln College student to complete her extended work placement with us as part of the Extended Industry Placement Programme. We have welcomed to the team Carole Tondeur, our new project administrator and receptionist, and Eleanor Mould, a part-time data analyst.
The last year has also seen Katya Bozukova, the LORIC Open Research Fellow awarded her PhD for her work on the role of trust and risk in social media, and data analyst, Kay Purle, embark on an MSc in Mental Health, Resilience and Wellbeing here at Bishop Grosseteste University.
If you would like to discuss how we may be able to support the data needs of your business, we’d love to hear from you loric@bishopg.ac.uk