Up until now, universities and institutions of higher learning have been able to apply for special grants when making major investments in advanced equipment. In the future, universities must be able to fund the installations themselves, and researchers must apply for funds for user fees to cover operation and maintenance.
"The entire landscape has changed, and the map needs to be re-drawn; this is why we have drafted a 'road map' for the research infrastructure at Chalmers. The strategy describes what we want to achieve and how we are going to get there," says Vice-President Alf-Erik Almstedt, who is responsible for research and doctoral programmes at Chalmers.
The concept of research infrastructure comprises everything from advanced real or virtual laboratories to large databases, computer capacity for large-scale calculations and lavish research installations. In short, the elements needed to conduct truly outstanding research.
When funds must be generated by the individual university, the department making the major investment sometimes requires extra allocation. The strategy stipulates which criteria must be satisfied for a laboratory or installation to be deemed Chalmers research infrastructure – and thus be eligible for potential support from the president.
"One requirement for eligibility for central funds allocation is that the installation must be available to all Chalmers researchers on equal terms. The installation must also be entirely or partially owned and controlled by Chalmers and have a broad user base.”
Six laboratories and installations are currently under consideration, and more are waiting. A funding plan is needed to satisfy the ‘admission requirements’.
The first six under consideration are:- Computational Science and Engineering, C3SE
- Nanofabrication Laboratory, NFL (Nanotekniklaboratiet )
- Onsala Space Observatory, OSO (Onsala rymdobservatorium)
- Traffic safety facility AstaZero
- Chalmers kraftcentral
- Chalmers Materials Analysis Laboratory (Chalmers materialanalyslaboratorium)
Even if the research infrastructure has its base within research, it must also be possible to use the equipment for education and collaboration with other parties.
The strategy has been drafted together with the Chalmers infrastructure group, which consists of members of management with experience from research infrastructure issues. It was written by Margareta Wallquist, who is a coordinator at Operative and Strategic Support. Infrastructure issues will also be handled in close collaboration with the University of Gothenburg."We need to collaborate in order to utilize the laboratories and installations that already exist in Gothenburg to the fullest and to obtain new ones. Not least, collaboration is needed to ease the financial transition and make it as smooth as possible," says Alf-Erik Almstedt.
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