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Sustainability

It has been four years since the Equipment Sharing Database went live. Since then, it has been used over 10,000 times by staff and students, who have viewed a total of 88,500 webpages. Users can search for equipment to use as well as registering or updating records of the equipment that they manage. The database holds records of 3,200 individual items of equipment each worth more than £10,000, with new items appearing on an almost daily basis. It also lists 60 Small Research Facilities that can facilitate both internal and external usage.

The Equipment Sharing Project was a direct reaction to a number of HE sector reviews, which strongly encouraged greater strategic use of publicly-funded equipment across the UK. The database is therefore a key part of Cambridge’s response to maximise national and international collaboration, whilst raising awareness and increasing the opportunity to share equipment locally, regionally, and globally. At the same time, it allows the University greater transparency in terms of how it spends research and equipment funding. The University’s commitment to equipment sharing is viewed positively by funders, and the Project has a number of guides detailing how equipment and facility sharing can be evidenced in grant applications.

The database provides a platform for staff and students to identify equipment available for current projects and for testing potential purchases, as well as allowing them to envisage ground-breaking projects and collaborations that may benefit from bringing together a range of people, technologies, and techniques that haven’t been combined before.

When new equipment is purchased within the University, it appears on the University’s Fixed Asset Register. A similar record is then generated on the Equipment Sharing Database, where a short description and image can be uploaded. When students and staff log on using their Raven credentials, they can enter search terms and select to search either equipment or facilities by department or category of equipment. If the latter aren’t specified, the database will return results across the University as a whole. Each record contains the name of the equipment manager, their internal telephone number and their email address.

Equipment often comes with funder and supplier terms and conditions that may dictate only designated staff are authorised to use the equipment. Any departure from these conditions may invalidate the warranty and maintenance agreement given by the supplier, as well as contravene the funder conditions. There is also the need to minimise risk of damage or accidents with people using potentially unfamiliar equipment. To combat these issues, sharing only occurs at the discretion of the owner or lab manager. The Project also provides sharing agreements which specify the conditions under which managers are prepared to share.

All members of staff, PhD, MRes, MPhil, graduate and undergraduate students have access to the Equipment Sharing Database via their Raven log-in. Those interested can follow @cam_equip on twitter to hear about the latest developments and funding opportunities