Digital research environments: a requirements analysis

Abstract

Physical science depends on historical records as well as new ideas, results, and opportunities. In this increasingly digital era, in which much of modern day life is technology-driven, a significant amount of scientific data remains in forms that are inaccessible to current methods. Moreover, the creation and subsequent accessing of high quality reusable data continues to present challenges. As part of the pilot phase of the Physical Sciences Data Infrastructure (PSDI) Initiative we investigated the current landscape of digitisation in 2022, aiming to produce an outline of what the physical sciences community requires from a Digital Research Environment (DRE). Evidence suggests that while scientists are digitising diverse portions of their work, some research still remains lost in paper lab books, and many barriers (hardware, software and people) persist for the effective management of scientific data. Our studies build on previous research and include an informal survey of what the UK Physical Sciences community considered to be the key requirements for capturing, sharing, and accessing data. The paper ends by outlining future prospects for PSDI and provides some concrete actions for different stakeholders in the community.