Combining top down and bottom up in research information management: Research landscape at the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg

Abstract

This paper looks at the effort of creating a representation of FAU’s varied and diversified research landscape, combining the traditional top-down approach with a more detailed structural bottom-up view.

Until recently, FAU research was structured at two different levels: At the top level, key research priorities were (and are) defined for the university as a whole and for the five faculties. These are updated on an irregular basis when there is need for new fields or when the layout of existing ones have changed. With 8 research fields for the university in total and 5 to 13 research fields for each faculty, these have a broad scope and are designed to encompass a lot of different approaches.

The second approach to research structure is carried out by the chairs themselves. If you look at the various individual websites of FAU’s over 600 different chairs and professors, research fields are usually mentioned. These are used to structure research on a much finer level, but there is a lot of variation in regards to the quality and method of these efforts.

The challenge was to find a way to combine these in a way that is accessible while still providing the necessary flexibility.