Research and innovation thrived during Covid

Collaborative research and innovation actually thrived during the pandemic despite the physical restrictions and global dislocation experienced over the past 21 months, according to Tim Brundle, director of research and impact at Ulster University. “This is something we have been thinking about for a while and we held a workshop on it at the Digital DNA Conference in Belfast in September,” he says.

The workshop discussed the swift mobilisation of scientists and technologists to establish digital solutions in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Conference delegates heard from the people who commissioned and led the development of the digital response to the pandemic within Northern Ireland.

“We brought together people working within the health service and other sectors who were involved in the response,” says Brundle. “We had people who were involved in the vaccination roll out, monitoring case numbers, and bringing PPE supplies into Northern Ireland. They talked about the experience of managing research and innovation during an emergency and in response to a pandemic.”

For Ulster University that response was immediate.

“Since March 2020, when the lockdown began, we initially jumped on two things,” he recalls. “The first was a call from the health service to make our labs available for purposes which they were unsure of at the time. We did that. There was also a great response from the business community in bringing in personal protective equipment (PPE) to support the health service. Businesses showed a real desire to give back to society and make a contribution to the very urgent measures required to allow society to function.”

Collaboration

From mid-March 2020 onwards container loads of PPE started arriving into Belfast. “Businesses had leveraged their global networks to get the PPE in,” he says. “We had to figure out what would work. Within a couple of days into the first lockdown we began testing and designing PPE. We ultimately started making PPE for health workers.

“That early period of collaboration with the business community was very positive. Businesses want to help and support the health service and that level of close collaboration has stayed with us throughout.”

The unprecedented nature of the situation created its own dynamic. “There were great debates last year about epidemiology. How do you address a pandemic? Where do you get the data from? There were questions about the interoperability of systems and how to share technology and data.

“There was a lot going on in the university system in terms of moving very quickly into vaccination trials and transitioning labs for Covid testing. The university’s research and innovation activities were never so vital. They became a civic asset to support the health system. As time went on we saw business doubling down on research and innovation to bring new products and services to the market.”

The pandemic wasn’t the only focus, of course. “It was an interesting period of reflection as well,” says Brundle. “We engage with more than a thousand businesses each year and we saw an increasing focus on net zero emissions. Following the retreat from the office net zero is very much part of where business goes next. The pandemic has been a pivot point in many different ways.”

Acceleration

Another effect was an acceleration of the research process. “We needed to get things done very quickly,” he notes. “I’m pretty sure that we broke every rule in the university except those relating to research integrity. Our labs needed to be safe, the experiments and testing needed to be carried out with the same rigour as always, but they needed to be done faster.”

Time was saved by expediting administrative approvals and by prioritising anything that was pandemic-related. The fact that funding was available was also important.

“We knew that if we could get things done the money would flow. That was helpful in itself. That’s had wider benefits for the university, and we must acknowledge that. We saw a 10 per cent increase in our research income last year. That was unexpected but very welcome.”

Looking back, Brundle says one of the most key lessons learned over the past 21 months was the importance of diversity in research teams. “No one has the monopoly of good ideas,” he says. “We had teams comprised of the very early career researchers, businesses, and senior academics with ideas coming from all over the place. Every idea was respected and that was special. We learned things about focus and prioritisation as well. We all have full inboxes and diaries, but we learned to step outside the day to day issues and focus on what really matters.”