Research in the Department

Research lies at the heart of the activities of the Department of Information Science which, from its earliest days, has been a highly active centre for research. In the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise, 85% of the Department's research was ranked at an international standard.

Academic staff, Research Associates and Research Students work within a thriving research community, collaborating on research with an international reputation for excellence in the areas of legal and policy issues including copyright and preservation; scholarly communication and electronic publishing; information and knowledge management; and health and social informatics. The Department has been successful in running major research projects funded by a variety of national and international agencies, including the AHRB, ESRC, JISC, the European Union and the NHS.

The current Departmental Research Co-ordinator is Dr Tom Jackson.

The department has two Research Clusters and a number of themes:

The Information Management Research Cluster includes the following themes:
•           Preservation Management - Graham Matthews
•           Management of Information and Library Services - Janet Harrison
•           Information Policy, Law & Ethics - Adrienne Muir
•           Information Organisation and Retrieval - Ann O'Brien
•           Information and Knowledge Management - Gill Ragsdell

The Information Behaviour and Communication Research Cluster includes the following themes:
•           People Centred Design and Capability Building - Mark Hepworth
•           Scholarly Communications - Jenny Fry
•           E-society - Leela Damodaran
•           Publishing - John Feather
•           Computer Games and Virtual Worlds - James Dearnley

Diversity is a strength and distinctive characteristic of research at Loughborough. In addition to the research embraced by the Research Groups Staff maintain individual interests and expertise in a variety of areas. There are, however, thematic interests, for example, international aspects of library and information management, library and information services provision, bibliometrics and pedagogy.

Additionally, the department hosts LISU, the international centre of excellence for statistical analysis of data in the field, and a provider of research and consultancy services to the sector.

Research School of Informatics (RSI). The RSI was established in December 2004 as part of a new £100M University expansion in a number of areas. The RSI operates virtually, providing a focus for, and facilitating, collaborative research across several departments and research schools, such as the Research School of Health and Life Sciences.

Major research projects in the Department have been and, in some cases, continue to be funded by the European Union, the Arts and Humanities Research Board, the British Library Research and Innovation Centre, Economic and Social and Research Council (ESRC), the Gatsby Foundation, the Centre for Environmental Education, NHS, the Joint Information Services Committee of HEFCE, the AHRB and other agencies.

People in the Department

Currently there are 22 members of academic staff and two Emeritus Professors in the Department all of whom have a wide variety of research interests and published work. Currently the Department also has two Visiting Professors and one Honorary Research Fellow. In addition to a number of research assistants the Department also plays host to visiting fellows and occasional students from many countries. Recent visitors have come from Australia, Iceland, China, Czechoslovakia, France, India, Indonesia, Japan, New Zealand and the USA.