Trick or Trial: Our ELN Experiment in Academia

https://www.psdi.ac.uk/ Trick or Trial: Our ELN Experiment in Academia Lab Innovations 29th October 2025 Dr Samantha Pearman-Kanza Presentation Outline About Me Why are we here? Our ELN Experiment: Trick or Trial? Trial Implementation Results & Rollout Plans What is PSDI and how can we help with ELNs About Me Principal Enterprise Fellow at University of Southampton Principal Investigator for CaSDaR (Careers & Skills for Data-driven Research) Pathfinder Lead on Process Recording for PSDI (Physical Sciences Data Infrastructure) Deputy Chair of the Faculty Ethics Committee Advisory Boards/Committees: Future Labs Live, London Labs Live, MADICES, Machines Learning Chemistry, RSC-CICAG, STRIX Award, KnowLedger: An Open Digital Research Notebook for Research Data Management, STEP-UP Research Interests: Data Stewardship, FAIR Data, Semantic Web Technologies, IoT, Research Data Management, Digitisation, Lab of the Future, Paperless Labs, Re-use of Technology Why did we experiment with an ELN? There is a fragmented paper & ad-hoc digital records approach to experimental write-up usage. Funders and publishers are increasingly setting FAIR data requirements Going forward there is an identified need for central, secure, shareable research records Additional needs for a centralised Health and Safety documentation system An Electronic Laboratory Notebook (ELN) platform looked to be a good solution to these CC BY-ND 4.0 Errant Science - https://errantscience.com / PROJECT DURATION PARTICIPANTS GOALS QUESTIONS Revvity Signals ELN Trial University of Southampton School of Chemistry & Chemical Engineering Setup Phase: July 24-Jan 25 Trial Phase: Jan 25 - Oct 25 Rollout Phase: Oct 25 – Oct 25 36 researchers across 12 groups covering all five sections within the school 1.Assess if the School benefits from an ELN 2.Evaluate Revvity Signals for suitability 1.Does it meet user and supervisor needs? 2.Does it improve workflows and data integrity? Trial Overview & Objectives ELN CHOICE & TRIAL SETUP RUNNING THE TRIAL EVALUATING THE TRIAL ROLLOUT PLAN ELN EXPERIMENT STAGES ELN CHOICE & TRIAL SETUP RUNNING THE TRIAL EVALUATING THE TRIAL ROLLOUT PLAN ELN EXPERIMENT STAGES Step 1: ELN Selection ELN Selection is complex. There are over 85 different ELNs on the market (and many more generic digital tools) Need to consider: Who is this for? Drivers for implementation Domain Feature requirements Cost Revvity Signals Selection of a large-scale ELN tool that could meet the needs of different subdomains of Chemistry Chose a tool that is compatible with heavily used departmental software (ChemDraw) These setup and learnings can be applied to most ELNs “E lectronic Lab N otebooks a re great, but not on vacation” C artoon by P hil J ohns on for MIT. Step 2: Stakeholder & Role Identification PRIMARY STAKEHOLDERS •Researchers/Students: They will use the ELN on a day-to-day basis. They will use it to plan and record their experiments and be able to share their work with other researchers and their group leaders. •Group Leaders: They will use the ELN regularly to oversee their researchers research activities, they will sign off experiments and ensure that their researchers are adhering to both best research practices and adhering to the relevant health and safety terms. They might also use the ELN to do their own research. •Teaching Staff: They will use the ELN within their modules for students to record their lab work and project work. 21 SECONDARY STAKEHOLDERS •Head of Chemistry & Chemical Engineering: They sign off on the budget for the ELN, they will have influence over its adoption and how its implemented but won’t necessarily use it on a day-to-day basis. •Health & Safety Staff: They will review the Health and Safety documents within the ELN to ensure compliance, if there is an incident they will use the ELN to retrieve the relevant experiment and health and safety entries, and if there is an audit they will use the ELN to pull out all of the health and safety documents required. TERTIARY STAKEHOLDERS ELN Administrators: They will oversee initial ELN development, creating and turning on features and templates, developing and running training, and supporting the users with any queries on how to use the system. IT Support Staff: They will ensure the smooth running of the service from a technical perspective, they will work with the vendor to integrate single sign on and will run backup scripts to ensure all entries are backed up safely to the relevant University file store locations. Administrative Staff: They will administer the user accounts and groups to ensure that the required individuals can access the relevant parts of the ELN. 3 Roles: PSDI Team for Trial Setup, with input from Head of Chemistry, H&S Staff & Users Health & Safety System Initial setup included uploading H&S documents into the ELN, and then storing them in an external Sharepoint – which users frequently didn’t engage with The H&S workflow is entirely contained inside the ELN system including; RA and COSHH document creation Document sign off and authorisation Central document storage and management The entire H&S workflow can be completed without leaving the ELN To do this there are new templates for ELN H&S documents COSHH Assessment Risk Assessment As much has possible is now auto-completed (within the limits of the original documents) ELN CHOICE & TRIAL SETUP RUNNING THE TRIAL EVALUATING THE TRIAL ELN EXPERIMENT STAGES ROLLOUT PLAN Key Findings & Feedback 15% 77% 8% ELN Paper Mixed 82% 18% Supervisors ELN Paper Mixed 25% 75% ELN Paper Mixed 52% 4% 44% Researchers ELN Paper Mixed Preferred lab notebook type pre and post trial Post-trialPost-trialPre-trial Pre-trial USAGE Used across all 12 research groups 120 experiments logged weekly >80% of users want to continue using Signals STRENGTHS ChemDraw Integration Remote access Improved oversight of researchers work (by Group Leaders) Potential to centralise H&S & Inventory CHALLENGES Hardware needs (60% of users) Login issues, limited mobile support Complex Health & Safety workflow PROGRESSION New integrated H&S system now live Planned departmental roll out into Postgraduate Labs Planning Undergraduate Lab rollout in Oct 2026 Key Findings & Feedback ELN CHOICE & TRIAL SETUP RUNNING THE TRIAL EVALUATING THE TRIAL ROLLOUT PLAN ELN EXPERIMENT STAGES Identified Roles for Rollout TECHNICAL TEAM •Run backup scripts daily & ensure security •Facilitate access to backups where required ADMINISTRATIVE TEAM •Administer User Groups •Ensure researchers are added to the correct groups with relevant permissions •Deactivate users and hand over accounts HEALTH & SAFETY TEAM •Work with ELN Manager to ensure needs are being met and they have relevant access to documents •Oversee inventory setup GROUP LEADERS •Work with ELN Manager to ensure templates in the ELN are sufficient for their sub domains •Decide on sharing levels for groups •Oversee and sign off health and safety documents and experiments • LOCAL ELN MANAGER •Provide training for the new system •Fix/address any bugs •Point of contact for the school for queries •Key contact with the vendor •Handle License agreements/renewals •Coordinate across different stakeholders RESEARCHERS/STUDENTS •Be trained to use the new system •Document their plans and experiments in the ELN •Adhere to health and safety policies •Send health and safety documents and experiments to group leader for sign off TEACHING STAFF •Be trained to use the system •Work with ELN Manager to incorporate ELN into Teaching Laboratories •Work with ELN Manager to get relevant templates set up Learnings: ELN Implementation Needs 01 02 03 TIME It takes a lot more time than you think to setup and implement an ELN, but its worth investing the time to get the users on board. MONEY Even if you aren’t buying licenses there will still be staffing costs, and the potential for hardware costs. PEOPLE People are key, you need a solid change management strategy. Continued training and support is KEY for adoption and continued use. EXISTING GROUPS New PhDs/Postdocs and project students in groups that already use the ELN are being onboarded first CENTRALISATION & TRAINING Integrate Single Sign On and move over Backup Scripts to Central Location. Train administrators and “train the trainers”. ONBOARD NEW GROUPS Create new onboarding surveys for additional research groups. Setup new templates, groups and accounts. Train Users. TEACHING ROLLOUT PLAN Train teaching staff and identify templates and requirements for teaching labs. DEPARTMENT WIDE ELN ROLL OUT PLAN What is PSDI, and what do we provide? UK funded project through the UKRI Digital Research Infrastructure theme (DRI) via EPSRC Developed out of a community statement of need Lead institutions: University of Southampton and Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) Data Services Data Tools Community Data Sources Knowledgebase Collaboration How PSDI Can help with ELNs 01 03 02 04 KNOWLEDGEBASE SERVICES COMMUNITY COLLABORATION