Academics

Welcome

Welcome to my Keble web page. My connection with Keble started in the 1980s when I served as an external tutor and honorary member of the Senior Common Room. In 2001 I became a Professorial Fellow, and have since become IT Fellow and a member of the Network Research Cluster. I continue to do a small amount of tutorial teaching in physics.

As Director of IT for the University, my key concern is to drive the overarching IT strategy in such a way that the University makes optimal use of IT in these rapidly developing times. My role is to ensure that the University’s IT services continue to evolve to meet new needs, whilst providing a secure and reliable service which maximises energy efficiency and value for money. See the ODIT home page.

My blog reports some of the key developments.

Research Interests

Previously my research interests were in the broad field of particle physics, but more recently they shifted to e-Research. I was Founding Director of the Oxford e-Research Centre - whereI remain a Fellow - after spearheading the establishment of e-Research activity in the University.

The current focus of my research interests lies in developing principles for the appropriate management of research data. I am Principal-Investigator and Co-Principal-Investigator on two leading projects, funded by JISC: Supporting Data Management Infrastructure for the Humanities and Embedding Institutional Data Curation Services in Research.  I believe it is important for Oxford to take a lead in providing effective training for researchers and establishing reliable procedures to safeguard the sharing, ability to discover and re-use, and the long-term storage of research data.

World Wide Research: Reshaping the Sciences and the Humanities which I edited with Professor William Dutton (Director of the Oxford Internet Institute) was published this year. It emerged from the e-Horizons Project (2009) which was funded by the James Martin 21^st Century School. The contributors to the book (including Tim Berners-Lee, founder of the World Wide Web) discuss how e-research is re-shaping not just the research process, but also its outcomes.

‘This book is perhaps the best place to start learning about trends that are reshaping research’ (Craig Calhoun, President, Social Sciences Research Council)

‘The world of research is liable to be transformed even more in the coming decade, and this book will be an invaluable tool for navigating these uncharted waters’ (Ian Miles, Professor of Technological Innovation and Social Change, University of Manchester)

Recent Publications

• Dutton, W.H. and Jeffreys, P. (eds), World Wide Research: Reshaping the Sciences and the Humanities (The MIT Press, 2010)
• The e-Science Working Group (eds Atkinson, M. and Jeffreys, P.), 'Century-of-Information Research (CIR): A strategy for research and innovation in the century of information' in Prometheus, 27 (2009), 27-45
• Information and Communications Technology Strategic Plan, 2005-06 to 2009-10 (Executive Summary, 2007)
• Information and Communications Technology Strategic Plan, 2005-06 to 2009-10 (Submitted for consideration by PRAC, March, 2007)
• Geddes, N.I., Atkinson, M., Chidlow, S., Hewitt, W.T., Jeffreys, P.W., Richards, A.J., Pickles, S., Workshop on sustainability and future business models for the UK National Grid Service (CCLRC ePublication Archive (United Kingdom), 2007)
• Ng, M. H., Johnston, S., Wu, B., Murdock, S. E.,Tai, K., Fangohr, H., Cox, S.J., Essex, J.W., Sansom, M.S.P and Jeffreys, P., 'BioSimGrid: Grid-enabled Biomolecular Simulation Data Storage and Analysis' in Future Generation Computer Systems (2006)
• Woods, C.J., Ng, M.H., Johnston,S., Murdock, S.E., Wu, B., Tai, K., Fangohr, H., Jeffreys, P., Cox, S., Frey, J.G., Sansom, M.S.P. and Essex, J.W., 'Grid Computing and Biomolecular Simulation' in Philosophical Transactions A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, 363 (2005)
• Tai, K., Murdock, S., Wu, B., Ng, M.H., Johnston, S., Fangohr, H., Cox, S., Jeffreys, P., Essex, J. and Sansom, M., 'BioSimGrid: towards a worldwide repository for biomolecular simulations' in Organic & Biomolecular Chemistry 2 (2004), 3219-3221
• Wu, B., Dovey, M., Ng, M.H., Tai, K., Murdock, S., Fangohr, H., Johnston, S., Jeffreys, P., Cox, S., Essex, J. and Sansom, M.S.P., 'A Web/Grid Portal Implementation of BioSimGrid: A Biomolecular Simulation Database' in Journal of Digital Information Management, 2(2) (2004), 74-78
• Gavaghan, D., Lloyd, S., Boyd, D.R.S., Jeffreys, P.W., Simpson, A.C., Randal, D.F. Mac, 'Integrative Biology—exploiting e-Science to combat fatal diseases' in Proceedings of the UK e-Science All Hands Meeting (2004)
• Kirkland, A., Dovey, M., Cockayne, D.J.H. and Jeffreys, P., 'Remote microscopy using the grid' in Conference series-institute of Physics: Institute of Physics (2004)

Academic Biography

• Member of UK Research Data Service Project Management Board (2010)
• Member of organising committee for 6th Digital Curation Conference, Chicago (2010)
• Member of organising committee for 5th Digital Curation Conference, Edinburgh (2009)
• Member of organising committee for e-Research, Oxford (2008)
• Member of organising committee for 4th Digital Curation Conference, Edinburgh (2008)
• Member of the NCeSS Nodes Commissioning panel (2007)
• Fellow of OeRC (2007 - present)
• Director of IT (2007 - present)
• Fellow of Oxford Internet Institute (2007 - present)
• Member of Core e-Science Programme All Hands Meeting Programme Committee (2006)
• Director of Oxford e-Research Centre (2006 - 2007)
• Member of CABDyn Scientific Management Board (2005 - present)
• Director of ICT (acting) (2005 - 2007)
• co-Director of e-Horizons Institute (James Martin School) (2005 - present)