This report is a summary of the results of a scoping study to identify key success factors and environmental challenges for small-scale and large-scale test cases for creating a virtual research community (VRC) and virtual research environments (VRE) and to provide recommendations for future direction in this area.
The development of a successful VRC or a VRE must include these key concepts:
- Be integrated with current policies and infrastructure.
- Reflect its users and be driven by their needs.
- Recognise and foster both formal and information communication.
- Evolve over time to meeting changing user needs.
- Actively (for a VRC) or passively (for a VRE) facilitate research processes and collaborative research of project teams.
A recommendation for the development of a successful framework is presented.