Overview: Research Facilities database

Introduction

The Research Facilities database on the Research Portal home page contains information on major items of equipment that may be of interest to researchers and those in the department in which the facility is housed.  

Availability and usage of this equipment:  

Purpose

The main purpose of this Research Facilities database is to promote the use and awareness of UCT research assets (i.e. equipment/facilities) amongst researchers at UCT.

Related topics and suggested usage

Below is a list of procedures for the Research Facilities database:

Task

Overview and steps/link to procedure (if applicable)

Queries about equipment listed

  • The information in this database has been provided by the departments housing the facility concerned.

  • Any queries should be directed to the contact persons listed for that facility.  

Note: Some of the information in the database may not be current and we are in the process of updating it.

Updating or adding new equipment

  • If you are a facility manager who needs to update or add new information to the Research Facilities database, please log a call with the IT Helpdesk.

  • See: Contacting the IT Helpdesk

Finding facilities/equipment

  • The taxonomy uses a three level hierarchy to classify facilities/equipment by its primary research function.  

  • Groups of related facilities can be found by browsing the facilities categories hierarchy or by entering keywords into the search box.

  • Contact details are given for all facilities to enable you to contact facility managers (or those responsible for the facility) regarding availability and access.

  • See: Finding facilities/equipment

Facilities categories: Source

The equipment categories hierarchy (i.e. taxonomy) used in the Research Facilities database is based on the equipment inventory taxonomy developed by the University of Leeds “to classify research equipment by its primary function in a way that is intuitive to the end user within a research environment”. For more information on the University of Leeds taxonomy, see: Equipment Classification.

Facilities categories: Adding to the taxonomy

For further information on using or contributing to the equipment categories hierarchy, please contact the Content Architecture team.