What is a Competency Centre?
A team who you can consult for expert support in a key area of digital technology.
The current Competency Centres support cybersecurity, research computing, and workflow automation. Future centres might focus on helping deliver online courses, data analysis, and research data management.
Based in different locations across the collegiate University, each competency centre will share expertise in new digital solutions through training, advice, and support for Oxford’s people: academics, professional services staff and relevant students. Each centre is made up of a small group of dedicated staff who will support you in growing your confidence and competence as the University moves though its digital transformation. They provide training, free consultancy, and help your team to deploy new technologies.
How do they work?
The centres offer three different types of support: Show me, Help me and Skill me.
- Show me - One of the centre’s experts will show you what is possible with software or infrastructure to which the University already has access
- Help me - You can contact the team to get help finding solutions to a specific technical problem that you are facing, up to and including bespoke software development
- Skill me - You can be enrolled onto existing training pathways to gain a new skill or take part in a dedicated development programme organised by the centre
You can contact any centre via the Competency Centres’ SharePoint site, for expert support in a key area of digital technology.
Why this approach?
Competency Centres are intended to transform the way that a department or project team uses a key area of digital technology.
Competency Centres have been designed to ensure that all of our colleagues across Oxford are ready for the University's digital future. Each centre is embedded in a different area of the collegiate University, to ensure they can work smoothly with front-line staff and focus on user needs.
This approach will contribute to career development, retention, and recruitment as well as improving the use of existing systems.
Which Competency Centres can I visit for support?
The digital transformation programme has already introduced the Cybersecurity, Workflow and Automation, and Research Cloud Computing.
We welcome expressions of interest from project teams or departments interested in developing their technological expertise in the following three areas. To find out more about the Competency Centres and to contact their leads, click on the boxes below.
We also have a dedicated SharePoint site (SSO required) where you will be able to access detailed resources and information on each centre.
