Why should we share equipment?
- Sharing equipment is fundamental for promoting collaboration and the sharing of expertise across the Cambridge Neuroscience community
- Sharing equipment represents a much more sustainable option
- Equipment sharing ensures items are used more efficiently
- Equipment that is used more will be easier to justify for repair and eventually replacement
- Equipment sharing generates income to meet running costs including for technical staff
- Referencing the use of shared equipment in funding applications may be viewed more favourably and allows better use of funding
Looking for a piece of equipment that you do not have access to in the lab?
Members of the University of Cambridge
Equipment Sharing Project & Database
The Equipment Sharing Project is Cambridge’s global initiative to raise awareness of equipment sharing and drive efficiencies by maximising the opportunity for national and international collaboration. The project evidences our commitment to share equipment; a factor that is under increasing scrutiny when funders are considering grant applications and proposals.
As a Cambridge member of Staff, PhD, MRes, or MPhil research student, you will have access to the Equipment Sharing Database via your university log-in. This can be useful if you are searching for particular or specific equipment to work with, or if you need to find replacement equipment at short notice. To widen collaboration and maximise opportunities to share, over 4000 items from Cambridge, Oxford, Imperial, UCL, and Southampton can be accessed. Alternatively, for those external to the University, a vast number of records from the Cambridge Database are openly available via the National Equipment Portal.
For more information, please contact the equipment sharing project manager equipment_sharing@admin.cam.ac.uk
WARPIt
WARPit is an online marketplace to help redistribute resources (office furniture, lab equipment etc) legally and conveniently within the University for free. It is designed to make it easy for staff to find others with spare items – reducing procurement spend. It also helps staff who are disposing of “stuff” to find new owners – saving on waste disposal costs.
Members of Cambridge Neuroscience
Directory Search
If you are a member of Cambridge Neuroscience, you can search the online directory for members that use specific pieces of equipment, techniques or analyses. You can contact them directly to enquire about the possibility of collaborating or arranging access to equipment*.
*It is not always possible to share equipment.