Senior Lecturer
University of Liverpool
Peter-John Mäntylä Noble is a senior lecturer in small animal internal medicine working at the University of Liverpool. He is a co-investigator with the Small Animal Veterinary Surveillance Network (SAVSNET) a veterinary informatics project funded by the BBSRC since 2010.
SAVSNET
Project Overview
SAVSNET collects veterinary clinical notes and questionnaire data from 15% of UK veterinary practices, alongside veterinary laboratory test results from the larger UK clinical laboratories, accounting for around 60% of all UK veterinary lab submissions.These data are cleaned and normalised before use in a variety of surveillance and research projects at Liverpool, and in collaboration with other universities, veterinary practitioners, government (DEFRA, VMD) and industry.
Did you work with an RSE from the beginning of the project?
Initially, the project did not have an RSE, instead relying on a modified version of a commercial veterinary practice management system (PMS) to collect and send data.When the project was extended in 2012, it was clear that an RSE would be needed to manage the software and server architecture required for data collection.
What was the benefit of working with an RSE?
SAVSNET would not exist without an RSE. The project is dependent on a set of bespoke software tools and on a robust/secure server setup that is configured and managed by our RSE.
The RSE also added a range of features to the SAVSNET platform including a plugin and API that could be applied to any PMS to allow consultation and questionnaire data transmission, a management suite to control data collection and questionnaire deployment and a web-based dashboard for contributing vets to analyse their data and KPIs against averages across all contributors.
Having worked with an RSE, will it change your approach in the future?
Working with an RSE is essential to the success of many of the projects that are undertaken in Liverpool. It is essential that funding for RSE support is included in future bids to support the IT-based development work.To date, the university has been awarded approximately £2million through research grants and industrial collaborations and we have published around 15 papers, alongside supplying data to government and industry. None of this, including a BBSRC innovator of the year 2019 award would be possible without an embedded RSE.
Can you tell us more about your current or any future research projects?
Over the coming months the database will be updated to facilitate data sharing through a variety of software clients. There will also be a re-design of the database and data client to provide an outward facing secure data portal for collaborators alongside a web-based client for applications for data use.SAVSNET is now being developed for equine and farm veterinary practice and has been used as a model for data collection in Sweden and is being copied at the University of Minnesota to provide a similar service to the USA.