For our global member community, the value of ORCID is clear: it reduces administrative burden and increases the visibility of research. But what does a high-impact integration actually look like “under the hood”?
In our recent ORCID in the Wild session, we invited Dr. Annalisa Montesanti (https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0413-2003) and Marta Pisarska, PhD (https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9082-1691) of Health Research Board (HRB) in Ireland to explore how they have woven ORCID into their national funding ecosystem. Whether you are part of a funding agency, a university, or a research institution, HRB’s strategy offers a blueprint for organizational buy-in and technical execution.
If you missed this webinar, you can access presentation materials and rewatch the session here.
Key insights from the session
HRB shared that the journey towards integration wasn’t without hurdles. Success required constant communication to educate researchers on why they should authorize HRB to interact with their ORCID records, as well as technical flexibility to ensure the integrations met their specific workflow needs. There were some key themes that could be useful for other organizations on their road to ORCID adoption:
Strategic alignment around national strategies
HRB was deeply rooted in Ireland’s national open research strategy. By joining iReL, the Irish ORCID Consortium, HRB aligned its internal goals with a national mission to reduce “form-filling” for researchers and improve data quality across the Irish research landscape.
Realistic, and ongoing, resource management
In this webinar, HRB discussed the actual time and resources dedicated to making their integrations thrive. Successful integration isn’t just a “set it and forget it” task; it requires dedicated project management and ongoing communication with the researcher community.
The tech stack: A two-pronged approach
HRB demonstrated how they use a combination of vendor tools and ORCID-native features to close the loop on research data:
- Symplectic Grant Tracker: HRB uses Symplectic Grant Tracker to collect authenticated ORCID iDs during the grant application process. This ensures that the data is verified and linked to the correct person from the very start. Note: When HRB learned that Symplectic Grant Tracker would be sunsetted at the end of 2026, they began to search for a replacement system from the list of ORCID Certified Service Providers.
- ORCID Affiliation Manager: HRB leverages the Affiliation Manager to push affiliations back to researchers’ ORCID records. This ensures that a researcher’s profile accurately reflects their professional relationship with HRB without them having to type a single word.
“Closing the Loop” via Live Demo
The session featured a live demonstration showing the seamless flow of data. When a researcher applies for a grant, their iD is captured; once the grant is awarded, the HRB system can automatically update the researcher’s ORCID record. This “write” functionality is the gold standard for ORCID members, as it populates the ecosystem with authoritative, trusted data.
The Road(map) goes ever on and on
Looking ahead, HRB is moving into the next phase of its digital roadmap, focusing on further automating the reporting process and exploring how persistent identifier (PID) metadata can track the long-term impact of their funding.
How is ORCID adoption going at your organization?
Ready to close the data loop at your own organization? Explore our integration guides and technical resources and start planning your workflow.
