After 40 years at The University of Queensland, Simon Forsyth, also known as “Mr REDCap”, retired late last year.
In early 2025, Simon relocated from UQ’s Faculty of Medicine to UQ’s Research Computing Centre (RCC) as the Principal REDCap Systems Administrator to centralise the University’s management of REDCap (Research Electronic Data Capture), a secure, web-based platform designed for building and managing data collections.
This year, a collaborative group made up of UQ’s RCC team and UQ’s Data Science Collaborative Research Platform (DSCRP) team, who already have experience with REDCap management, have taken over the research support scientific engagement of REDCap, with UQ ITS providing the base layer infrastructure to host the platform.
During 2025, a plan was developed to migrate REDCap to new infrastructure to improve security, resilience, and increase the capability to allow more features available to UQ researchers. Additional improvements include diversifying the administrative responsibilities across more people. This new-look service is expected to go live soon.
Key features of REDCap currently include functions to promote data quality, audit trails for accountability, fine grain permissions control, repeating measures, automated surveys, alerts and notifications, e-consent, randomisation, extensive online documentation and training, and highly useful export options to commonly used statistical packages (SAS, R, Stata, and SPSS).
UQ’s REDCap server hosts more than 400 active research projects including clinical trials, translational studies, behavioral research, and epidemiological projects.
For any REDCap queries, please contact: redcap@uq.edu.au.
Simon first officially began working at UQ in 1988, initially as IT Manager in the Tropical Health Program, after having studied Computer Science at UQ from 1985 to 1988.
Simon has also worked in IT management roles at UQ’s Australian Centre for International Health and Nutrition, School of Population Health, School of Public Health, Health Information System Development Unit, Queensland Clinical Trials and Biostatistics Centre, and the Critical Care Research Group.
RCC Director Jake Carroll said: “Simon’s deep engagement with the community and the trust he built over many years is something I value a great deal. It is my hope that we can pick up where he left off and build upon the excellent foundations he created.
“Simon is a contributor on many publications of significance to clinical trial outcomes at UQ and beyond, spanning over 60 peer reviewed journal articles (that I know of) and multiple conference papers,” said Jake.
A retirement message from Simon Forsyth
After all these amazing years, I have made the decision to retire and hand over the reins of our REDCap operation to a new administrator team.
This transition marks the beginning of an exciting new era as UQ moves forward with the long-awaited update to infrastructure and administrative processes. All while I am sipping chilled Saxby’s ginger beer on a beach, or something like that; more likely squirting water from a hydration pack while bushwalking.
I want to take this opportunity to sincerely thank all the UQ staff for their collaborative spirit, and the interesting challenges brought my way. The support and trust have provided me with rewarding work and kept me busy throughout the years.
Once again, thank you for the opportunity to work with you all; it has been an incredible journey!
