OpenIRIS is a free, non-commercial platform for research to manage and book shared resources, in particular laboratory equipment. Resources have a booking calendar and can be flexibly customised and provided with individual booking conditions.
As a provider admin, you have the option of creating resources and making them available to users. As a user, you can make use of the resources offered and make your bookings conveniently online.

The following screenshots show examples of booking calendars, the booking process for a resource and - from the provider admin's perspective - the configuration of resources and the creation of booking restrictions.

The platform is managed by the OpenIRIS Association and hosted externally. It is continuously developed with the input of its members. The University of Oldenburg has been a member of the Association since 2024 and is therefore entitled to make full use of the platform. The FDM Service Centre acts as the system administrator and the contact for the Association.

School VI covers the costs for its members. If other schools are interested in sharing access, please contact us ().

Benefits of the OpenIRIS service

• Flexible booking system (e.g. for laboratory equipment)
• Widely applicable thanks to numerous customisation options
• Support for cost accounting through statistical and billing functions
• Widely used in the research environment (see Members of the Association)
• Hosting in compliance with data protection regulations
• Funded centrally by School VI – free to use for members of School VI

What do I need to do to use this service?

• You can register at https://uol.openiris.io/ using your university account. Registration is not required.
• If you would like to use the service as a provider to offer resources (e.g. laboratory equipment) to users, please send an email to and let us know for which core facility, department or laboratory the provider account should be created.
• Please adhere to the following guidelines regarding groups: All users must be assigned to a group. The groups are used for statistical and billing purposes, thereby simplifying administrative work for providers. As a rule, groups are created based on the chair/research group (naming convention: Research Group –professor’s name). The administration of the groups must be carried out by the user who creates them (self-administration). This is usually either the provider administrator or a research group or laboratory leader. Additional administrators may also be added. If necessary, the FDM Service Centre can grant authorisations.
• Further important information for provider admins can be found in the quick guide.
• If you do not belong to School VI, please contact us (). Membership of the OpenIRIS Association is a university-wide membership, and the software is therefore generally available to all members of the university. However, the membership fee is currently paid by School VI, so if other schools wish to use the software, arrangements regarding cost-sharing must be made in advance. We can, of course, provide you with free access to test the software.

Where can I find guides and help for OpenIRIS?

• To get started quickly, there is a quick guide is available for users and provider administrators.
• On the official OpenIRIS Wiki you’ll find English-language guides for users and provider admins.
• In the community forum you can ask questions and exchange ideas with the community.
• Please feel free to get in touch with us if you have any problems or questions.