diff --git a/openbis-ipad/BisKit/Classes/CISDOBIpadEntity.h b/openbis-ipad/BisKit/Classes/CISDOBIpadEntity.h
index 2c6eea157fb7ba345a36e25b37279e36afcc9edb..b333ee17acf9add06d8629903f9130507860c107 100644
--- a/openbis-ipad/BisKit/Classes/CISDOBIpadEntity.h
+++ b/openbis-ipad/BisKit/Classes/CISDOBIpadEntity.h
@@ -39,7 +39,8 @@
 
 // Non-nil properties
 @property (nonatomic, retain) NSString * permId;
-@property (nonatomic, retain) NSString * refcon;
+@property (nonatomic, retain) NSString * refconJson;
+@property (readonly) id refcon;
 
 // Potentially nil properties
 @property (nonatomic, retain) NSString * summaryHeader;
diff --git a/openbis-ipad/BisKit/Classes/CISDOBIpadEntity.m b/openbis-ipad/BisKit/Classes/CISDOBIpadEntity.m
index 33ffed9819f7287beb3a089199b2028fa2a5f7d2..bbb4aa7b1ac24dfeac048a7d9a83cf68f5deea3d 100644
--- a/openbis-ipad/BisKit/Classes/CISDOBIpadEntity.m
+++ b/openbis-ipad/BisKit/Classes/CISDOBIpadEntity.m
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@
 @dynamic summary;
 @dynamic identifier;
 @dynamic permId;
-@dynamic refcon;
+@dynamic refconJson;
 @dynamic category;
 @dynamic imageUrl;
 @dynamic childrenPermIdsJson;
@@ -40,6 +40,24 @@
 
 @synthesize image;
 
+- (id)refcon
+{
+    [self willAccessValueForKey: @"refcon"];
+    id refcon = [self primitiveValueForKey: @"refcon"];
+    [self didAccessValueForKey: @"refcon"];
+    
+    if (nil == refcon) {
+        NSError *error;
+        id refcon  = [NSJSONSerialization JSONObjectWithData: [self.refconJson dataUsingEncoding: NSASCIIStringEncoding] options: 0 error: &error];
+        if (error) {
+            NSLog(@"Could not deserialize refcon %@", error);
+        }
+        [self setPrimitiveValue: refcon forKey: @"refcon"];
+    }
+    
+    return refcon;
+}
+
 - (NSArray *)properties
 {
     [self willAccessValueForKey: @"properties"];
@@ -92,7 +110,7 @@
 {
     // These will always be non-nil
     self.permId = rawEntity.permId;
-    self.refcon = rawEntity.refcon;
+    self.refconJson = rawEntity.refcon;
     
     // Need to check if these values were transmitted with the raw entity
     if (rawEntity.category) self.category = rawEntity.category;
diff --git a/openbis-ipad/BisKit/Classes/persistent-data-model.xcdatamodeld/persistent-data-model.xcdatamodel/contents b/openbis-ipad/BisKit/Classes/persistent-data-model.xcdatamodeld/persistent-data-model.xcdatamodel/contents
index 8d8e35b8670c66ebe4abb15240d44718c992a391..4511c1cec68670b84a893841b96da4e740e8ee57 100644
--- a/openbis-ipad/BisKit/Classes/persistent-data-model.xcdatamodeld/persistent-data-model.xcdatamodel/contents
+++ b/openbis-ipad/BisKit/Classes/persistent-data-model.xcdatamodeld/persistent-data-model.xcdatamodel/contents
@@ -9,7 +9,8 @@
         <attribute name="permId" optional="YES" attributeType="String" indexed="YES" syncable="YES"/>
         <attribute name="properties" optional="YES" transient="YES" syncable="YES"/>
         <attribute name="propertiesJson" optional="YES" attributeType="String" syncable="YES"/>
-        <attribute name="refcon" optional="YES" attributeType="String" syncable="YES"/>
+        <attribute name="refcon" optional="YES" transient="YES" syncable="YES"/>
+        <attribute name="refconJson" optional="YES" attributeType="String" syncable="YES"/>
         <attribute name="rootLevel" optional="YES" attributeType="Boolean" syncable="YES"/>
         <attribute name="summary" optional="YES" attributeType="String" syncable="YES"/>
         <attribute name="summaryHeader" optional="YES" attributeType="String" syncable="YES"/>
@@ -17,6 +18,6 @@
     <fetchRequest name="EntitiesByPermIds" entity="CISDOBIpadEntity" predicateString="permId IN $PERM_IDS" fetchBatchSize="20"/>
     <fetchRequest name="EntityAndChildren" entity="CISDOBIpadEntity" predicateString="SELF == $ENTITY OR permId IN $CHILDREN" fetchBatchSize="20"/>
     <elements>
-        <element name="CISDOBIpadEntity" positionX="0" positionY="0" width="128" height="225"/>
+        <element name="CISDOBIpadEntity" positionX="0" positionY="0" width="128" height="240"/>
     </elements>
 </model>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/openbis-ipad/Research/BisMac.xcodeproj/project.xcworkspace/xcuserdata/cramakri.xcuserdatad/UserInterfaceState.xcuserstate b/openbis-ipad/Research/BisMac.xcodeproj/project.xcworkspace/xcuserdata/cramakri.xcuserdatad/UserInterfaceState.xcuserstate
index cc8df0c5208e88bc40f7bac51417227c35f97446..8a4a3b25db2dccfcd69a2777b835c72b1be2fd0b 100644
Binary files a/openbis-ipad/Research/BisMac.xcodeproj/project.xcworkspace/xcuserdata/cramakri.xcuserdatad/UserInterfaceState.xcuserstate and b/openbis-ipad/Research/BisMac.xcodeproj/project.xcworkspace/xcuserdata/cramakri.xcuserdatad/UserInterfaceState.xcuserstate differ
diff --git a/openbis-ipad/openBIS/openBIS.xcodeproj/project.xcworkspace/xcuserdata/cramakri.xcuserdatad/UserInterfaceState.xcuserstate b/openbis-ipad/openBIS/openBIS.xcodeproj/project.xcworkspace/xcuserdata/cramakri.xcuserdatad/UserInterfaceState.xcuserstate
index 2a0e1e971f3d0a3b9baeb267607c21fc3ed71d20..ea3a26fc9b8cf6773d55a8de848ac3f48cdc4e2e 100644
Binary files a/openbis-ipad/openBIS/openBIS.xcodeproj/project.xcworkspace/xcuserdata/cramakri.xcuserdatad/UserInterfaceState.xcuserstate and b/openbis-ipad/openBIS/openBIS.xcodeproj/project.xcworkspace/xcuserdata/cramakri.xcuserdatad/UserInterfaceState.xcuserstate differ