An Overview of eResearch Activities in Australia Paul Davis, GrangeNet Jane Hunter, Uni of Qld

Agenda Guiding Principles eResearch Coordinating Committee NCRIS (National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy) ARC Special eResearch Initiative ARIIC (Australian Research Information Infrastructure Committee) Projects

Guiding Principles eResearch is a paradigm shift in the way research is carried out ~ sharing & collaboration are key eResearch is not just for science eResearch is primarily about data, information & knowledge Enabling infrastructure should be planned and a national resource

eResearch Coordinating Committee research support & national research activities Process supported by Australian Government

eResearch Hubs

NCRIS National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy – $542M over 5 years Key principles: – Australia’s investment in research infrastructure should be planned, – Infrastructure resources should be focused in areas where Australia is, or has the potentially to be, world-class, – Infrastructure resources should be developed on a collaborative, national, non- exclusive basis, – Access is a critical issue in the drive to optimise Australia’s research infrastructure, – Whole-of-life costs of major infrastructure should be considered including operational costs, – Fuller participation of Australian researchers in international research efforts.

ARC Special eResearch Initiative One-year pilot scheme to support e-Research – provides resources to overcome barriers to the adoption of e-Research methods – encourage collaboration amongst multi-disciplinary teams – facilitate more efficient use of ICT resources and sharing of data and resources Priorities – Software tool creation – Demonstrators and feasibility studies – Grid technologies, collaborative visualization – Remote instrumentation, sensor networks Funding – 37 projects, $3.6M

ARIIC Projects Australian Research Information Infrastructure Committee – to improve the access of Australian researchers to the information they need to carry out their research – to make the results of Australian research widely available and easily accessible. – $246M over 5 years FRODO Projects – FRODO :: Federated Repositories of Online Digital Objects MERRI Projects – MERRI :: Managed Environment for Research Repository Infrastructure

4 FRODO Projects Meta Access Management System Project (MAMS) - Macquarie Uni – interoperability between university IT systems – developing software for authentication, security and access. – enable researchers and students to access information more easily and seamlessly within Universities and between Universities. Australian Research Repositories Online to the World (ARROW) - Monash – best practice solutions for storing and organizing digital information in institutional repositories. – development of repository software and metadata tools Australian Digital Theses Program Expansion (ADT) – Uni. Of NSW – redevelop & expand existing repository of the Australian Digital Theses Program Australian Partnership for Sustainable Repositories (APSR) - ANU – Preservation of digital collections – Repository software tools – Set of demonstrator projects (DSpace, EPrints, Fedora)

MERRI Projects Managing and Integrating Large Data Sets – Time Sync: Mapping the Global Financial System - Uni. Of NSW – BlueNet: The Australian Marine Science Data Network - University of Tasmania – Molecular Medicine Informatics Model (MMIM): A Multi-Institutional, Multi-disciplinary Research and Training Platform for Clinical Research - University of Melbourne Technical Development and Deployment – Australian Service for Knowledge of Open Source Software (ASK-OSS) - Macquarie Uni. – Middleware Action Plan and Strategy (MAPS) - Uni of Qld – Legal Protocols for Copyright Management – QUT Technical Interoperability and Accessibility – Dataset Acquisition, Accessibility and Annotation e-Research Technology (DART) – Monash University – Regional Universities Building Research Infrastructure Collaboratively (RUBRIC) – Uni. of Southern Qld – e-Security Framework for Research – Uni. of Qld

ARC Special eResearch Initiative & ARIIC projects DisciplineNumber of Projects Astronomy4 Biosciences4 Data Services16 Geosciences5 IT8 Medicine7 Scientific Instruments3

Future Directions and Challenges Developing a strategic framework for eResearch in Australia – Establish a more coordinated approach – Develop and fund an Australian eResearch Programme Establish a national Grid ( compute and data storage) + operations and support centres Establish eResearch centres/hubs – Develop skills and capabilities – Provide outreach and education – Engage industry

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