eResearch Newsletter August 2024

Dear Alex, here is the Australasian eResearch Newsletter.

Australasian eResearch Newsletter - August 2024

Message from AeRO:

Planning for the eResearch-Australasia Conference in Melbourne is now well advanced. A preliminary programme has been developed, which will be released in a week or so. We are really excited about the quality of sessions this year, which (sadly) has seen us having to turn down a number of acceptable submissions.

A full and impressive line-up of Keynote speakers has been secured for the conference (see article below). In addition, there will be a plenary Panel session at the close of the Conference addressing “Enduring Infrastructure”, featuring representatives of the main e-infrastructure providers.

There will also be an NCRIS “Event” at the Conference, to which all NCRIS participants are invited. This will probably be on the Monday late afternoon or evening, so make a note and keep a watchful eye open for further details!

Also in this Newsletter is a report on the outcome of the successful AeRO Forum held on 26 July.

Alex Reid, Newsletter Editor & eRA Program Committee member.

CONTENTS:
* Join Pawsey’s Partner Merit Allocation Committee: by 30-Aug.
* RSEAA24, Online RSE Asia Australia Unconference: 11 to 13-Sep.
* Software Supporting Research and Collaboration: 17-Sep.
* AI for Libraries, Archives, and Museums: 15 to 18-Oct.
* ResBaz 2024 Qld is Coming! 6 to 7-Nov.
* eResearch-Australasia Keynote Line-up: 28-Oct.
* Registration Open for RDA P23! 12 to 14-Nov.
* EOIs for an Informal Australian Nextflow Network.
* AeRO Forum Outcome.
* International Data Week 2025: 13 to 16-Oct-25.
* QCIF Opens Fast Lane to Pawsey’s Supercomputing Powerhouse.
* In Memoriam: John Bancroft, Former QCIF CEO.
* Data Processing Infrastructure for Wildlife Research.
* Eureka Prize Finalists for Excellence in Research Software.
* Consent for Health and Medical Research.
* Running RISE Workshops for RDM: An Organisation’s Guide.
* Shaping Research Software: Interview with Dr Kate Harborne.
* FileSender Streamlines Remote Sensing Data Transfers.

Join Pawsey’s Partner Merit Allocation Committee: by 30-Aug

Pawsey is seeking new committee members to expand its research domain expertise and support current members. The Pawsey Partner Merit Allocation Committee is responsible for allocating Setonix supercomputer shares to meritorious research projects.

Submissions should be emailed by 30th August 2024.

For more details and to submit an EoI: https://pawsey.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=50c84dd130d63115084534fb3&id=fca2f4d8e7&e=d078d4ff21.

RSEAA24, Online RSE Asia Australia Unconference: 11 to 13-Sep

Registrations are called for RSEAA24, the third online RSE Asia Australia Unconference, running from the 11th to the 13th of September 2024, with a special Leaders’ Day on 10-Sep. The theme for this year is “Sharing Tech Architectures”.

RSEs, Research Software Engineers, are people who combine programming and research skills in the research domain.

An Unconference is where the agenda is created by the attendees at the beginning of the meeting. Anyone who wants to initiate a discussion on a topic can claim a time and a space.

For further information and to register: https://rseaa.org/.

Exploring How Software Supports Research and Fosters Collaborative Environments: 17-Sep

There’s still time to register for New Zealand’s 5th annual Research Software Engineering (NZRSE) Conference, happening online from 17-18 September 2024. Our theme this year is “Empowering Communities Through Research Software: From Innovation to Impact” and we’ll be diving into discussions on collaborative frameworks, open-source impact, innovative practices in software training, and more.

Our keynotes include Dr Andrew Chen, Chief Advisor: Technology Assurance with New Zealand Police, and Dr Dr Eryn Kwon, a Senior Research Fellow at the Mātai Medical Research Institute.

For full conference details, visit: https://www.rseconference.nz/.
Registration closes on 13 September.

Conference on AI for Libraries, Archives, and Museums: 15 to 18-Oct

Fantastic Futures (FF24), the international conference on AI for Libraries, Archives, and Museums, will be held at the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA) in Canberra, Australia, from 15 to 18 October 2024.

The four-day event will facilitate exploration of the current state and potential futures of artificial intelligence and generative AI within the GLAM sector (Galleries, Libraries, Archives, Museums), through the lenses of history, language, and culture in relation to place, particularly in an Australasian context. 

Conference registrations are now open, but hurry: spaces are limited.

For more information and to register: https://www.nfsa.gov.au/fantastic-futures-conference-canberra-2024.

ResBaz 2024 Qld is Coming! 6 to 7-Nov

ResBaz, or Research Bazaar, is a worldwide festival promoting the digital literacy emerging at the centre of modern research. ResBaz Queensland is back for 2024, 6-7 November at ACU Brisbane. There are multiple ways to get involved: you can host a presentation, stall or social event; volunteer to be a helper; host a workshop; or become a sponsor.

To keep up to date with all ResBaz Queensland developments, subscribe to our newsletter and/or contact the committee, we would love to hear from you!

For more information, to subscribe to the newsletter, or to make contact and express an interest, go to: https://resbaz.github.io/resbaz2024qld/.

eResearch-Australasia Keynote Line-up: 28-Oct

The Organising Committee of eRA2024 is delighted to announce a full line-up of Keynote Speakers at this year’s Conference (28-Oct to 1-Nov, Melbourne):

Dr Kerstin Lehnert, Senior Research Scientist at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University;
Prof Franciska de Jong, Professor of e-Research for the Humanities at Utrecht University;
Dr Katharine Michie, Chief Scientist of the Structural Biology Facility at UNSW;
Dr Sarah Pearce, Director of the SKA-Low Telescope;
Dr Matt Buys, team lead for Plant Systematics and Collections at Scion, NZ;
A speaker from AWS.

EarlyBird Registrations close on 13-Sep-24.
More info and to register: https://conference.eresearch.edu.au/.

Registration Open for RDA P23! 12 to 14-Nov

RDA is pleased to announce that registration for the 23rd Plenary (P23), taking place in San José, Costa Rica (and online), is now open! Register now, or read on for more details on how you can join us for P23.

In-person attendance:
Take advantage of our Early-Bird rates and register for in-person attendance before 27 September 2024.

Virtual attendance:
Enjoy P23 from wherever you are with our virtual attendance option.

Learn more and register at: https://www.rd-alliance.org/event/rda-23rd-plenary-meeting-san-jose-costa-rica/.

EOIs for an Informal Australian Nextflow Network

Australian BioCommons are assessing interest from life scientists in a new informal Australian Nextflow network. Nextflow is a scientific workflow system that enables scalable and reproducible computational workflows using software containers. If you use Nextflow, or are planning to in the near future, they want to hear from you in this brief survey.

This survey should take less than 5 minutes to complete.

Take the survey at: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/GNZ7WYM.

AeRO Forum Outcome

The latest AeRO Forum was held as a stream in the CAUDIT Communities Conference at La Trobe University, Melbourne on Friday 26 July 2024. Attracting 59 registered attendees, the session explored the challenges and roadblocks faced across the eResearch sector in supporting research data movement.

As research workflows has become increasingly dependent on distributed computing infrastructure, the need for interoperable and consistent mechanisms came into focus through several presentations and a panel discussion.

The consensus was that greater collaboration is needed to tackle the evolving data challenges faced by the facilities operating the new scientific instruments and the researchers who use them.

More info at: https://aero.edu.au/aero-forum-july-2024/.

Save the Date for International Data Week 2025: 13 to 16-Oct-25

When: 13 - 16 Oct 2025
Where: Brisbane / Meanjin
Join a global community of researchers, data professionals, policy makers and more to celebrate and advance the role of data in science and society. Express your interest now.

More information: https://internationaldataweek.org/idw-2025/.

QCIF Opens Fast Lane to Pawsey’s Supercomputing Powerhouse

From July 1st, researchers from QCIF member universities will be able to access Setonix, a state-of-the-art HPE Cray EX supercomputer housed at the Pawsey Supercomputing Centre in Perth, Western Australia.

This will allow researchers to build a track record of use on Australia’s Tier 1 High Performance Computing (HPC) facilities outside of the National Computational Merit Allocation Scheme (NCMAS).

More information at: https://www.qcif.edu.au/news/qcif-opens-fast-lane-to-pawsey's-supercomputing-powerhouse.

In Memoriam: John Bancroft, Former QCIF CEO

It is with deep sadness that QCIF announces the passing of its former CEO, John Bancroft. John was a widely respected leader known for his vast experience bridging academia, government, and industry. His work in high-performance computing (HPC) and big data science had a lasting impact, significantly influencing both scientific research and industrial innovation. Under his leadership, QCIF experienced exponential growth in in terms of revenue, services, staff numbers, membership and customer base.

More details at: https://www.qcif.edu.au/news/in-memoriam%3A-john-bancroft%2C-former-qcif-ceo-.

QCIF to Build Cutting-Edge Data Processing Infrastructure for Wildlife Research

QCIF is partnering with ARDC's Planet RDC to scale up WildObs (https://www.tern.org.au/wildobs/), a collaborative initiative involving scientists, government agencies, and environmental groups focused on using machine-based observations to monitor wildlife.

More information at: https://www.qcif.edu.au/news/qcif-to-build-cutting-edge-data-processing-infrastructure-for-wildlife-research-.
Or at: https://ardc.edu.au/article/unleashing-camera-trap-data-to-monitor-australias-wildlife-with-the-planet-research-data-commons/.

Finalists Announced for the 2024 ARDC Eureka Prize for Excellence in Research Software

Congratulations to the finalists for the 2024 ARDC Eureka Prize for Excellence in Research Software. In its second year, the ARDC Eureka Prize recognises and celebrates those who develop and maintain software in Australia that underpins research and scientific discovery.

The Prize is awarded for the development, maintenance or extension of software that has enabled significant new scientific research.

Read about all the finalists here: https://ardc.edu.au/article/finalists-announced-for-the-2024-ardc-eureka-prize-for-excellence-in-research-software/.

Consent for Health and Medical Research

The launch of a new, simplified participant information and consent form (PICF) template is set to improve how participants engage with health and medical research studies nationwide.

To read more, go to: https://ardc.edu.au/article/redesigning-consent-for-health-and-medical-research/Redesigning.

Running RISE Workshops for Research Data Management: An Organisation’s Guide

Are you keen to evaluate your organisation’s research data management (RDM) capability and take it to the next level? Consider running the RISE workshop with this guide to help determine your RDM maturity.

ARDC previously ran these workshops with organisations around Australia. Now you can run your own RISE workshops with the help of this guide.

For more information: https://ardc.edu.au/resource/running-rise-workshops-for-research-data-management-an-organisations-guide/.

Shaping Research Software: An Interview with Dr Kate Harborne

ARDC spoke to Dr Kate Harborne, an astrophysicist and Research Associate at the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research who specialises in numerical simulations and galaxy evolution. The Astronomical Society of Australia awarded Dr Harborne the 2024 ARDC-sponsored Emerging Leaders in Astronomy Software Development Prize for developing SimSpin, a software package that bridges a tremendous gap between theoretical and observational astronomy.

For more details and to hear the interview go to: https://ardc.edu.au/article/shaping-research-software-an-interview-with-dr-kate-harborne/.

AARNet FileSender Streamlines Remote Sensing Data Transfers for Environmental Research

Researchers at the Joint Remote Sensing Research Program (JRSRP) are leveraging AARNet’s FileSender service to securely and efficiently transfer vast amounts of data generated by remote sensing instruments, including Sentinel-2 satellites and terrestrial laser scanners (TLS).

By using AARNet’s high-speed network with FileSender, JRSRP has drastically reduced transfer times, enabling faster analysis for monitoring environmental changes.

Find out more at: https://www.aarnet.edu.au/streamlining-remote-sensing-data-transfers-for-environmental-research.

Contributions

This newsletter is based on contributions from members of the eResearch community, and draws on news articles and newsletters published across the sector. The Newsletter is published around the 16th of each month. Please send all contributions (max. 100 words + link + image) or pointers to any other relevant articles or newsletters to editor@aero.edu.au.
Newsletter archives are available at http://aero.edu.au/newsletters/.
Click HERE to subscribe to the eResearch Mailing List.
Thanks, Alex Reid, AeRO Newsletter Editor.

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