eResearch Newsletter December 2023

Dear Alex, here is the Australasian eResearch Newsletter.

Australasian eResearch Newsletter - December 2023

Message from AeRO:

AeRO Forum @ SC Asia 2024: Road testing a Research Data Reference Architecture.

There is little doubt that we have entered an era where data underpins modern science and research in general. In support of this, numerous infrastructures have been designed and built, ranging from proprietary on-prem systems through to distributed commercial clouds. Such implementations provide a range of functions during the research lifecycle from provisioning and cataloguing data assets through to storing and presenting data to computing platforms.

AeRO is working to improve our understanding of the underlying principles of such systems. We have developed a draft high-level Research Data Reference Architecture (RDRA). We have identified eight key features of a RDRA, developed a capability model that allows varying degrees of control and have documented the key building blocks of a prototypical architecture. This RDRA is intended to guide the design, construction, and procurement of implementations without mandating any approach, technical solution, or product choice. As a result, it allows implementers to make local and commercial decisions while still meeting the core requirements of a research data management platform.

In this Forum, we invite attendees to test this draft by measuring real world research data implementations against the RDRA. The outcome will be a series of documents that measure conformance to the RDRA and may also highlight shortcoming of the RDRA itself. The intended audience is teams charged with implementing infrastructure in research organizations and vendors offering solutions.

The Forum will be held on 21st Feb after lunch. Full SC Asia registration or day registration is required to attend. See https://sca24.sc-asia.org/program/.

David Abramson, AeRO President

CONTENTS:
* Early Bird Pricing to eResearch NZ 2024: closes Today!
* SupercomputingAsia 2024 - Call for Poster Submissions.
* ARDC HASS and Indigenous Summer School 2024.
* SupercomputingAsia 2024 - Visualisation Competition.
* SupercomputingAsia 2024 - Call for Doctoral Showcases.
* Jake Carroll to Replace David Abramson as RCC Director.
* Report - Business Intelligence and Reporting of Research Data.
* Report - Retention and Disposal of Research Data: Towards Best Practices.
* New Self-Assessment Tool to Promote FAIR Research Software.
* Safeguarding Sensitive Data with Secure Platforms.
* ARDC People Research Data Commons Awarded $19.29 Million.
* Growing the ARDC Planet Research Data Commons.
* The Research Data Alliance: Celebrating a Decade of Data.
* New Antarctic Ice Shelf-Ocean Model Makes a Splash.
* Pawsey: International HPC Summer School in July 2024.
* Pawsey Quantum Bootcamp in March 2024.
* Hearts and Minds: The Power Behind Pawsey.
* EcoCommons Moves to QCIF.
* Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland Trials ReDBox.
* Galaxy Australia Boasts Two New Interactive Tools.
* Record Number of Workshops at ResBazQld 2023 .
* Fourteen New Carpentries Instructors Minted.

Last Chance for Early Bird Pricing to eResearch NZ 2024: closes Today!

eResNZ2024 takes place in Wellington from 7 to 9-Feb-24.
Hopefully you’ve already been scanning the preliminary programme for eResearch NZ 2024 (see https://eresearchnz.co.nz/programme/) and bookmarking your top choices. Now it’s time to secure your spot in the room! Today (15 Dec) is your last chance to grab tickets at Early Bird prices: Full / 3-day registration: $299.99; Student registration: $100; Single-day registration: $100.

Grab these discounted rates before they’re gone!
Go to: https://eresearchnz.co.nz/registration/.

SupercomputingAsia 2024 - Call for Poster Submissions

The Supercomputing Asia 2024 conference is accepting poster submissions. This is a unique opportunity for researchers, students, and professionals to showcase their innovative work in supercomputing, HPC, AI, quantum computing, and other related areas.

Submissions close on 30th January 2024.

Learn more: https://bit.ly/Abstract_Portal.

ARDC HASS and Indigenous Research Data Commons Computational Summer School 2024

Gain practical knowledge, build your digital research skills and inspire new research outcomes within humanities, arts, social science and Indigenous research communities at the 2024 ARDC Computational Summer School. Travel bursaries are available.

Where/when: 7 to 9 Feb, Naarm/Melbourne, Free.

Register now at: https://bit.ly/ardc-hass-skills.

SupercomputingAsia 2024 - Visualisation Competition

We invite you to take the chance to balance your artistic expression with scientific research and technological advancements. Make a 60-second video on high-performance computing, artificial intelligence, quantum computing or STEM.

Apply and you will have the chance to win a $1000 prize!

Find more how to apply here: https://sca24.sc-asia.org/visualisation-competition-submission/.

SupercomputingAsia 2024 - Call for Doctoral Showcase Submissions

SupercomputingAsia 2024 offers the opportunity for doctoral students nearing the completion of their programs to present a summary of their research in a three-minute presentation for a chance to win a $3000 prize.

Apply here: https://sca24.sc-asia.org/doctoral-showcase-submissions/.

Jake Carroll to Replace David Abramson as RCC Director

University of Queensland Research Computing Centre (RCC) Chief Technology Officer Jake Carroll will replace Professor David Abramson as Director on 1 February 2024.

David is retiring from RCC after a decade as its Director and will become an Emeritus Professor in UQ’s School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from mid-2024.

“I am sad to be standing down as Director of RCC, but I certainly won’t be short of interesting and fun activities going forward,” said David.

David is currently the President of Australasian eResearch Organisations (AeRO), the publisher of this newsletter.

Read more: https://rcc.uq.edu.au/article/2023/12/jake-carroll-replace-david-abramson-rcc-director.

Report - Business Intelligence and Reporting of Research Data

Modern research institutions have a growing data challenge. To enable strategic decision-making 60+ participants from across Australia and New Zealand met during 2023 to take meaningful action on research data held in institutions. Starting with the question - what do we know about our research data, this report provides a case study on developing an approach to the systematic characterisation and reporting of research data properties. It builds on the work from the Macro View of Australian Research Data.

This report was delivered as part of the ARDC Institutional Underpinnings Extension Project https://ardc.edu.au/project/institutional-underpinnings-research-data-management-network/.

Report DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10076883.

Macro View DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10202367.

Report - Retention and Disposal of Research Data: From Current to Best Practices

Modern research institutions are grappling with an uncontrolled expansion and indefinite retention of uncurated digital research content. This report explores operational opportunities where retention and disposal decisions can be actioned. During 2023, 60+ participants across Australia and New Zealand worked together to unravel the research data lifecycle as we know it and investigated the best practices around those decision opportunities.

This report was delivered as part of the ARDC Institutional Underpinnings Extension Project: The Retention and Disposal of Research Data - Confirming Obligations, Establishing Practice.

Report DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10076891.

Diagram DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10076895.

New Self-Assessment Tool to Promote FAIR Research Software

Developed by the Netherlands eScience Center and the ARDC, the FAIR Software Checklist can be used to assess how your software is aligned with the principles of findability, accessibility, interoperability and reusability (FAIR).

See: https://ardc.edu.au/article/new-self-assessment-tool-to-promote-fair-research-software/.

Safeguarding Sensitive Data with Secure Platforms

The Secure eResearch Platform Project, led by Monash University and supported by ARDC, is a national collaboration to deliver a secure, trusted and scalable environment for data governance and secure remote data analysis environments.

See: https://ardc.edu.au/article/safeguarding-sensitive-data-with-secure-platforms/.

ARDC People Research Data Commons Awarded $19.29 Million

The ARDC welcomes the $19.29 million investment from the Australian Government’s 2023 NCRIS Funding Round to grow the People Research Data Commons for health and medical research.

See: https://ardc.edu.au/article/ardc-people-research-data-commons-receives-19-29-million/.

Growing the ARDC Planet Research Data Commons

The ARDC welcomes investment from the Australian Government’s 2023 NCRIS Funding Round to grow the Planet Research Data Commons for earth and environmental research and decision making.

https://ardc.edu.au/article/growing-the-ardc-planet-research-data-commons/.

The Research Data Alliance: Celebrating a Decade of Data

2023 marks 10 years of the Research Data Alliance, an international community building the social and technical infrastructure to enable open sharing and re-use of data.

See: https://ardc.edu.au/article/the-research-data-alliance-celebrating-a-decade-of-data/.

New Antarctic Ice Shelf-Ocean Model Makes a Splash

The animation for a new Antarctic ice shelf-ocean model was produced by Drew Whitehouse and Stuart Ramsden, visualisation programmers at the NCI Vizlab. This video has reached more than 77,400 impressions after three weeks online, entering the top 10 of NCI’s most viewed videos on our YouTube channel. This audiovisual masterpiece was part of a joint publication with the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD).

Watch the visualisation here: https://youtu.be/jF1ZTACRrww?si=CgJ7v-mlWSU1WE7W.

Pawsey Presents: Your Passport to the International HPC Summer School in July 2024

Registrations are now open for the 14th International HPC Summer School on Challenges in Computational Sciences (IHPCSS).

If you're an Australian graduate student or early-career postdoc planning to take on large-scale computations, this Summer School 2024 in Japan is for you.

You can hear the testimonials from some of last year’s participants: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmu61dgAX-aaWHDCx-BID1oga9LkbuxPR.

This expenses-paid event has been held annually since 2010, and via Pawsey’s support, Australia joined the selected group last year. Incredible sessions, valuable networking opportunities, learn from leading computational scientists and HPC technologists from partner countries.

Register here: https://bit.ly/40mYOuc.

Pawsey Quantum Bootcamp in March 2024

Pawsey is preparing a two-week hands-on Quantum boot camp for researchers, data scientists, specialists in HPC, scientific computing, AI, and/or quantum. Week 1 online, Week 2, in-person.

Workshop Goals:

Build a holistic vision of quantum computing technology
Provide a use case evaluation framework
Familiarise with quantum toolset, including hands-on experience with Amazon Braket
Explore current use cases for quantum computing
Hackathon (depending on interest)
Identify new use cases in specific research or industry areas.

Express your interest by registering here:
https://pawsey.org.au/event/eoi-pawsey-quantum-bootcamp-march-2024/.

In the meantime, do not miss our quantum playlist includes training sessions, Quantum Milestones at Pawsey, and more: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmu61dgAX-aZQIMKy8BizeDPs3XhWixP8.

Hearts and Minds: The Power Behind Pawsey

We are thrilled to present our latest video, showcasing the profound impact of supercomputers on our world and the role of the researchers, educators and technologists that inspire us every day. Join us on this journey that showcases our evolution in supercomputing, quantum technology, and scientific innovation.

Watch the Video here: https://youtu.be/VRsGUAzZyzU.

EcoCommons Moves to QCIF

Management of the EcoCommons Australia platform will transfer from Griffith University to QCIF on 1 January 2024.

QCIF was the lead organisation for the EcoCommons partnership between 2020–2023, which makes this change a natural progression for the program.

The transfer will ensure the ongoing delivery of this significant service to the thousands of ecologists who use EcoCommons for their biodiversity and ecological modelling.

Read more: https://www.qcif.edu.au/news/ecocommons-moves-to-qcif/.

Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland Trials ReDBox

New Zealand’s highest-ranked university is trialling ReDBox as part of a work program to increase the institution’s research data management capability maturity.

ReDBox will enable and support researchers at Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland to use good data management practices and meet FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable), CARE (Collective benefit, Authority to control, Responsibility, Ethics) and Māori Data Sovereignty principles.

Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland, has become the first non-Australian university to pilot the QCIF-managed online Research Data Management (RDM) platform ReDBox (Research Data Box).

Read more: https://www.qcif.edu.au/news/waipapa-taumata-rau-university-of-auckland-trials-redbox/.

Galaxy Australia Boasts Two New Interactive Tools

Galaxy Australia has two new interactive tools — one for proteomics, the other to help users meet European Nucleotide Archive’s (ENA) metadata regulations.

LFQ-Analyst is an analysis and visualisation tool to automate downstream statistical analysis of label-free quantitative proteomics data. It was developed by Monash University and wrapped for Galaxy by QCIF.

ENA Upload Builder helps users build metadata tables compliant with the ENA’s data submission requirements. Users can upload Galaxy data sets directly to the ENA.

Read more: https://www.qcif.edu.au/news/galaxy-australia-boasts-two-new-interactive-tools/.

Record Number of Workshops at ResBazQld 2023

This year’s Research Bazaar Queensland featured a record 43 different workshops.

Hosted at The University of Queensland across 21–23 November, ResBazQld 2023 attracted more than 290 participants from 18 universities and research institutes, including attendees from regional and Far North Queensland. Just over a hundred joined from UQ, with 82 from QUT, 50 from Griffith University, and 18 and 7 making the trip to Brisbane from the University of Southern Queensland and the University of the Sunshine Coast, respectively.

Read more: https://www.qcif.edu.au/news/record-number-of-workshops-at-resbazqld-2023/.

Fourteen New Carpentries Instructors Minted

QCIF and a handful of other organisations trained 14 new expert digital and data skills instructors for Australian researchers in October this year.

Training the instructors in The Carpentries method — a global community for teaching coding and data science skills to researchers — were QCIF Skills Development Manager Dr Mark Crowe, Dr Sara King (AARNet) and Ann Backhaus (Pawsey), in partnership with the Australian Research Data Commons (ARDC) and CSIRO.

Of the trainees, nine were from CSIRO, with one each from the University of Sydney, University of Melbourne, Curtin University, and ANSTO. QCIF Biostatistician Josh Knowles also participated.

Read more: https://www.qcif.edu.au/news/qcif-helps-mint-14-new-carpentries-instructors/.

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.
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Thanks, Alex Reid, AeRO Newsletter Editor.

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