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Dear <<First Name>>, here is the Australasian eResearch Newsletter.
Australasian eResearch Newsletter - January 2026
Message from AeRO:
 
The eResearch2025 Conference presentation slide decks have been uploaded to the Program on the conference website at https://conference.eresearch.edu.au/2025-home/2025-program/, and will remain there for a few months.
 
In addition, all the abstracts from the conference have now been uploaded to Zenodo, the repository provided free of charge by CERN.  The abstracts for the last 3 conferences (2023, 2024, 2025) are now held in that repository, with each abstract having been assigned a unique DOI.  They are located within the eResearch Australasia Conference community.  I found this process rather challenging this year, as Zenodo has introduced certain constraints on the use of its API to do bulk uploads since last year, and I couldn’t find them documented anywhere.  But I did manage it in the end.  You will find all the abstracts at https://zenodo.org/, which includes a search facility.
 
Alex Reid, Newsletter Editor.
CONTENTS:
* QCIF Digital Research Annual User Survey:  by 2-Feb.
* UQ Data Management Workshops:  from 3-Feb.
* eResearch-NZ is Nearly Here:  10 to 12-Feb.
* National Skills Forum: Accessible and Inclusive Training:  11-Feb.
* HASS and Indigenous Data Commons Summer School:  12-Feb.
* Championing Technical Skills, Roles and Careers:  12-Feb.
* Pawsey Summer Internship Poster Showcase 2026:  13-Feb.
* ResBaz QLD Turns 10 – Join the Celebration at QUT!  23-Jun.
* Rainfall Mapper from CeRDI.
* In Conversation with Gregory Becker: a Spack Core Developer.
* Researchers!  Help Shape the ARDC’s Website.
* Indigenous Datathon 2025: Indigenous Data Governance in Healthcare.
* Get Network Infrastructure Right or Everything Else is Moot.
* What Happens When Traditional HPC Meets AI at Scale?
QCIF Digital Research Annual User Survey:  by 2-Feb
QCIF is conducting its annual user satisfaction survey, and your feedback is essential.  Your insights enable us to improve services, enhance training, and address emerging needs effectively.
 
The survey is brief and will take only a few minutes to complete.  All responses are anonymous and confidential.
 
The survey will remain open until 2 February, and a reminder will be sent before the closing date.
 
QCIF annual user survey here:  https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/KBCCG7R.
 
Thank you for contributing to the continuous improvement of QCIF’s support and services!  - The QCIF Team.
UQ Data Management Workshops:  from 3-Feb
The UQ Library has a range of upcoming Research Data Management workshops (as do many other university libraries – check out yours!).
 
UQRDM for Researchers and Research Students: Research Data Management Planning – best practice with UQRDM:  Thursday 19 March, 10.00am – 11.30am.
Introduction to Digital Research Notebooks:  Thursday 12 February, 9.00am-10.00am.
Finding Data for Your Research Project:  Thursday 12 February, 11.00am-12.00pm
Publishing datasets with UQRDM and UQ eSpace:  Tuesday 10 February, 10.00am-11.00am
 
For further particulars, and to see how to register, go to:  https://web.library.uq.edu.au/study-and-learning-support/training-and-workshops/online-and-person-workshops.
eResearch-NZ is Nearly Here:  10 to 12-Feb
We’re excited to remind you of the speakers and topics of our eResearch NZ / eRangahau Aotearoa 2026 programme!
 
Ngā mihi to everyone who submitted session proposals in response to our call for stories, challenges, and inspirations aligned with our theme ‘Are you ready?’
 
EarlyBird discount expired on 12-Jan, but regular registrations are still open.
 
Thank you also to our Programme Committee — Michael Black, Georgina Rae, Chloé Van Der Burg, Nick Jones, Nicky Rawnsley, and Maxime Rio — who’ve woven everything together across our three days (10-12 February 2026).
 
See:  https://eresearchnz.co.nz/programme/.
ARDC National Skills Forum: Accessible and Inclusive Training:  11-Feb
Join the ARDC for an inspiring, learner-centred session designed to transform the way you approach training.
 
11 Feb, 12pm AEDT, online.
 
For more information and to register:  https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/ardc-national-skills-forum-accessible-and-inclusive-training-tickets-1974555411389.
HASS and Indigenous Research Data Commons Summer School:  12-Feb
Join the ARDC’s Summer School to learn hands-on digital research skills, network and inspire new research outcomes.  It’s open to all researchers in humanities, arts, social science (HASS) and Indigenous domains, especially HDRs and ECMRs.
 
Federation University, Ballarat, 3 - 4 February 2026
 
For more information, and to register:  https://ardc.edu.au/event/hass-and-indigenous-research-data-commons-summer-school-2026/.
WEBINAR: Championing Technical Skills, Roles and Careers:  12-Feb
Australian BioCommons hosts Dr Simon Breeden to discuss how the internationally recognised Technician Commitment is driving culture change and career development for the technical community in higher education and research.  He will explore the impact of the Commitment across 4 key areas – Visibility, Recognition, Career Development, and Sustainability.
 
10am AEDT, 12 February 2026
 
More information and registrations here:  https://www.biocommons.org.au/events/technician-commitment-2026.
ResBaz QLD Turns 10 – Join the Celebration at QUT!  23-Jun
QCIF Digital Research is proud to celebrate a decade of ResBaz QLD, hosted at QUT in 2026!  For 10 years, ResBaz QLD has helped thousands of researchers build confidence in data and digital skills.
 
This milestone event will be bigger than ever, three days of hands-on workshops, inspiring talks, networking, and community-driven activities, 23 to 25 June.
 
Interested in contributing as a speaker, workshop facilitator, exhibitor, or sponsor?  We’d love to hear from you!
 
For more information, visit the ResBaz QLD website (https://resbaz.github.io/resbaz2026qld/) and fill out the “keep me informed” form.
Pawsey Summer Internship Poster Showcase 2026:  13-Feb
You’re invited to Pawsey’s annual interactive virtual Poster Showcase, where this year’s cohort of Pawsey Summer Interns present their cutting-edge research projects – from quantum computing and machine learning to climate modelling and energy systems to health analytics and advanced materials.
 
Meet and engage with 12 interns in our virtual environment, explore diverse computational projects and network with emerging talent in HPC and scientific computing.
 
Discover how emerging talent is advancing Australian scientific computing.
 
Date:  13 February 2026
Time:  10:00 am – 12:00 pm AWST
Where:  Virtual Poster Showcase on Gather Town
 
Link:  https://pawsey.org.au/event/pawsey-summer-internship-poster-showcase-2026.
Rainfall Mapper from CeRDI
Rainfall Mapper is a new application designed to reveal spatial variations in rainfall across short distances.  Available for access via Visualising Australasia’s Soils (VAS), Rainfall Mapper is an innovative tool offering farmers and the wider public with detailed insights into rainfall distribution at both regional and property levels, presenting a unique way to visualise rainfall patterns.
 
Developed by Dr Peter Weir and the technical team at Federation University’s Centre for eResearch and Digital Innovation (CeRDI), Rainfall Mapper builds on Peter’s PhD research, supported by the Soil CRC.
 
Further reading:
New app helps farmers:  https://www.federation.edu.au/about/news/news/new-app-helps-farmers-view-rainfall-distribution-like-never-before/.
Soil CRC develops ground-breaking rainfall visualisation tool: https://vas.soilcrc.com.au/rainfall-mapper.
In Conversation with Gregory Becker: a Spack Core Developer
During the eResearch Australasia Conference 2025, several sessions discussed the use of Spack.  Spack is a build-from-source package manager that Australia’s Climate Simulator (ACCESS-NRI) uses extensively to build and deploy our complex models on supercomputers such as NCI’s Gadi.
 
During the recent eResearch conference, Gregory Becker from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in the US travelled to Australia to present in a Birds of a Feather session on Spack.  While he was here, ACCESS-NRI interviewed Gregory to find out more about him and his involvement with Spack.
 
Read the interview here:  https://www.access-nri.org.au/in-conversation-with-gregory-becker/.
Researchers!  Help Shape the ARDC’s Website
The ARDC is improving its website to better serve Australia's research community. The team is seeking researchers to participate in a short online user testing session.
 
For more information, and to register an interest, go to:  https://ardc.edu.au/article/researchers-help-shape-the-ardcs-website/.
Indigenous Datathon 2025: Applying Indigenous Data Governance to Healthcare
The Indigenous Data Network’s inaugural Indigenous Datathon saw participants come together on 11 and 12 October 2025 to develop solutions to real-world problems, using data from ANZICS, the ANZDATA Registry, AIHW, ATSICHS and QUT.
 
To find out more:  https://ardc.edu.au/article/indigenous-datathon-2025-applying-indigenous-data-governance-to-healthcare/.
Get Network Infrastructure Right or Everything Else is Moot
Artificial Intelligence is often discussed in terms of compute, models and skills, but its impact depends on the underlying network infrastructure connecting data, clouds and data centres.  This expands the requirement for large-scale data movement, real-time analytics and distributed AI, requiring networks to be designed with greater uplink capacity, resilience, security and energy efficiency.
 
For Research and Education organizations building data-intensive research and AI platforms, getting the network foundation right is essential to achieve performance, scale and sustainability.  Insights from Nokia show how networks can support this demand by modern AI workloads for bi-directional, high-capacity and low-latency.
 
See:  https://www.nokia.com/artificial-intelligence/get-network-infrastructure-right/.
What Happens When Traditional HPC Meets AI at Scale?
Research computing is entering a new transition phase.  Rising GPU density, power and cooling constraints, and the growth of AI workloads are forcing universities to rethink how compute is delivered and scaled.
 
HPC isn’t disappearing, but AI is changing how researchers work.  Interactive workflows, faster iteration, and parallel experimentation are placing new demands on infrastructure that traditional batch systems weren’t designed for.
 
In this interview from the Australasia eResearch Conference, Macquarie Cloud Services’ Naran McClung speaks with UNSW HPC specialist John Zaitseff about the realities behind the shift, and what institutions must do now to keep pace.
 
Watch now:  https://www.macquariecloudservices.com/blog/the-new-realities-of-research-compute-hpc-ai-and-the-infrastructure-shift-ahead/.
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.
Copyright © 2026 AeRO - Australian eResearch Organisations, All rights reserved.

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