eResearch Newsletter July 2026

Dear Alex, here is the Australasian eResearch Newsletter.

Australasian eResearch Newsletter - July 2026

Message from AeRO:

AeRO is delighted to announce that the recipient of the 2026 Early Career eResearch Excellence Prize is Sarah Beecroft (Pawsey). The Prize recognises Sarah’s exceptional early-career contributions not only to the computational life sciences domain but also the broader Australian and New Zealand eResearch community.

Selected through a rigorous assessment process by the Prize Panel, this year’s inaugural recipient has demonstrated excellence in research enablement, technical innovation, collaboration, and community leadership. Their work is helping to advance the digital capabilities that underpin world-class research across our region.

There were also 4 Highly Commended recipients. See the article in the body of this Newsletter.

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I apologise that this month’s Newsletter has been issued 2 business days later than intended. This was to be able to report on the AeRO Early Career Awards, rather than wait another whole month. There were no events being promoted in the Newsletter that had early due-dates, so I trust no-one was inconvenienced by this change.

Alex Reid, Newsletter Editor.

CONTENTS:
* Unlock – A Trusted Research Environment CoP: 28-Jul.
* NCI Training: from 29-Jul.
* Streamlining Sustainability Reporting for Land Managers: 29-Jul.
* Pawsey: Getting Started with Acacia: 29-Jul.
* Women in HPC eResearch Australasia Conference Bursary: by 31-Jul.
* CoastRI National Prioritisation Survey: by 3-Aug.
* The Data Movers Lab: Globus and FileSender Clinics: 7-Aug.
* Pawsey Roadshow @ Flinders University: 11-Aug.
* Enabling Impactful Health Research with QCIF Digital Research: 31-Aug.
* 2026 AeRO Early Career Award Recipients.
* NCI Director Retiring.
* Sovereign-as-a-Service Built for Higher Education.
* NCI 2025 Annual Report.
* How Will We Feed 10 Billion People? Plant Breeding Programs.
* Governance of Indigenous Data in HASS Research Infrastructure.
* Pawsey and NCI Join Forces for new Australia’s HPC Newsletter.
* QCIF Skills Development: Year in Review 2025.
* Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre Granted Dedicated Access to Setonix.
* eduroam Breaks Another Record with 9.2 Billion Authentications in 2025.
* QCIF Digital Research Named Queensland Finalist in Prestigious iAwards.
* The Future of Australia’s National Research Infrastructure.

Unlock – A Trusted Research Environment Community of Practice: 28-Jul

Join the July 2026 meeting of the Unlock CoP to hear about cutting-edge developments surrounding federated TREs and the Standardised Architecture for Trusted Research Environments (SATRE).

The ARDC works to facilitate the development of leading-edge digital research infrastructure and processes, including trusted research environments (TREs). TREs are highly secure computing environments that provide remote access to sensitive data for analysis and research. They ensure data security and privacy while enabling analysts and researchers to conduct valuable studies on sensitive datasets without compromising confidentiality.

When/Where: 28 July, 5pm to 6pm, AEST, online.

More information and to register: https://ardc.edu.au/event/unlock-a-trusted-research-environment-community-of-practice-satre-and-federation/.

NCI Training: from 29-Jul

HPC 101 Series: a 4-week comprehensive course for first-time HPC users. Classes will run on Zoom from 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm AEST.
July 28 (Tuesday) #0: UNIX Foundations, Text Editors & Git
August 3 (Monday) #1: HPC Architecture & Remote Connections
August 11 (Tuesday) #2: Schedulers, Modules & Environment Variables
August 18 (Tuesday) #3: Secure File Transfer & Parallelism Fundamentals.
Register here: https://events.humanitix.com/hpc101-202607.

Getting Started with Gadi: July 28, 10:00 am to 12:00 pm. In-depth introduction to the cluster environment, submitting jobs, and managing compute storage efficiently. Register here: https://opus.nci.org.au/spaces/Help/pages/144277624/Seminar+Getting+Started+with+Gadi.

Discovering Earth System Datasets: August 12, 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm. Hands-on tutorial introducing the NCI Data Catalogue and its indexing systems. Register here: https://events.humanitix.com/discovering-earth-system-datasets-with-the-nci-data-catalogue-and-intake-indexing-tools.

Streamlining Sustainability Reporting for Land Managers: 29-Jul

This TechTalk describes a platform that CeRDI (Federation University) is developing that automates reproducible spatial analysis for multiple stakeholders, enabling land managers to demonstrate sustainable land management without specialist expertise. A live pipeline walkthrough will be demonstrated, connecting the Ecological Vegetation Class to IUCN Global Ecosystem Typology crosswalk planned for publication as linked data. Problems, limitations, and current challenging questions will be discussed.

Presenter: Richard Archer, who oversees the work passing through CeRDI’s technical team of software engineers and GIS analysts.

When: Wednesday, July 29, 1:00 – 2:00pm AEST
Where: Online - Please click this URL to start or join: https://monash.zoom.us/j/82660553639?pwd=ftWCN0anJUVbQYG8gqOaxOFQFXeA02.1.

TechTalk website: https://sites.google.com/ardc.edu.au/techtalk2020/talks.

Pawsey: Getting Started with Acacia: 29-Jul

This introductory session provides an overview of Acacia, Pawsey’s object storage service for research data. Designed for new and prospective users, the free course introduces the core concepts of object storage and how Acacia can support research data workflows.

Participants will explore the fundamentals of accessing, storing, and managing data in Acacia and be introduced to common approaches for transferring and interacting with data.

Date: 29 July 2026, 9am – 2:30pm AWST.

Location: Online (via Teams)

Book tickets here: https://pawsey.org.au/events/getting-started-with-acacia-29-july-2026.

Women in HPC eResearch Australasia Conference Bursary Programme is Back: by 31-Jul

Over the last three years, our Chapter has worked to improve and support participation from underrepresented groups at the eResearch Australasia Conference. This year, we are again providing support to cover registration for members of our community who would otherwise be unable to attend. We are in the process of securing a partner to help us cover these costs, and the number of bursaries we can provide will depend on the outcomes of this process.

Applications for this Bursary programme close on Friday 31 July. Full details: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc_ZBJ656acI8tB8vUVK7Z8x5aY1tlMUQqRdfOMaC2iLDDSjg/viewform.

CoastRI National Prioritisation Survey: by 3-Aug

We would greatly appreciate the assistance of the eResearch community with this survey.
It is part of CoastRI’s national prioritisation process and will help inform the 2026–2028 CoastRI workplan for erosion, inundation, and water quality. It provides an opportunity for researchers, government agencies, industry, community organisations, and others to identify priority monitoring locations and observational infrastructure needs for Australia’s coastal regions.

The survey should take approximately 10 minutes to complete, and all responses will contribute to shaping future CoastRI activities, including the identification of priority “synergistic sites” for integrated coastal observing and modelling.

Survey link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/29FJSKQ.

Closing date: 3 August 2026.

The Data Movers Lab: Globus and FileSender Clinics: 7-Aug

This is a monthly online drop-in session for anyone working with Globus and FileSender through AARNet.

These informal, community-driven sessions provide a relaxed space to explore research data movement challenges, exchange ideas, and learn from shared experiences. Staff from the AARNet Digital Research Team are available to share knowledge and help participants make the most of these data movement services.

All levels of expertise are welcome, and sessions may occasionally focus on specific themes based on community feedback.

Find out more or register here: https://aarnet.zoom.us/meeting/register/JF_qcJuQRrizRJEx5DMLlQ.

Pawsey Roadshow @ Flinders University: 11-Aug

Get an overview of the data and computational resources and support available at Pawsey. You’ll also hear from the Flinder’s eResearch team and researchers on their advice and experience using Pawsey systems and services.

This session will also cover the Pawsey Fast Track Access Scheme that all Flinders researchers have access to – at no cost.

Date: 11 August 2026, 3pm-5pm AEST.

Location: Flinders University, Bedford Park, SA

Book tickets here: https://pawsey.org.au/events/pawsey-roadshow-flinders-university-11-august-2026.

Enabling Impactful Health Research with QCIF Digital Research: 31-Aug

This Lunchtime Series webinar (From Data to Discovery), will introduce the many ways QCIF Digital Research supports researchers and practitioners. Includes experimental design, statistical and bioinformatics analysis, results interpretation, grant applications, analysis planning and formulation of budgets. Also, ongoing advisory support, subsidised national high-performance computing infrastructure, and training in data science and analytics.

There follows a real-world case study from Dr Akmez Latona, an emergency specialist with Queensland Health and a LifeFlight clinician, describing the award-winning project “Transforming Care Procedures in Emergency Departments for Patients with Chronic Liver Disease”.

Date: 31 August, 12:30-1:30pm AEST.

Register here: https://events.humanitix.com/lunchtime-series-enabling-impactful-health-research-with-qcif-digital-research.

Congratulations to the 2026 AeRO Early Career Award Recipients

As indicated in the Editorial, AeRO is delighted to announce that Sarah Beecroft (Pawsey) has been awarded the 2026 Early Career eResearch Excellence Prize. She has demonstrated excellence in research enablement, technical innovation, collaboration, and community leadership.

We congratulate Sarah and also the four other highly commended recipients:
Renuka Sharma (QCIF)
Sonia Ramza (ARDC)
Edoardo Tecari (University of Melbourne)
Jenna Wraith (QCIF)

AeRO would like to thank all nominees for their outstanding contributions to the eResearch community. The quality of nominations this year for an inaugural Prize highlights the depth of talent and impact across the sector and reinforces the vital role these professionals play in enabling world-class research excellence across our region.

Background to the prize can be seen at: https://www.aero.edu.au/awards.

NCI Director Retiring

Professor Andrew Rohl, Director of NCI, is retiring at the end of this year. Andrew has had a distinguished career in eResearch, heading up iVEC for 8 years (precursor to Pawsey), then 6 years heading the ARC Training Centre for Transforming Maintenance through Data Science at Curtin, and finally taking up the Directorship of NCI on an interim (but longer than he thought!) term.

As a consequence, ANU is leading the recruitment for the next Director for this crucial piece of eResearch infrastructure.

More details, including the candidate booklet, can be found at: https://jobs.anu.edu.au/jobs/director-national-computational-infrastructure-nci-canberra-act-act-australia.

Applications close on the 9th August.

Sovereign-as-a-Service Built for Higher Education

Most institutions have research data sitting in Microsoft 365 that no one can properly find, cite or retain. Now that Microsoft is charging for the storage, there’s both a reason and a way to fix it. CAUDIT Cloud Data Lifecycle (using Macquarie Cloud Services) moves research data into institutional custody on sovereign Australian storage, on Arcitecta Mediaflux, with the metadata and identifiers that make a real pathway to FAIR possible, not just a cheaper place to store the problem.

This service is launching at Stronger Together, 20 to 22 July.

See: https://www.macquariecloudservices.com/cauditcloud/.

NCI 2025 Annual Report

NCI’s Annual Report captures a year of record demand, breakthrough science, and growing national impact powered by Australia’s sovereign supercomputing capability.

Behind every climate forecast, every medical breakthrough, every map of the universe, there’s infrastructure making it possible. In 2025, NCI supported over 8,300 researchers across 7,486 projects, driving advances in AI weather forecasting, climate science, genomics, and more. Demand for compute reached unprecedented levels, reinforcing the critical role of national HPC in delivering real-world impact.

With expanded GPU capacity, upgraded infrastructure, and new national investments secured, NCI is building the foundations for the next era of discovery.

Read the full report: https://nci.org.au/about-us/annual-reports.

How Will We Feed 10 Billion People? Plant Breeding Programs May Hold the Answer

From Africa and Asia to Latin America, plant breeding programs are being improved through assessment tools and data analysis, powered by ARDC’s Virtual Desktop Service.

More information at: https://ardc.edu.au/case-study/how-will-we-feed-10-billion-people-plant-breeding-programs-may-hold-the-answer/.

Framework for the Governance of Indigenous Data in HASS Research Infrastructure

The new Framework establishes a clear, nationally relevant approach to governing Indigenous data in ways that are culturally respectful, ethically grounded and technically robust.

This foundational guide for the ethical, inclusive and effective governance of Indigenous data is now ready for adoption across the ARDC Humanities, Arts, Social Sciences and Indigenous Research Data Commons (HASS and Indigenous RDC).

More information: https://ardc.edu.au/article/a-new-framework-for-the-governance-of-indigenous-data-in-hass-research-infrastructure/.

Pawsey and NCI Join Forces for new Australia’s HPC Newsletter

Pawsey and the National Computational Infrastructure (NCI) are launching a new joint newsletter bringing together the latest research highlights, upcoming events, and training opportunities from Australia’s national supercomputing facilities.

To keep receiving updates, subscribe to the new mailing list to not miss out. Once switched, only subscribers to the new joint newsletter will continue to receive the latest news about Australia’s supercomputing, AI, and quantum computing.

Sign up here: https://anu.us2.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=fc9f8befdc19fc20bc4a3e830&id=045c9a48b9.

QCIF Skills Development: Year in Review 2025

In 2025, QCIF Digital Research’s Skills Development team delivered a major national training program supporting research, data and digital capability across Australia.

Across member workshops and project-based programs, the team delivered 76 workshops across 24 topics, reaching 1,900 attendees from 90 organisations and delivering more than 609 hours of training.

Read more here: https://www.qcif.edu.au/news/qcif-skills-development%3A-year-in-review-2025.

Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre Granted Dedicated Access to Setonix

The Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre has signed a strategic Access Agreement with Pawsey, granting researchers dedicated access to Setonix – Australia’s sovereign research supercomputer, and one of the world’s most energy-efficient.

The partnership introduces a dedicated allocation scheme for the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, accelerating time-to-science for projects surrounding world-leading cancer research.

Read more here: https://pawsey.org.au/peter-maccallum-cancer-centre-access-to-setonix.

eduroam Breaks Another Record with 9.2 Billion Authentications in 2025

eduroam, the secure worldwide Wi-Fi roaming service for the research and education community, recorded 9.2 billion authentications globally in 2025, including almost 6.7 million in Australia.

Its reach in Australia also continued to grow, with eduroam introduced at more than 125 library locations across South Australia and over 150 Queensland Health locations during the year.

These additions build on eduroam’s established presence across Australian universities, research institutes, schools, hospitals, museums, libraries, airports, and other public locations, helping students, researchers, and staff connect securely wherever they work, study, and collaborate.

Find out more here: https://www.aarnet.edu.au/eduroam-breaks-another-record-with-9-2-billion-authentications-in-2025.

QCIF Digital Research Named Queensland Finalist in Prestigious iAwards

We’re excited to share that we have been named a finalist for our work on Taxodactyl, a modular, reproducible Nextflow workflow for the conservative taxonomy assignment of DNA sequences, designed for high-confidence, auditable results in biosecurity contexts.

Read more here: https://www.qcif.edu.au/news/qcif-digital-research-named-queensland-finalist-in-prestigious-iawards-.

The Future of Australia’s National Research Infrastructure

Leaders from across government, universities, industry, national research infrastructure facilities, and international partners came together in Canberra on 30 June 2026 for the NCRIS@20 Symposium, celebrating two decades of impact from the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS) and to define future priorities.

The Australian Government has invested $5.5 billion in NCRIS over the past two decades, providing a cornerstone of Australia’s world-class research and development capability. Supporting more than 130,000 Australian and international users each year, it has enabled critical research, innovation and industry-led development through a coordinated network of leading-edge equipment and highly skilled technical staff.

More details: https://www.ncris20.org.au/statement.

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 https://alex-reid.com/eResNL/.
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Thanks, Alex Reid, AeRO Newsletter Editor.

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