September 2010

In this issue:

  • Registration is open for eResearch Australasia, 8-12 November 2010, Gold Coast Australia;
  • University of Melbourne to lead $67 million in Super Science projects;
  • “Data Fabric – What’s in it for You” 20 September;
  • ANDS Roadshow to visit Townsville 21 September;
  • Spatial@gov Conference and Exhibition 5-7 October 2010;
  • NZ eResearch Symposium 26-27 October;
  • ISO/OGC technical meetings in Australia November and December 2010;
  • MolSim Downunder;
  • High Performance GPU Computing with NVIDIA, CUDA, and Fermi;
  • In VeRSI’s new-look August eNewsletter;
  • About this newsletter.

Registration is open for eResearch Australasia, 8-12 November 2010, Gold Coast Australia

21st Century Research – Where Computing Meets Data

The voyage of 21st Century discovery is enabled by new technologies, new research methods, and above all new collaborations. At the nexus where computing meets data, researchers are using advanced visualisation, simulation and modelling to create and explore new knowledge terrains. Making this happen requires a large number of people working together — on making it possible to re-use data, on supporting collaboration, on developing standards, policies and practices, on networks, on access and security, on pushing the boundaries of computing power, and on tools to make sense of all the information.  Researchers, practitioners, leaders and communicators in Science, Engineering, the Humanities and the Arts – what new terrains are you exploring? Join us on the journey.

Registration is now open. Be sure to register before 11 October for the Early Bird rate.  The list of presentations, workshops, and BoFs has been published, and the full schedule will be available soon.  There is also still time to submit a poster until 22 September.

We hope you’ll be able to join us at the conference.
http://www.eresearch.edu.au

Patricia McMillan
eResearch Australasia Committee

University of Melbourne to lead $67 million in Super Science projects

The University of Melbourne will lead two major research infrastructure projects worth $67 million that will help lead to more sustainable urban growth and will better connect the country’s researchers through improved Information and Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure.

The initiatives, the National eResearch Collaboration Tools and Resources (NeCTAR) project and the Australian Urban Research Infrastructure Network (AURIN), have been funded under the Commonwealth Government’s Super Science scheme.

The projects, while distinct, share a common goal of enhancing research collaboration and improving the necessary technology and research infrastructure needed to enhance research outcomes.

Full-time Directors for both projects are currently being recruited. For more information about the positions, please visit
http://www.hr.unimelb.edu.au/careers/.

Dr Karah Hogarth
Interim Business Manager, NeCTAR & AURIN

“Data Fabric – What’s in it for You”

Date: Monday, 20 September 2010
Time: 3 – 3:45 p.m. AEST
Venue: EVO
Register: www.arcs.org.au/index.php/data-fabric-webinar

Imagine a world where you could share your data easily with others. Where collaboration was seamless across different institutions throughout the country. And where groups of researchers could immediately and flexibly access secure data stored in one location. All without requiring extensive technical skills.

How would your research benefit from increased input from team members? How would life be better if your group could access data from one location with ease? How would enhanced control and maintenance of your data result in optimal research outcomes?

In this Data Fabric webinar, ARCS Maintenance Services Manager Florian Goessmann will discuss how you can more easily and optimally store and share your team’s research data to improve efficiency and productivity.

The event will provide the opportunity to learn more about the Data Fabric, Australia’s national file system for storing and sharing research data across institutional boundaries. Participants will obtain answers to the following questions:

How can you quickly benefit from the Data Fabric?
How can you immediately use the Data fabric for maximum value and advantage?
How does the Data Fabric enhance collaborative research?

Seating is limited. Participants are welcome to discuss their own personal Data Fabric use cases. If you don’t already use EVO, it takes just seconds to subscribe to the free video collaboration system. Register for EVO at http://evo.arcs.org.au/evoAU/. If you have any questions about this webinar or using EVO, please email customerservice@arcs.org.au or phone 1800 862 727.

Susan Roth
Marketing and Outreach Manager
Australian Research Collaboration Service (ARCS)

ANDS Roadshow to visit Townsville

Registrations are now open for its Roadshow will be held in Townsville on Tuesday, September 21, at James Cook University.

The ANDS Roadshow is made up of two separate workshops.

The first will be an introduction to ANDS services and products.

The second concerns responding to the Australian Code for the Responsible Conduct of Research. This covers such issues as the division of responsibilities between institution and researcher, the provision of policy, services and infrastructure frameworks to support the research data requirements of the Code, Governance, ANDS services of benefit to the administration of research, data sharing, the importance of data management, data management issues such as copyright, access, record keeping and data retention and impediments to complying with the Code.

While the Code for the Responsible Conduct of Research applies to universities, much of the workshop contents are equally applicable to other research organisations, where the issue of infrastructure support for research is equally important.

The roadshows are designed for

* research administrators responsible for institutional policy, procedure and infrastructure provision
* researchers, including graduate students
* research project support staff who have a responsibility for data management
* professional intermediaries (librarians, archivists, records managers, IT staff) who need to be informed about the institutional role and data management
* data centre and institutional repository managers and staff.

The registration form for the Townsville Roadshow is linked from the more general roadshow page at http://ands.org.au/events/roadshow.html.

Margaret Henty
Building Capabilities Program Manager
Australian National Data Service

Spatial@gov Conference and Exhibition 5-7 October 2010

The conference focus is on spatial capabilities in developing government policy, delivering programs, enhancing service delivery and streamlining business practices. Experts will examine how governments at all levels are applying geospatial technologies to address contemporary issues including:

• Earth Observation
• Gov 2.0 – Intelligent Business
• Education
• Defence
• Climate Change & Water Security
• Smart Infrastructure
• Social Inclusion

The program is now available on http://www.cebit.com.au/2010/conferences/spatial-at-gov/program.

Lesley Wyborn
Geoscience Australia

NZ eResearch Symposium

www.eresearch.org.nz
Tuesday 26 and Wednesday 27 October 2010
Auckland, New Zealand

Weíve extended the deadline for Paper Abstracts until Wednesday 15 September
Address any aspect of eResearch, across sciences, humanities, engineering, social sciences and medical fields, and the infrastructure, platforms, middleware, services
1. Paper Abstracts for technical and position papers
2. Posters & Demonstrators

The 1st NZ eResearch Symposium is a forum for NZ’s research sector and nascent eResearch community. This is an opportunity to meet leaders of eResearch initiatives within NZ and internationally, and to hear about best-practice and to share experiences. Keynote speakers are William Michener, Professor and Director of e-Science Initiatives for University Libraries at the University of New Mexico, Dr Andrew Treloar, Director of Technology for the Australian National Data Service and Shaun Hendy, a Distinguished Scientist at IRL, and Deputy Director of the MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology, hosted by Victoria University of Wellington.

Register online: http://www.eresearch.org.nz/nz-eresearch-symposium-2010-registration

Nick Jones
Director, BeSTGRID
Co-Director, Centre for eResearch
The University of Auckland

ISO/OGC technical meetings in Australia November and December 2010

The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) and International Organization for Standardization Technical Committee on Geographic information/Geomatics (ISO/TC211) will meet in Sydney and Canberra respectively, 29 November – 3 December and 6 – 10 December 2010. http://www.osdm.gov.au/News/263.aspx

Lesley Wyborn
Geoscience Australia

MolSim Downunder

From 26-30th July, Curtin University and iVEC hosted the MolSim Downunder winter school in Perth. The molecular dynamics workshop attracted 35 PhD students and post-docs from across Australia. Topics covered include statistical thermodynamics, ab initio methods, force-fields and advanced techniques such as coarse graining and free energy calculation. Key organisers were A/Prof Nigel Marks and Dr Paolo Ratieri who brought together international speakers and local experts, integrating theoretical and practical sessions into the workshop. Hands-on sessions made use of GDIS, with the support of developer Sean Fleming (ARCS). MolSim Downunder was a great success and is planned to return to Perth in 18 months.

Speakers included: Dr. Bernd Ensing, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Prof. Luciano Colombo, University of Cagliari, Italy; Prof. Julian Gale, Curtin University; Dr Zak Hughes, Curtin; A/Prof. Ben Corry, University of Western Australia; A/Prof. Nigel Marks, Curtin University; Dr. Paolo Raiteri, Curtin University.

For more information see: http://molsim2010.ivec.org
Valerie Maxville
Education Program Leader
iVEC, ‘The hub of advanced computing in Western Australia’

High Performance GPU Computing with NVIDIA, CUDA, and Fermi

The High Performance GPU Computing workshop was hosted by Xenon and iVEC@UWA on 19th August. Over 70 attendees came to the ARRC Auditorium for an introduction to GPU for research applications. Key presenter, Mark Harris (Senior Developer Technology Engineer, NVIDIA) and Dragan Dimitrovici (Founder, XENON Technology Group) gave a thorough background of the technology. Participants learned about CUDA, the Fermi architecture, and Tesla GPU Computing products. Mark took us through the basics of programming GPUs using CUDA C and C++, the variety of available computational libraries for CUDA, tools for profiling and debugging CUDA applications, and approaches for optimizing CUDA parallel applications.

Five WA researchers gave presentations on how their research has utilized GPUs –Derek Gerstmann (Research Fellow, WASP/CMCA, UWA) Christopher Harris (Research Associate, ICRAR, UWA), Munish Mehta (Senior Bioinformatics Officer, UWA), Lawrence Murray, (Research Scientist, CSIRO Mathematics, Informatics and Statistics) and Randall Wayth (Curtin Institute of Radio Astronomy, ICRAR/Curtin University). The workshop was part of iVEC’s ongoing support for the use emerging technologies.

http://ivec.org
http://www.xenon.com.au/news/?i=29

Valerie Maxville
Education Program Leader
iVEC, ‘The hub of advanced computing in Western Australia’

In VeRSI’s new-look August eNewsletter read about

* our ANDS funded work with Melbourne Uni to make published research data discoverable
* our seed grant from the Institute for Broadband Enabled Society
* a report back on the Digital Humanities conference held at King’s College London in June
* the first of our guest articles, by Leonie Hellmers from Intersect
* as well as our expanded range of online publications, including our new video.

Viewable here: https://www.versi.edu.au/publications/enewsletter/enewsletter-12

Gaby Bright
VeRSI – eResearch Communication

About this newsletter

The eResearch newsletter is normally published the first business day of each month, and submissions are due two business days prior to that. Please send items to newsletter@eresearch.edu.au. Each item should be no more than 150 words plain text, plus a link to further information.

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Patricia McMillan
eresearch-announce List Moderator

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