Dr Slava Kitaeff1,2, Luc Betbeder-Matibet2
1Monash University, Melbourne, Australia, 2The University of New South Whales, Sydney, Australia
Biography:
Dr. Slava Kitaeff is a nationally recognised leader in high-performance computing, data-intensive science, and large-scale digital research infrastructure. As Associate Director eResearch (HPC) at Monash University, he led major national initiatives including the National ML/AI Research Platform and the Australian Characterisation Commons at Scale Platform. As the Australian SKA Regional Centre Program Lead at UWA & CSIRO, he directed the Design Study Program and chaired the International SRC Architecture Working Group. Dr. Kitaeff was also Research Associate Professor for HPC and Data-intensive science at the University of Western Australia, where he developed novel methods for high-performance computing applications and data-intensive processing pipelines. He is an adjunct professor of HPC at the School of Engineering of Monash University. He has held senior leadership roles for over a decade across multiple institutions, focusing on research computing, digital innovation, and software engineering education.
Luc Betbeder-Matibet is a nationally recognised subject matter expert in High-Performance Research Computing, Research Data practices and shared Research Infrastructure services. He is Vice-President of AeRo (Australia's eResearch Organisation) and co-chair of the eResearch Australasian peak Annual Conference. He is an Adjunct Senior Lecturer in UNSW Faculty of Medicine Centre for Big Data and has been a Visiting Scientist with the Data61 Visual Analytics Team in Australia's National Science Agency CSIRO. He has held director-level roles for 15 years in higher-ed ICT and eResearch. Luc is currently the Executive Director Research Technology Services at UNSW.
Abstract:
Institutional research computing infrastructure is vital in Australia’s research ecosystem, complementing and extending national-level facilities. We present an analysis of research computing capabilities across Australian universities and research organisations, examining how institutional infrastructure supports research excellence through localised compute resources, specialised hardware, and cluster solutions. Our 2024 study reveals that institutional computing resources of nearly 112,258 CPU-cores and 2,241 GPUs serve as essential bridges between desktop computing and national facilities for over 6,000 researchers, enabling research workflows that span from code development to large-scale computations. We estimate the total replacement value of this infrastructure to be approximately $144M AUD. Based on detailed infrastructure data provided by research computing facilities across multiple institutions, we identify key patterns in infrastructure deployment, utilisation metrics, and strategic alignment with research priorities. Our findings demonstrate that institutional computing resources provide critical support for data-intensive research, facilitate training for higher-degree research students, enable prototyping and development, and ensure data sovereignty compliance when necessary. We discuss how these facilities leverage national infrastructure investments while addressing institution-specific needs that national facilities cannot meet alone. We discuss how the strategic investment in institutional research computing capabilities yields significant returns through increased research productivity, enhanced graduate training, and improved research outcomes. We also extend our discussion to the critical importance of developing a national research computing infrastructure framework that leverages the strength of national and institutional investments.