O Luanaigh C2, Sathakkathulla R3, Soo A4, Jung D2, Papaioannou A1
1University of Technology Sydney, , Australia, 2The University of Sydney , , Australia, 3University of New South Wales, , Australia, 4AARNet, , Australia
Biography:
Christopher O Luanaigh
Chris has a long involvement as both solution and enterprise architect supporting research at the University, but also with interests in areas such as cyber security and identity.
Rizwan Sathakkathulla:
Rizwan Sathakkathulla is a Domain Enterprise Architect at UNSW Sydney, responsible for the Research and Faculty domain. He leads architecture engagement across strategic initiatives for the Research and Faculty portfolio, including research storage and compute transformation, digitalisation, application rationalisation and cost optimisation programs. Rizwan works at the intersection of research, business and central IT, helping translate complex requirements into practical, scalable technology solutions. He plays a key role in fostering collaboration between researchers, business stakeholders and enterprise IT teams, enabling shared understanding of priorities, constraints and opportunities to deliver outcomes that support the University's strategic objectives.
Ai-Lin Soo
Ai-Lin is the Deputy Director, Research and Innovation at AARNet, Australia’s National Research and Education Network (NREN). Having recently joined AARNet, she has previously been part of infrastructure and research teams at Monash and UNSW. At AARNet her focus is engagement with researchers and partner organisations to connect AARNet services to research projects and priorities.
David Jung
Dr David Jung is Manager, Research Technology at the University of Sydney, where he leads a team of DevOps engineers delivering cutting-edge technology solutions to support the University. With experience across multiple roles in the higher education sector, he specialises in enabling scalable, reliable, and secure research platforms aligned with institutional needs, with a strong focus on best practices in research data management and governance.
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1611-7644
Anastasios Papaioannou
Dr Anastasios Papaioannou is a Senior Manager leading the eResearch Platforms and Services at UTS, where he oversees cloud and high-performance computing (HPC), research data storage, training, and the integration of AI in research. He actively works on the adoption of AI by collaborating with UTS colleagues to develop a comprehensive suite of AI guidelines, tools, and training programs for researchers. With a strong background in research, data science, and computational physics, he works closely with academics and HDR students to help them leverage large-scale infrastructure and digital technologies to accelerate their research.
Abstract:
Have you ever found working with central IT challenging—whether navigating governance, translating research-specific requirements, or integrating systems? You are not alone!
A common challenge is that enterprise IT roles, such as architects and business analysts, may lack domain-specific understanding of research workflows, making it difficult to translate research needs into effective technical solutions.
However, the gap goes both ways. Many in the research community are less familiar with how enterprise IT operates, including the frameworks, language, and practices used to define and prioritise work (e.g., MoSCoW framework occasionally mistaken for a misspelt city). This can make it difficult to communicate needs in ways that align with enterprise processes.
This disconnect often results in misaligned requirements, overly complex processes, and missed opportunities to reuse common patterns across institutions. While central IT is essential for delivering secure and scalable services, this gap remains a persistent friction point.
This Birds of a Feather (BoF) session will create an open, informal space for research-facing professionals to share experiences of engaging with central IT. Participants will discuss what worked, what has not, and practical approaches for improving collaboration.
The goal is to surface actionable insights that to help both research and enterprise IT work more effectively together.
*This abstract was developed with assistance from an AI language model (Microsoft Copilot, GPT-5 based) to support drafting and refinement.
