Implementing DORUS at DSTG – our pathway to provisioning
Ms Amanda Nixon1, Mr Alex Mattison1, Mr Marty Mark1
1Defence Science And Technology Group, Australia
Situation
Defence Science & Technology Group (DSTG) brings together interdisciplinary research expertise to address Defence and national security challenges. Like those in other research organisations, DSTG researchers are embracing eResearch tools and techniques. They are backed by significant investment in enabling infrastructure including classified cloud and high performance computing, but with significant opportunity to uplift research data management (RDM) practice.
Task
The Research Data & Information team within Digital Science Scientific Computing (DSSC) were tasked with identifying and implementing tools to immediately improve RDM practice at DSTG.
The focus of this presentation is the adoption of ReDBox software to act as an eResearch Planning Tool for DSTG.
Action
In 2019, a selection of researcher-facing and infrastructure-focussed staff from DSSC visited leading Australian eResearch organisations to identify practices that would translate into the Defence context. That process identified ReDBox as a research community-driven tool that could be adapted for RDM planning and metadata storage. Collaborating with QCIF, DSTG staff implemented a local, customised version of ReDBox adapting the RDM planning module to become an eResearch Planning Tool that:
- Enables Defence research projects to engage early with DSSC
- Provides self-provisioning capability
- Collects information to form the basis of research dataset descriptions
Result
The tool, locally named DORUS (Data Organised Right Underpins Science), was launched in August 2021. Early indications are that it will grow to be integral to the research project workflow, will lay the foundation for uplifted RDM practice and be an automated gateway to eResearch capabilities.
Biography:
Amanda Nixon is an eResearch and data management enthusiast with a keen interest in anything that makes the life of the researcher easier. Currently leading the Research Data and Information team at Defence Science and Technology, she has growing expertise in data management, data movement and research collaboration in secure environments.