The conference will be held on 28 October to 1 November 2012 at the SMC Conference and Function Centre, Sydney.
Do you know of an engaging, thought provoking, inspiring speaker whom we should invite to give an address at the eResearch Australasia conference? We’d love to hear about them — please let us know by sending an email to v.paz@uq.edu.au.
Viviani Paz, eResearch Australasia Programme Director
2011 has been a busy year for Curtin as we strive to establish the University as a leader in provision of a high quality eResearch environment. Establishment of the eResearch and advanced computing services at Curtin (eRACS) directorate in Curtin IT Services (CITS) has been an important step in providing these services for our researchers.
The eRACS group has been responsible for development of the ANDS funded University Research Data Management System that received high acclaim at the 2011 eResearch Australasia conference. The system that has been developed allows researchers to publish metadata and manage their research data more effectively. This system will be further enhanced through awarding of additional ANDS funding in 2012.
The eRACS group have also worked with Curtin researchers and partners in developing proposals for the AURIN, NeCTAR and RDSI projects. Announcements about successful projects will be made in the near future.
2012 will also see the establishment of the IVEC@Curtin presence. As a key partner in the IVEC Joint Venture, Curtin University is keen to establish a virtual presence for IVEC at Curtin that will assist Curtin researchers to access IVEC services and for increased knowledge transfer between IVEC and Curtin employees. IVEC@Curtin will also see collaboration with CSIRO through a number of appointments associated with IVEC@Curtin. For further information about iVEC@Curitn contact Paul Nicholls, Director iVEC@Curtin p.nicholls@curtin.edu.au
CITS Systems engineers, Dr Amandeep Sidhu and Brendon Wade, have almost completed a six-month trial of the Microsoft Windows HPC platform, combined with Microsoft Azure Cloud, to speed DNA and RNA sequencing. The trial is helping CITS determine the viability of Windows HPC Server 2008 and Azure Cloud (HPC+Azure) as a service to complement the facilities available and coming online at iVEC and the Pawsey Centre.
“A focus has been transmitting data between the compute nodes in Singapore, internal HPC nodes at Curtin and the genome sequencing machine at Royal Perth Hospital,” Dr Sidhu explained.
The hybrid Microsoft Windows HPC and Azure solution helps researchers reduce time and costs typically associated with bioinformatics by reducing complex analysis times to less than a week in the cloud environment. A complex human genome sequence – which initially took millions of dollars and 13 years to complete – could now be analysed in less than a week in the cloud.
If adopted as a service, HPC+Azure could be used by Curtin researchers to achieve quick turnaround times for complex computational tasks involved in disease-susceptibility prediction, targeted treatments and conservation of extinct species. The trial is expanding to explore applications for modelling, simulation and computation for engineering, science, mathematics and digital design.
Since March, Amandeep has held dual roles of System Engineer and Adjunct Research Fellow for the University’s School of Biomedical Sciences, effectively becoming a middle-man for IT-intensive initiatives such as the DNA sequencing trial.
CIO Peter Nikoletatos says the new role was part of Curtin IT Services’ move to drop the “e” from “eResearch” and make the role of IT in projects more commonplace.
“At an operational level, seconding Amandeep into our team provided a real researcher’s mindset to help build our capability,” he said.
VePa is a programme to establish a vendor panel for use by RDSI project and the sector. For further information and to download the VePa RFP documents please visit: http://www.rdsi.uq.edu.au/vepa
For enquires please email vepa@rdsi.uq.edu.au
Viviani Paz, RDSI Project Manager
The Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment is generating new insights into how land-based ecosystems are responding to current to changes in atmospheric CO2 concentration, climate and land use. We are seeking a highly motivated Data Manager to be responsible for the creation, updating, maintenance and validation of data bases and for the provision of computerised reports for the Institute’s researchers and collaborators. To be successful, you will need excellent skills management of the research data life cycle and practical experience in implementing all aspects of the data life cycle.
Web: www.uws.edu.au/hawkesburyinstitute
Position Enquiries: Professor Ian Anderson on (02) 4570 1993 or email i.anderson@uws.edu.au
Closing Date: 20 February 2012
The ReDS programme will identify research data holdings of lasting value and importance and contribute funding to their development at the most appropriate primary or Additional Nodes. ReDS will deliver storage services in support of significant data collections, research data sets and associated access tools which will be aggregated into related holdings that add value to each other through co-location.
Consultations will be held in February 2012 with events planned in major Australian cities, please provide your feedback by 29th February 2012 by using the feedback form. Register for consultations here.
For enquires please email office@rdsi.uq.edu.au
Viviani Paz, RDSI Project Manager
I’d like to take this opportunity to introduce you to the RDSI team:
Further information and contact details are available from http://www.rdsi.uq.edu.au/team
Nick Tate, RDSI Project Director
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