From KAREN wiki
- Organising Committee
- Nick Jones, Director, BeSTGRID, Manager, Centre for eResearch, The University of Auckland
- Prof. Paul Bonnington, Director eResearch, Monash e-Research Centre, Monash University
- Julie Watson, Communities Manager, REANNZ (Research & Education Advanced Network NZ Ltd)
- George Slim, Director, Ministry of Research, Science + Technology
- Prof. Mark Gahegan, Director eResearch, Centre for eResearch, The University of Auckland
- Facilitator
- Prof. Paul Bonnington, Director eResearch, Monash e-Research Centre, Monash University
- Location
Meeting is being held during e-Research Australasia conference 29 Sept - 3 Oct 2008 in Melbourne (www.eresearch.edu.au).
- Programme description
- http://www.eresearch.edu.au/jones2008
Agenda
We are seeking to foster collaborative engagement with e-Research activities in New Zealand and Australia, to leverage the best of what both countries have to offer in terms of science, IT infrastructure and education in the e-Research realm.
- Aspirations to foster trans Tasman eResearch - Paul Bonnington
- Recap on discussions at APAN 26, during the [Trans Tasman eResearch BOF] - Nick Jones
- Discuss specific opportunities to collaborate - Paul Bonnington
Participants
- Nick Jones, University of Auckland (Minutes / wiki)
- Paul Bonnington, Monash (Facilitator)
- Julie Watson, REANNZ
- Robert Gibb, Landcare Research
- Mark Gahegan, University of Auckland
- Ann Borda, VeRSI
- Chris Myers, VeRSI
- John Hine, Victoria
- Gerrit Bahlman, Massey (via Video Conference)
- Robin Harrington, Canterbury
- Nicky Gardener, Science and Research Coordinator, ESR
- Todd Forsythe, Victoria
- Paul Grimwood, GNS Science
- Sam Searle, Monash
- Guido Aben, Aarnet
- Alex Reid, Aarnet
- Greg Wickham, Aarnet
- Susan Liepa, ARCHER
- David Bannon, VPAC
- Daniel Cox, ARCS
- Jim McGovern, ARCS
- Lyle Winton, University of Melbourne
- Sam Morrison, VPAC
- Chris Pettit, Primary Industries Research Victoria
- ARC Centre of Excellence in Bioinformatics
- http://bioinformatics.org.au/
- raised by Allen Rodrigo, Auckland [1]
- Bioinformatics Institute Auckland is a partner, but collaboration isn't happening
- Ann Borda noted she would be interested in following up to help in addressing issues
Notes from meeting
- Paul noted that the PRAGMA model might translate well to NZ / Aus collaboration. Currently they meet biannually, and act within the limits of their own resources given they are unfunded (albeit some NSF funding supports activity within SDSC)
- Suggestion was made to highlight existing and planned trans Tasman activity, and to further promote this approach. Agreed to do so initially via this KAREN wiki.
- BioGrid - advanced instruments connected to compute infrastructure
- connecting through VeRSI to BlueFern
- Should explore interest from the newly formed NZ Genomics Limited, run by Otago, or other research centres with relevance.
- Suggesting Geneious, software tool from NZ company BioMatters, worth exploring
- Chris Petit from State of Victoria's Department of Primary Industries suggested NZ soil and land use data sets and modelling capabilities would be of interest.
- Chris noted a shortage of skilled people in related areas, and a history of staff migrating from one country to another, which might suggest a more collaborative approach is useful.
- Funding options to support trans Tasman research collaborations were discussed:
- It was noted that in Australia there was a strong commitment from institutions to eResearch, most visible in the NCRIS funded programmes, which see an equal amount of funding coming from institutions into any initiative. This approach is still emerging in New Zealand.
- Australian Research Council (ARC) International Linkages programme
- Australian Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research support a variety of international funding opportunties, including the International Science Linkages programme has funding for international science collaborations. However this programme has regionally specific programmes and funding guidelines which seem to exclude New Zealand participation.
- Victoria Department of Innovation, Industry, and Regional Development has specific funding for capability development, echoed in several others states. Investment priorities include biotechnology, mediccal research, and nanotechnology. The Office of Science and Technology promotes specific programmes.
- New Zealand Foundation for Research, Science and Technology (FRST)
- International Investment Opportunities Fund (IIOF) objective one supports building international research collaborations – for research projects ranging from $100,000 to $600,000 per annum for up to three years. This is open to proposals on demand, four times a year.
- The Bilateral Research Activities Programme is a part of the International Science and Technology (ISAT) Linkages Fund of the Ministry of Research, Science and Technology designed to support international science and technology links between New Zealand and the world with the exception of Germany.
- New Zealand Ministry of Research, Science and Technology have an eResearch programme, with specific Promoting the Advancement of Knowledge funding allocated for 2008/09 of $4.2M and Backbone funding of $22M for nationally significant databases. This funded could be leveraged into partnerships with Australia research infrastructure programmes.
- It was noted by several attendees that these nationally significant databases are prime candidates for open access via eResearch related technologies, and that many would have specific interest to a wide audience in both countries. Robert Gibb noted that with the 1/3 of these nationally significant databases being maintained by Landcare Research the intention is to have open access mechanisms in place.
Opportunities
- Joint eResearch capability development
- Extensive discussion focused on possibilities for joint workshops and other capability development programmes. Mention was made of specific conferences coming up, which were seen as more interesting to computer scientists study eresearch technologies. Note was made that workshops focused on implementing eresearch infrastructures and on research domain specific applications and services is missing.
- Paul noted that the PRAGMA PRIME undergraduate student exchange and PRAGMA Institutes provide models worth reviewing
- Mark volunteered, along with Julie Watson, to take a lead on developing a New Zealand perspective, while Paul offered to seek an appropriate commitment from an Australian colleague.
- Maintain trans Tasman discussions on opportunities to collaborate. Ensure feedback to appropriate agencies is maintained to ensure funding and policy are aligned and compatible. In Australia this would be via AeRIC, and in New Zealand, directly to the eResearch Advisor at MoRST, via appropriate contacts within each jurisdiction.
Actions
- Create a trans Tasman category page to summarise trans Tasman related materials - done
- Introduce Ann Borda to Allen Rodrigo re ARC related issues - done
- Discuss funding eligibility issues with appropriate agencies (DIISR, ARC, MoRST) around International Linkage programmes
- Establish a working group with participation from NZ and Australia to work on collaborative training initiatives
