059/05
23 May 2005

Initiative to coordinate e-research

The Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, Senator Helen Coonan, and the Minister for Education, Science and Training, Dr Brendan Nelson, today announced the formation of the e-Research Coordinating Committee, an initiative to coordinate e-research in Australia.

“The Government has made a $1 billion commitment to improve research infrastructure,” Senator Coonan said.

“The e-Research Coordinating Committee brings together key stakeholders in the research community to develop a strategic framework to allow Australia to fully benefit from the implementation of e-research.”

Dr Nelson said that he would welcome the committee’s contribution as Australian research embraces advanced information and communications technologies.

“Large-scale research projects are being made possible for the first time, using the full potential of broadband networks, high performance computing, advanced instrumentation, large experimental facilities, and research information infrastructure,” said Dr Nelson.

“With e-research, researchers will be able to overcome the tyranny of distance by providing more opportunities to collaborate nationally and internationally.”

The committee is chaired by Dr Mike Sargent AM. A broader reference group will contribute, made up of representatives from Australian Government departments, research institutions, research network providers, industry and funding agencies.

The committee will shortly release a discussion paper on the issues impacting on e‑research.

Dr Sargent, who chaired the National Research Infrastructure Taskforce, has nearly 20 years experience in executive management of companies.

He has worked with industry and governments as well as international organisations such as the World Bank and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

Membership of the e-Research Coordinating Committee

Dr Mike Sargent AM (Chair)

Agere Systems Australia (industry representative)

Australian Research Council (ARC)

Australian Vice-Chancellors’ Committee (AVCC)

Council of Australian University Librarians (CAUL)

Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO)

Department of Education, Science and Training (DEST)

Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts (DCITA)

National Academies Forum (NAF)

National ICT Australia (NICTA)

National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC)

Terms of reference for the e-Research Coordinating Committee

Introduction

The virtual research environments emerging from the increasing use of distributed high-performance computing resources, data resources, grid networks and communications technologies have enabled researchers to perform their research independent of time and geographical location - interacting with colleagues, accessing remote instrumentation, sharing distributed research data and computational resources, and accessing information in digital libraries.

The term "e-Research" embraces those virtual environments that facilitate real research collaborations of multidisciplinary, inter-disciplinary, or intra-disciplinary and large or small scale nature involving researchers and research organisations, nationally and internationally. While it is relatively new as a structured concept, e-Research has started to underpin all scientific disciplines, including the social sciences, and humanities.

In common with the USA, the UK, the European Commission, and Japan, Australia has invested in system-wide infrastructure to support e-Research to ensure that its researchers remain globally relevant and competitive.

The key elements of Australia’s e-Research infrastructure strategy includes:

• robust high-bandwidth advanced communications networks (e.g. the Australian Research and Education Network - AREN, the Centre for Networking Technologies for the Information Economy - CeNTIE, the GRid And Next GEneration Network - GrangeNet);
• distributed high-performance computing and data storage capacities (e.g. the Australian Partnership for Advanced Computing – APAC, and APAC partners);
• accessible data and information repositories (e.g. a range of implementing projects under the Australian Research Information Infrastructure Committee - ARIIC);
• accessible research instruments and facilities (e.g., through Major National Research Facilities program, and the ARC Linkage Infrastructure Equipment and Facilities program); and
• agreed standards and coordinated middleware development (e.g. through the MAMS project supported by ARIIC, public key infrastructure project supported by DCITA, and GrangeNet).

The ARC has introduced under its Special Research Initiative scheme a pilot funding scheme in e-Research, designed to provide incentives to researchers to overcome the initial high barriers of adoption of the e-Research methodology.

State governments, Universities, and research institutions/organisations have also separately invested heavily in e-Research infrastructure (physical and intellectual) to ensure Australia is participating effectively in global e-Research activities and our research sector remains internationally competitive.

There are, however, issues of common interests shared by all, and emerging issues which are beyond the capacity of any individual agency, institution or research organisation to address. These issues might be addressed in a more cost effective way by coordination and collaboration, nationally and internationally. For example:

• legal issues such as access to data sets containing personal/privacy information, protection/ sharing of intellectual property, indemnity issues etc..;
• cultural issues such as those related to creating trust in the ‘virtual’ environment;
• the need to provide researchers with access to the resources necessary to enable them to review the work of other scholars, access information and data in a variety of formats and to disseminate the results of their own endeavours.
• the need to co-ordinate activities among a number of funding initiatives in various funding agencies so that a national strategy in e-Research may be achieved,
• the need to engage industries and business enterprises in adopting e-Research methodology in their enterprise systems,
• the need to engage agencies in both federal and state governments in adopting e-Research methodology in their e-government endeavours.

The e-Research Coordinating Committee Initiative

The Federal Government has conceived an initiative to establish an overarching e-Research Coordinating Committee charged with the responsibility for establishing strategy and policy to coordinate support for research utilising advanced research infrastructure, including distributed high performance computing and research data resources and high speed networks.

This initiative focuses on strengthening multidisciplinary teams working in national priority areas by providing incentives, guiding policies, and capacity building to participate in national and international research programmes. The coordinated and targeted approach will be pursued over sufficient sustained periods to ensure that not only national research outcomes are achieved, but also the changes in research collaboration culture are achieved. The work of the Committee is expected to better inform e-Research investment decisions made under the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS) announced in Backing Australia’s Ability – Building Our Future through Science and Innovation (BAA-BOFSI) as well as government funding programs administered by various portfolios and agencies, such as the Department of Education, Science and Training (DEST), the Department of Information and Communications Technology and the Arts (DCITA) and the Australian Research Council (ARC).

The role of the e-Research Coordinating Committee

The e-Research Coordinating Committee will be the primary source of expert advice to the Government and NCRIS about developing Australia’s e-Research capacity to capitalise on the Government’s substantial investments in national and international broadband networks, high performance computing, instrumentation, large experimental facilities, and research information infrastructure.

The Committee will be responsible for the national coordination of efforts to build Australia’s e-Research capabilities, in particular:

• to communicate with stakeholders and promote greater collaboration among Australian researchers and between them and industry to make use of the existing infrastructure of networks, high performance computing and other research resources;
• to facilitate the development of international research linkages through the use of distributed networks, high performance computing and other research resources;
• to advocate and foster the cooperative development of high-quality research capacity in emerging areas;
• to encourage the development of a network of e-Research communities of interest to provide e-Research outreach to the broader research community and to ensure the rapid dissemination of the appropriate skills;
• to engage industry and associated research facilities to sustain efforts in developing national e-Research capabilities, in innovative research and development, and knowledge and technology transfer; and
• to advise on the strategy, planning, management and assessment of the e-Research collaborative projects and activities to ensure that Australia's investments in e-Research provide best value for money, focusing on research in National Priority Research areas.

In undertaking this role, the Committee will:

• contribute substantially to the development of the Accessibility Framework outlined in BAA-BOFSI, which is intended to provide a strategic framework to improve access to and quality of research information, outputs and infrastructure.
• make recommendations concerning initiatives for possible funding under NCRIS which will encourage the development of ICT standards and middleware.

provide advice on:

• the priorities for e-Research funding to ensure the maximum economic and long term return, specifying outputs, targets and performance measures;
• strategies for ensuring a co-ordinated approach to e-Research developments across the communities;
• strategies for co-ordinating e-Research developments with other national and international academic and industrial partners interested in the development of grid and related technologies;
• opportunities for technology transfer to and from industrial and other academic IT interests;
• strategies for assisting industry uptake of e-Research methodology and grid technology;
• strategies for assisting government uptake of e-Research methodology and grid technology in its e-government initiatives;
• strategies for obtaining e-Research funding for activities undertaken in the community, including overseas sources of funding from partner organisations for complementary activities; and
• strategies for a sustainable e-Research effort to inculcate a collaborative culture among our researchers.
• pursue formal relationships with international agencies such as the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) in the UK, the US National Science Foundation (NSF) etc.

Composition of the Committee

The Committee will serve primarily as an expert reference group rather than a representative group. It consists of:

• A Chair; and
• One nominee each from the following groups:
  • Australian Vice-Chancellors’ Committee (AVCC)
  • National Academies Forum
  • National Health and Medical Research Council
  • Council of Australian University Librarians
  • Australian Research Council (ARC)
  • CSIRO
  • National ICT Australia (NICTA)
  • An Australian industry representative
  • Department of Education, Science and Training (DEST)
  • Department of Information and Communications Technology and the Arts (DCITA)

The above-mentioned organisations will be invited by the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts to participate on the Committee for its initial term of two years. Their term may be extended subject to the outcome of the review of the Committee towards the end of its initial term.

e-Research Reference Group

The Committee will be supported by an e-Research Reference Group which consists of nominees nominated by the above organisations and nominees from the organisations listed below, who are:

• able to bring broad areas of relevant expertise, both nationally and internationally;
• technically competent to be able to report on developments and plans within their respective areas of responsibility; And
• able communicate and disseminate information with their particular stakeholder group.

These organisations include:

• National Health and Medical Research Council
• Australian Government Department of Tourism and Resources, Department of Attorney General, Australian Government Information Management Office, National Archives, Defence Science and Technology Organisation
• Universities
• The Online Council
• Council of Australian State Libraries
• Consortia funded under the Government's Advanced Network Programme, namely MNet, GrangeNet and CeNTIE
• Committees formed under the Systemic Infrastructure Initiative: ARENAC, ARIIC
• Australian Partnership for Advanced Computing (APAC)
• AARNet (Australian Academic and Research Network)
• Council of Australian University Directors of Information Technology (CAUDIT)
• CRCs
• Organisations active in the e-Learning community, such as ACODE and ASCILITE
• Organisations active in the development of standards for ICT in education and research such as IMS Australia

State and Territory Governments will also be approached to provide a point of contact to coordinate consultations and communication about e-research issues.

The Committee may, if required, form working groups, expert advisory group, and subcommittees dealing with such issues as applications of IT, certification, middleware policy, data curation, security and governance. Any other person may also attend with the agreement of the Chairman of the Committee.

Expected outcomes

The Committee will undertake necessary consultations with relevant stakeholders nationally and internationally and recommend options to the Government in the form of a Roadmap setting out and prioritising the e-Research opportunities likely to arise within the next ten years or so. This Roadmap will include a description of the technologies required to realise these opportunities, an estimate of the cost, and a timeframe for investment decisions to be made on each .

The recommended options should include appropriate communication strategies for each of the identified stakeholders. These strategies will guide the Committee in communicating with stakeholders to promote sustained e-Research collaboration and raise awareness of national e-Research capabilities and facilities. Some issues are suggested in Attachment A.

The Committee’s recommendations should seek to encourage collaboration between researchers, research institutes/organisations and engage industry or State and Territory government partners. A strong emphasis will be given to building an e-Research community of interest to support researchers in their aim to improve their research outcomes through more effective utilisation of new technologies and knowledge. The focus of the Committee’s advice to Government will be on achievable outcomes, within the limited available resources, and may draw upon work already undertaken by various stakeholders.

The Committee’s recommendations will be considered by the Government as a basis for a strategic framework to inform the extent of funding required in subsequent years to address emerging national e-Research needs.

Term and Costs

The Committee will be established initially for two years. Its ongoing role will be reviewed before its term finishes.

The costs of supporting the Committee and to commission necessary studies and demonstrator projects could be drawn from existing programmes in the DCITA and DEST portfolios, subject to the appropriate Ministerial approval..

Reporting

The Committee will provide to both Ministers:

• by 30 September, 2005, an interim report outlining e-Research issues of national importance in short and medium term and associated strategic options to address these options and report substantively on the Accessibility Framework.
• by 31 December, 2005 a recommended implementation strategy to incorporate the Accessibility Framework in the funding agencies’ strategies, including financial implications and appropriate communication plans for each of the identified stakeholders.
• by 31 March, 2006 a report summarising advice from the funding agencies about how they will implement the Accessibility Framework; and
• by 31 December 2006 an update on the implementation of recommended strategies.