Minutes eresearch Coordination Group 21 November 2014

Transcription

1 Minutes 28 th meeting of eresearch Coordination Group, 21 November 2014 Venue: UNSW Library, Sydney Campus Meeting No. 28 opened 12.05pm 1. Welcome and apologies Present: Professor Greg Leslie (Chair) A/Professor Grainne Moran Professor Mark Hoffman Professor Marc Wilkins Dr Jason Wong Mr Andrew Wells Mr Philip Chung Dr Stephen Doherty Dr Zach Aandahl Ms Denise Black Mr David Toll Mr Jeremy Hammond Ms Lena Caruso Ms Toni Hodge Mr Gavin Rich Dr Shane Cox Mr Luc Betbeder-Matibet Mr Angelo Vardanega Ms Amany Nuseibeh Mr David Bryan Apologies: Mr Michael Kirby-Lewis Ms Susan Lafferty Ms Sharon Ryall Dr Maude Frances 2. Minutes of 27th Meeting, 12 September 2014 Professor Leslie noted that one modification to the minutes from the previous meeting was required as Ian Gibson was not an apology. He had not been invited to the meeting. No other modifications were raised and so pending that change the minutes of the Meeting of 12 September 2014 were accepted as a true and accurate record. Minutes of Meeting prepared by Kate Byrne Page 1

2 3. Business arising not otherwise on agenda No business arising not otherwise on the agenda 4. Comments from Professor Mark Hoffman Professor Leslie introduced Professor Hoffman by noting that this was Professor Hoffman s last meeting as Pro-Vice Chancellor, Research. Professor Hoffman noted that the research data storage project is progressing, however Luc Betbeder-Matibet will discuss it in his report. He also noted change in approach for the Intersect e-research analyst role. The aim is to replace this role with a UNSW staff member who will be responsible for promoting e-research activities on campus and liaising with Intersect. Professor Hoffman commented that it was a pleasure being involved in the eresearch Coordination Group and thanked all for their efforts with particular thanks to Professor Leslie and Andrew Wells. 5. Intersect update (Mr David Toll) Mr Toll reported that the allocated funding seems to be on track. The NCRIS Review that Tom Cochrane is undertaking will be presented to the Department on 15 December Ian Gibson has been invited to attend and present. The next step that has been identified is to build consensus about future directions for the program. This is scheduled for completion by the end of February 2015, though Mr Toll noted this seems somewhat ambitious. The Department is starting their budget submission for 2015 and it is not currently clear what this will include. In response to a question about whether this would affect groups such as Professor Botten and the NCI, Mr Toll commented that it would potentially as funding changes may affect renewal of their infrastructure. All of the ReDS money has been allocated and RDSI is wrapping up at the end of There is a deadline to spend all remaining funds by the end of 2014, for example on equipment, and then complete the data ingest process by June As there may be a delay with the data ingest from some of the nodes, there may be some re-prioritisation undertaking with the REDS that would mean data allocations would be adjusted. Ideally additional allocations will be offered first to existing projects that have indicated they may need more storage than initially planned. A/Professor Moran asked about the conflict between the deadline for ingesting content and projects that were always designed and were approved in their application to have staged ingest over a longer period of time. Mr Toll indicated that this will be something the board will need to review but that it one of the challenges of these projects having unstable funding. There was a second question if the Cochrane review will address these challenges. Mr Toll indicated that yes it will be in part looking at the continuity and prioritization of funding and planning. Minutes of Meeting prepared by Kate Byrne Page 2

3 With the RDSI funding coming to a close, the Research Data Services (ReDS) program will be the next focus. RDS is under different management from the RDSI program and will be le by Richard Northam. It will include $1.2 million in funding for each node and will also be looking at developing the connections between nodes. Intersect s Time connection to the Nectar Research Clouse is progressing and the service will be operable by February Profession Leslie asked if the monthly activity reports from Intersect will continue, and Mr Toll indicated that they would, with a focus on member service activities. 6. Research Data Storage Project (Luc Betbeder-Matibet and Shane Cox) a. Update on HDR students b. Progress report Mr Betbeder-Matibet and Dr Cox presented from slides about the research data storage project, see the accompanying slides for details. In addition to the slides: - Dr Cox indicated the HDR component of the research data storage project will be deployed next week and go-live the week after that. - Dr Cox commented that one of the discussion points that arose during the HDR testing was concern and confusion surrounding how to safely store data, especially identified data. He indicated that a focus on education about how to store data safely including what to declare to the ethics community might be required in the rollout. It was suggested this should connect to the plan to include supervisors in rollout. As this is Dr Cox s last meeting, Mr Betbeder-Matibet gave his sincere thanks to Dr Cox for his extensive work on RDMP and for his work with the research community at UNSW. Mr Betbeder-Matibet also welcomed Dr Zac Aandahl who is taking over Dr Cox s role as an interim appointment. IT aims to advertise the role before the end of UNSW IT Update (Luc Betbeder-Matibet and Denise Black) a. IT Program and Investments b. Faculty IT Mr Betbeder-Matibet also presented slides for this update. See the accompanying slides for details. Ms Black reported that they are seeking to undertake a broader review of services to support research practice. They have requested feedback about that review from a number of sources and would like feedback from this group. In the IT project voting process, two research-related projects were presented in a total of seven projects, those two projects ranked fifth and sixth in the voting. This has raised Minutes of Meeting prepared by Kate Byrne Page 3

4 concerns that research projects are under-represented and with the suggestion that perhaps they either aren t the right projects or they aren t being presented in the right voice. There was discussion about which projects were presented, a review of InfoEd and the Smart Data Project. Ms Hodge suggested that as research infrastructure is seen as a support service it can be hidden behind the scenes and its importance may not be understood. A/Professor Moran suggested that as many researchers are set up for their personal research needs it can be harder to get groups across the university to prioritise research tools over projects that benefit large numbers of students. Ms Black identified two possible elements: that the voting process itself may not be effective and they may not be unearthing the true community requirements and enabling them. A/Professor Moran commented that although it may not be working as effectively in this case, the consultative process of the voting was highly valued and important. She also noted it was a source of interest for other organization at the e-research conference. The group agreed to endorse IT undertaking the review. 8. e-research Australia Conference report Professor Leslie commented that it was good to have stronger representation from UNSW at the recent e-research conference and that it showed that UNSW was keeping pace in this space. A/Professor Moran noted there was lots of good interaction on RDMP HDR project and lots of interest in how the prioritisation for IT projects was done at UNSW (the voting system). She stated that it was reassuring that although e-research activities at UNSW are undertaken under a different model to many other universities the working being produced is standing up in this space. Professor Leslie noted that Andrew Treloar from ANDS wants to trumpet the UNSW poster (included in slides) as an exemplar of best practice. 9. Other business a Meetings The 2015 meetings will take the same format as the 2014 ones. The first meeting of 2015 will take place in March. SIGNED AS A TRUE RECORD. Professor Greg Leslie Minutes of Meeting prepared by Kate Byrne Page 4

5 Dated: Minutes of Meeting prepared by Kate Byrne Page 5