In this issue:

• Visualization Challenge -- A$5,000 prize. Enter by 6 October!
• eResearch Australasia Early Bird registration closes Monday, 12 October
• Apply Now! AAF Mini-Grant Scheme
• eRSA Summer Scholarship Program 2009
• iVEC Training in Advanced Computing
• Reminder: ANDS Roadshow - Newcastle event 12 & 13 October
• Research 2.0: a roadmap for eResearch in South Australia
• Authentication and Authorisation: AAF and ARCS Workshop
• New project to manage data from next-generation gene sequencing equipment
• BCEES helps define new ARCS service
• About this newsletter

Visualization Challenge -- A$5,000 prize.  Enter by 6 October!

The eResearch Australasia conference is proud to introduce the annual eResearch Visualization Challenge. The challenge invites researchers, students, practitioners, and educators from diverse disciplines to submit visualizations on a given theme. This year's theme is financial markets; the challenge is sponsored by SIRCA with a data set provided by Thomson Reuters. Entries will be displayed at the conference, and a prize of A$5,000 will be awarded for the winning entry.

The eResearch Visualization Challenge aims to harvest the best examples of meaningful (as opposed to purely artistic) visualizations around an annual theme, to raise the bar for the documentation and communication of the process applied to generate those visualizations, and to sensitize people to the importance of visualization for formal and informal education and the communication of information.

Please see www.eresearch.edu.au/vischallenge  for more information. Don't miss out!  Entries are due by 6 October 2009.

Mike Briers, CEO SIRCA and
Patricia McMillan, eResearch Australasia conference

eResearch Australasia Early Bird registration closes Monday, 12 October

Join us for eResearch Australasia, 9 – 13 November 2009 at the Novotel Manly Pacific Hotel, Sydney, Australia. Register at www.eresearch.edu.au by Monday 12 October to take advantage of the Early Bird Rate. This year's theme is No boundaries. What challenges are raised by a world with no boundaries? What potential can we unlock?

More than 400 people attended the conference in 2008. A very rich programme is taking shape see www.eresearch.edu.au/programme . Highlights include:

• The AeRIC eResearch Forum, a town meeting style session hosted by Rhys Francis, will look beyond existing initiatives for fresh ideas in innovation
• Engaging and thought-provoking international featured speakers
• The inaugural eResearch Visualization Challenge; the finalist entries will be on display see www.eresearch.edu.au/vischallenge
• An evening reception with live demonstrations and posters
• A full programme of nine workshops occurs before and after the conference viz Monday 9 November and Friday 13 November see www.eresearch.edu.au/workshops2009

Apply Now! AAF Mini-Grant Scheme

From 1 October 2009 to 26 February 2010, the Australian Access Federation Inc. is running a Mini-grant scheme which is open to Australian Higher Education institutions, related government research institutions, government agencies and private sector research organisations. The purpose of the Mini-grant scheme is to assist current and potential Service Providers with the deployment of their service(s) to the Federation. Up to $40,000 will be made available through an application process as outlined in the AAF Enabled Services Mini-Grant Application Package and AAF Enabled Services Mini-Grant Proposal Application Form.

There are four (4) Mini-grant rounds. Round 1 opens on 1 October 2009 and closes on 30 October 2009. If you miss this first deadline, please note that the second round of Mini-grants on offer will open on 27 November 2009.

For more information on the Mini-grant scheme, go to http://www.aaf.edu.au/index.php/mini-grants/. Follow the AAF on Twitter: http://twitter.com/ausaccessfed  or find us on Facebook.

We encourage your organisation to apply for a Mini-grant NOW!

Heath Marks
Project Manager, AAF Inc.

eRSA Summer Scholarship Program 2009

eResearch SA is offering up to 10 summer scholarships for students to undertake eResearch projects that utilise advanced information and communication technologies (ICTs) to support research.

Scholarships are available for a period of up to 8 weeks during the summer vacation (November–February) and come with a tax-free stipend of $250 per week. More information can be found on our website www.eresearchsa.edu.au/scholarships.

Sarah Nisbet
Executive Communications Officer, eResearch SA

iVEC Training in Advanced Computing

This month iVEC has taken over 30 participants through training sessions on developing and scaling parallel applications and managing research data. Facilitators of the course included Dr Chris Hines, Dr Daniel Grimwood, Valerie Maxville, Luke Edwards, Ankur Sharda and Rob Mollard - members of iVEC's staff supporting computational science and eResearch in WA. The iVEC courses are continually evolving and include material on ANDS and ARCS to help map out the resources available to researchers.

To find out more about our programs, please contact Valerie Maxville at education@ivec.org  or visit http://ivec.org/education.

Valerie Maxville
Education Program Leader
iVEC, 'The hub of advanced computing in Western Australia'

Reminder: ANDS Roadshow - Newcastle event 12 & 13 October

ANDS (Australian National Data Service) Roadshow - Newcastle event 12 & 13 October The last day for Newcastle registration is this Friday (2nd October).
There are still places available.

For program details and registration please visit http://ands.org.au/events/newcastle121009/registration-newcastle.html.

Angela Lang
ANDS (Australian National Data Service)

Research 2.0: a roadmap for eResearch in South Australia

Thursday 22 October 2009
9am - 1pm
Science Exchange, Exchange Place, Adelaide

eResearch opens the enormous potential of advanced computing and high-speed broadband networks to the practice of research. Our diverse panel of research leaders and thinkers will describe the current practice of eResearch in their discipline areas, and discuss its potential application to your work.

Our panel of speakers includes

• Alan Noble, head of Google's research and development operations in Australia
• Dr Ross Wilkinson, Executive Director, Australian National Data Service 
• Professor Richard Maltby, School of Humanities, Flinders University
• Professor Dave Adelson, School of Molecular and Biomedical Science, University of Adelaide
• Professor Robyn McDermott, Division of Health Sciences, University of South Australia
• Professor Tony Williams, Executive Director, Australian Research Collaboration Service

With lunch and networking to follow, this is a unique opportunity to exchange research ideas and inspiration with your peers.

Visit www.eresearchsa.edu.au/events to register.

Sarah Nisbet
Executive Communications Officer, eResearch SA

Authentication and Authorisation: AAF and ARCS Workshop

Have you remembered to register for the Authentication and Authorisation workshop as part of the upcoming eResearch Australasia 2009 conference to be held in Sydney from 9-13 November?

This workshop will be held on Monday 9 November from 1.30 pm – 5.00 pm. The workshop is offered at 50% of the normal workshop rate, as ARCS and AAF are meeting 50% of the cost for participants. Full details of the workshop are available at: www.eresearch.edu.au/2009ws9.

Find out more about the AAF and the benefits it can offer your organisation, ARCS services, proposed research services and what’s next on the agenda for the AAF. People who will benefit from attending the workshop include eResearch analysts, other eResearch intermediaries who advise researchers on technology tools and services and researchers interested in authentication or authorisation solutions.

If you are interested in attending, please register now!

Heath Marks
Project Manager, AAF Inc.

New project to manage data from next-generation gene sequencing equipment

Intersect has kicked off its next Innovation Project: the "Genomic Data Project". Use of next-generation gene sequencing is growing rapidly in Australia. Several institutions already have these sequencers and others are set to acquire them. Intersect, in collaboration with the Systems Biology Initiative, the Ramaciotti Centre at UNSW, the Centre for Plant Conservation Genetics at the Southern Cross University and the Australian National University is building eResearch infrastructure to assist sequencer users manage the huge volumes of data generated.

Intersect is interested in working with others who may be in a similar situation to avoid duplication of effort. If you are using similar technology, are interested in being involved in, or using the outcomes of the project, please contact Chris Mendes at chris.mendes@intersect.org.au. 

Leonie Hellmers
Communications, Intersect 

BCEES helps define new ARCS service

An identified problem for collaborative research projects is the difficulty in obtaining access and support for custom ICT infrastructure. ARCS has been able to provide a virtual machine hosting service that can make ICT services more flexible for research groups. The Breast Cancer Environment and Employment Study (BCEES – see www.bcees.org.au) has helped ARCS to define a new service for providing Virtual Machines (VM’s) that deliver customised environments and is successfully using this service.

BCEES is a three year study being carried out by an international team of researchers led by Professor Lin Fritschi of the Western Australian Institute of Medical Research (WAIMR). The study looks at the role of exposures at work and in the community as risk factors for breast cancer. BCEES aims to investigate some of these exposures and to improve the strategies for prevention of breast cancer.

ARCS has assisted BCEES by providing an application hosting environment to host their web site and their on-line survey and data collection applications. The BCEES project team have access to a remote virtual machine that allows them to run their given software and development tools without the concern of maintenance, redundancy, and support costs of the physical hardware.

Professor Anthony G. Williams
Executive Director, ARCS (Australian Research Collaboration Service)
"Providing collaboration services and tools for the Australian research community"
http://www.arcs.org.au/

About this newsletter

The eResearch newsletter is published the first business day of each month, and submissions are due two business days prior to that. Please send items to newsletter@eresearch.edu.au . Each item should be no more than 150 words plain text, plus a link to further information.

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Patricia McMillan
eresearch-announce List Moderator