The UK e-Science Programme
&
The National e-Science Centre
Malcolm Atkinson
Director of NeSC
Universities of Edinburgh and Glasgow
Pilot Projects Meeting
25th January 2002
Outline
Review e-Science
What is it?
Assumptions & Progress
UK e-Science Centres
NeSC
e-Science Institute
What is e-Science?
An acceleration of a trend?
A sea change in scientific method?
A new opportunity for science?
And every other collaborative, information
intensive activity
Accelerating Trend
More and More data  must change methods
Instrument resolution doubling /12 months

Instrument and telemetry speeds increasing
Storage capacity doubling / 12 months
Number of data sources doubling / ?? months
Laboratory automation capacity doubling / ??
More and More Computation
Computations available doubling / 18 months
Analyses and simulations increasing
Faster networks  can change methods
Raw bandwidth doubling / 9 months
These Integrate and Enable
More interplay between computation and data
More collaboration: scientists, medics, engineers, …
More international collaboration
Sea Change
In Silico discovery + systematic exploration
Exploration of data and models predicts results
Verified by directed experiments


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Combinatorial chemistry
Gene function
Protein Structure, …
Shared Resources  need “intelligent” labs
Researcher’s Workbench 
Laboratory team 
Multi-national network of labs + modellers 
Public instruments, repositories and simulations
Floods of (public) data  must integrate data
More than can be used by human inspection
Gene sequence doubling / 9 months 

Searches required doubles / 4.5 months
Discovery by correlating diverse data
But …
Skilled scientists and computer scientists
Roughly static in number
Diminishing in available attention / task
Distributed systems remain hard

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E.g. component failures and latency are always with us
E.g. operational information goes stale
Integration remains hard
Important data in documents
More subjects experiencing the
Data deluge
Analysis avalanche
Simulation bonanza
Collaboration growth
Therefore find general solutions
Make technology easier to use
The New Behaviour
Shared Infrastructure
Intrinsically distributed
Intrinsically multi-organisational
Multiple uses interwoven
Shared Software
A new attempt at making distributed computing
economic, dependable and accessible
Scientists from all disciplines share in its design and use
Shared & Automated System Administration
Replicated farms of replicated systems
Autonomic management
Immediate benefit
Faster transfer of ideas and techniques between
disciplines
Amortisation of development, operation and education
Not Just Scientists
Engineers
They already travel the same path
Finance, economy, politics, …
We can expect best use of data and models to guide
the decisions that affect our lives
e.g. home climate simulation may moderate
greenhouse gas emissions
Medicine
See above
Industry & Commerce
See above
The UK Office of Science & Technology
Has these extensions firmly in mind
So have twelve computing & S/W companies

Signed agreements with GGF
Several Assumptions
The Technology is Ready
Not true — its emerging

Building middleware, Advancing Standards, Developing
Dependability
The Scientists / Engineers, … want this
Not universally true


Pilot projects and Demonstrators
The e-Science Institute
One Size Fits All
Not true


Addressed by a minimum set of composable virtual services
But starting with Globus
It’s only for “big” science
No — “small” science collaborates too!
We know how we will use grid services
No — Disruptive technology
UK e-Science
e-Science and the Grid
‘e-Science is about global collaboration in key
areas of science, and the next generation of
infrastructure that will enable it.’
‘e-Science will change the dynamic of the
way science is undertaken.’
John Taylor
Director General of Research Councils
Office of Science and Technology
From presentation by Tony Hey
UK Grid Network
Edinburgh
Glasgow
Newcastle
Belfast
Manchester
DL
Cambridge
Hinxton
Oxford
Cardiff
RAL
London
Southampton
From Tony Hey 27 July 01
NeSC’s context
Coordination
e-Science Centres Application Pilots
IRCs …
e-Scientists, Grid users, Grid services & Grid Developers
GNT
DBTF
ATF
TAG
NeSC
GSC
UK Core Directorate
eSI
CS Research
Global Grid Forum …
NeSC’s Roles
Stimulation of Grid & e-Science Activity
Users, developers, researchers
Education, Training, Support
International Research & Standards
Coordination of Grid & e-Science Activity
Regional Centres, Task Forces, Pilots & IRCs
Technical and Managerial Fora
Support for training, travel, participation
Developing a High-Profile e-Science Institute
Meetings
Visiting Researchers
International Collaboration
Regional Support
Portfolio of Industrial Research Projects
NeSC — The Team
Director
Malcolm Atkinson (Universities of Glasgow & Edinburgh)
Deputy Director
Arthur Trew (Director EPCC)
Commercial Director
Mark Parsons (EPCC)
Regional Director
Stuart Anderson (Edinburgh Informatics)
Chairman
Richard Kenway (Edinburgh Physics & Astronomy)
Initial Board Members
Muffy Calder (Glasgow Computing Science)
Tony Doyle (Glasgow Physics & Astronomy)
Centre Manager
Anna Kenway
Conference Manager
Andrea Grainger
e-Science Institute
Highlights so Far
August & September



3 workshops week 1: DF1, GUM1 & DBAG1
HEC2 and the Grid
preGGF3 & DF2
October



Steve Tuecke Globus tutorial (oversubscribed)
4-day workshop Getting Going with Globus (G3)
– Reports on DataGrid & GridPP experience
Biologist Grid Users’ Meeting 1 (BiGUM1)
November


GridPP
Configuration management
December


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Architecture & Strategy with Ian Foster et al.
AstroGrid
DIRC meeting
625 participants, 107 organisations, 20+ countries
eSI Highlights cont.
2002
January




Regional meeting
Steve Tuecke et al. 4 day Globus Developers’ Workshop
Pilot project workshop
Grid Portals & Problem Solving Environments Workshop
February — closed for renovation
March

Blue Gene: Protein folding Workshop 14th to 17th IBM sponsor
April




XML, XML Schema, Web Services Advanced Workshop
Getting OGSA Going Workshop
Managing Grid Software Projects Advanced Workshop
Digital Libraries, Librarians, Museums and the Grid
May


4-day Advanced Grid & Globus Tutorial (probable)
Mind and Brain Workshop
eSI Highlights cont.
Advanced Schema design & use, supporting tools
Managing large volumes of XML & … tools
2002
Web Services: WSDL, WSIL, WSFL, …
Web ServiceJanuary
Engineering
Web Service Infrastructure
Tools
 Regional &
meeting
 Steve Tuecke et al. 4 day Globus Developers’ Workshop
 Pilot project workshop
 Grid Portals & Problem Solving Environments Workshop
February — closed for renovation
March

Blue Gene: Protein folding Workshop 14th to 17th IBM sponsor
April




XML, XML Schema, Web Services Advanced Workshop
Getting OGSA Going Workshop
Managing Grid Software Projects Advanced Workshop
Digital Libraries, Librarians, Museums and the Grid
May


4-day Advanced Grid & Globus Tutorial (probable)
Mind and Brain Workshop
eSI Highlights cont.
Advanced Schema design & use, supporting tools
Managing large volumes of XML & … tools
2002
Web Services: WSDL, WSIL, WSFL, …
Self-Education & External Advice
Web ServiceJanuary
Engineering
Understanding & Reviewing OGSA
Web Service Infrastructure
Tools
Reinforcing OGSA Explorers’ Club
 Regional &
meeting
participation
 Steve Tuecke et al. 4 day Globus ANL
Developers’
Workshop
 Pilot project workshop
 Grid Portals & Problem Solving Environments Workshop
February — closed for renovation
March

Blue Gene: Protein folding Workshop 14th to 17th IBM sponsor
April




XML, XML Schema, Web Services Advanced Workshop
Getting OGSA Going Workshop
Managing Grid Software Projects Advanced Workshop
Digital Libraries, Librarians, Museums and the Grid
May


4-day Advanced Grid & Globus Tutorial (probable)
Mind and Brain Workshop
eSI Highlights cont.
Advanced Schema design & use, supporting tools
Managing large volumes of XML & … tools
2002
Web Services: WSDL, WSIL, WSFL, …
Self-Education & External Advice
Web ServiceJanuary
Engineering
Understanding & Reviewing OGSA
Web Service Infrastructure
Tools
Reinforcing OGSA Explorers’ Club
 Regional &
meeting
participation
 Steve Tuecke et al. 4 day Globus ANL
Developers’
Workshop
 Pilot project workshop
 Grid Portals & Problem Solving Environments Workshop
February — closed for renovation
March

Blue Gene: Protein folding Workshop 14th to 17th IBM sponsor
April




XML, XML Schema, Web Services Advanced Workshop
Getting OGSA Going Workshop
Managing Grid Software Projects Advanced Workshop
Digital Libraries, Librarians, Museums and the Grid
May
4-day Advanced Grid & Globus Tutorial (probable)
Expert Industrial
Advice
 Mind and Brain Workshop
Best Practice
Tool sets
Grid SE Club

eSI continued
21st to 26th July 2002
GGF5 & HPDC 11 EICC
August Research Festival
14th to 16th April 2003 Dependability
eSI continued
21st to 26th July 2002
GGF5 & HPDC 11 EICC
August Research Festival
14th to 16th April 2003 Dependability
Be There
Submit Papers
Suggestions Please
e-Science Institute
Welcomes suggestions and organisers
Any topic related to e-Science
How your subject may use e-Science
How your technology may benefit e-Science
Any format
Tutorial, advanced tutorial, workshop,
scientific meeting
We can give
travel, organisation, accommodation support
This building renovated!
Mail director@nesc.ac.uk
Research Visitors
We will welcome and support
Active e-Science Researchers
Suggestions Please
People, Topics & Groups
Applications via web site
www.nesc.ac.uk
Grid Net
Support for those engaged in Grid
development
International working groups
Sustained commitment
Travel, Meeting costs, …
Application process via web site
www.nesc.ac.u k
Ad hoc arrangements for GGF4
Via the web site
Where to Concentrate
International & Industrial Collaboration
Ideas, experiments, software, standards
Integrating Data across the Grid
Data growth demands new methods
Data ownership expects respect & security
Data is hard to scan — indexing & query
Data is hard to move — query & move code
Human attention is scarce but essential



Machine-assisted annotation, provenance, archiving
Machine-assisted data mining
Machine-assisted ontology construction & integration
Human-factors must drive designs
Dynamic, Dependable and Virtual Fabric
Improved Programming Models
For more Information
Ask me
www.nesc.ac.uk
director@nesc.ac.uk
Thank you for your attention
or for arriving early for the next talk 