Visit by a European Union Delegation on Research Infrastructure to Australia
4-8 November 2013
Communiqué
Collaboration between Europe and Australia in research infrastructure, including
infrastructure to support the exploitation of large and complex research datasets, was
advanced at two events hosted by the Australian Government Department of Education in
Canberra and Melbourne.
The Third European Union (EU) – Australia Workshop on Research Infrastructure was held in
Canberra on 5-6 November 2013 and focused on the areas of healthy ageing, clean energy
and sustainable cities, with a cross-cutting theme on industry links. The New Partnerships
for Big and Complex Research Data workshop was held in Melbourne on 7 November 2013
and considered the opportunities and challenges presented by the rapidly growing volume
of research data holdings and the challenges this represents for data sharing and
interoperability.
The two events were bracketed by meetings between government officials on 4 November
2013, site visits to research infrastructure facilities on 4 and 8 November 2013, and a
general discussion on high performance computing in Australia and Europe on 8 November
2013.
The EU delegation was led by Octavi Quintana Trias, Director of Directorate B: European
Research Area, Directorate General Research and Innovation, European Commission. The
delegation comprised of European Commission officials, representatives of European
research infrastructures and expert researchers in key thematic areas. The Australian
delegation was led by Robert Griew, Associate Secretary, Australian Government
Department of Education, and included Australian Government officials, representatives of
major research infrastructure and data initiatives, and experts in the management and use
of research infrastructure.
Broadening the focus of discussions, the events also welcomed representatives from
New Zealand and Singapore. Participants are listed in Attachment A and Attachment B.
Australia and the EU acknowledged the importance of large, collaborative infrastructures in
enabling research which focuses on global-scale challenges and opportunities. The
increased scale and cost of research makes cooperative development, management and
cross-border access to research infrastructure and research data an effective choice for
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research-driven economies. The five days of events consolidated already established
relations between Australian and European partners and provided opportunities for
fostering new relationships.
As a result of the visit of the European delegation, Australia and the European Union:

Confirmed the value of a continued dialog on large scale research infrastructures
including the management, access and preservation of large and complex data and
agreed to work towards increased levels of cooperation.

Agreed to continue the dialogue through strong participation in the upcoming
International Conference on Research Infrastructures (ICRI) to be held in Greece in the
first half of 2014.

Review progress on agreed initiatives at the upcoming Australia – EU Joint Science and
Technology Cooperation Committee meeting to be held in the last half of 2014.
Outcomes resulting from the Third European Union – Australia Workshop on Research
Infrastructure included:

In the area of healthy ageing, agreement to:
o
Extend the existing BioPlatforms Australia (BPA) and European Molecular Biology
Laboratory (EMBL) – European Bioinformatics Institute (EBI) training collaboration to
a focused translational bioinformatics program aimed at enhancing Australia's
capacity to maximise the impact of the genomics revolution.
o
Establish a medical imaging collaboration agreement between the Australian
National Imaging Facility (NIF) and the European Euro-BioImaging facility to share
knowledge and expertise, including in relation to data, metadata and reference data.
o
Renew the existing cellular imaging collaboration agreement between the Australian
Microscopy and Microanalysis Research Facility (AMMRF) and Euro-BioImaging
which has already provided benefits to both parties.
o
Share knowledge and experience in user engagement between Euro-BioImaging, the
AMMRF and NIF.
o
Separate framework collaboration agreements will be established between
Therapeutic Innovation Australia and EATRIS (European Advanced Translational
Research Infrastructure in Medicine) Therapeutic Innovation Australia and ECRIN
(European Clinical Research Infrastructures Network).
o
Develop an international symposium on the characterisation of animal models by the
Australian Phenomics Network and the International Mouse Phenotyping
Consortium.
o
Develop a position paper on career paths for research infrastructure technical
experts and scientists (jointly led by NIF and Euro-BioImaging).
2
o


Conduct a review of currently available Australian and European on-line learning
tools and content with the goal of sharing the best examples (led by NIF and
Euro-BioImaging, and including the Population Health Research Network and
Therapeutic Innovation Australia).
In the area of clean energy, agreement to:
o
Develop a framework to facilitate researcher access between Australia and the EU
for up to 10 persons over the next 3 years. To be led by Plataforma Solar de Almeria
(PSA) and the two Australian solar research infrastructure facilities located at the
University of Queensland and at the CSIRO in Newcastle, in co-operation with the
Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) and the EU.
o
Produce an audit of possible EU and Australian solar research facilities. To be led by
Australian Photovoltaic Institute (APVI), Australian Solar Thermal Research Initiative
(ASTRI), and the EU solar projects of EU-SOLARIS and SFERA/SOPHIA.
o
Develop an Australian Solar Research Infrastructure Planning proposal using the
EU-SOLARIS model and investigate options for an Australian member of the
EU SOLARIS technical advisory committee to harvest learnings.
In the area of sustainable cities, agreement to:
o
Develop a group within the Research Data Alliance to establish minimal quality of life
indicators, model and data types to enable interoperability (jointly by the Australian
Urban Research Infrastructure Network(AURIN), the Australian National Data Service
(ANDS), INSPIRE, EUDAT, CSIRO, Geoscience Australia and National ICT Australia
(NICTA)).
o
Establish an Open Source Geoscience Sustainable Cities Virtual Laboratory –
University of Melbourne with linked laboratories across Australia and New Zealand,
under the Open Source Geospatial Foundation-International Cartographic
Association (ICA-OSGeo) Initiative (jointly by INSPIRE, AURIN, ICA-OSGEO
Foundation).
o
Conduct an Australian-based workshop on data specifications, reviewing INSPIRE and
its opportunities for Australian participation (jointly by the AURIN, INSPIRE, DASHISH,
the Australian Office of Spatial Policy (OSP), the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS),
Geoscience Australia and the European Data Infrastructure (EUDAT)). INSPIRE is the
Infrastructure for Spatial Information in the European Community and DASHISH is
the Data Service Infrastructure for the Social Sciences and Humanities.
o
Develop a group within the Research Data Alliance to establish a shared ontology for
agent-based (behavioural) modelling of transport and land-use simulation (jointly by
INSPIRE, AURIN, Future City Laboratory, CSIRO, SMART Infrastructure Facility and
NICTA).
3
o
Conduct a workshop on workflow tools and techniques (jointly by AURIN, INSPIRE,
ANDS, DASHISH, Geoscience Australia, National eResearch Collaboration Tools and
Resources (NeCTAR), CSIRO, HelixNebula and New Zealand eScience Infrastructure
(NeSI)).
The Industry Links Plenary was co-chaired by the Australian National Fabrication Facility
(ANFF) and EUMINAfab. A panel discussion explored the range of technology readiness
levels in which the research infrastructures operate, from basic research to deployment in
the market place, and considered the challenges associated with industry linkages. Further
work should be undertaken to establish a best practice for industry engagement based on
novel segmentation methods such as Technology Readiness Levels.

The workshop also enabled the generation of collaboration between the Karlsruhe Nano
Micro Facility (KNMF), located at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), which is the
coordinating partner of the European Research Infrastructure EUMINAfab, and the
ANFF. An initial study will be conducted to begin benchmarking major partner
infrastructure focusing on the infrastructures and partners of the ANFF and EUMINAfab.
It is aimed to broaden this study to cover other infrastructures offering coordinated
open access to nano capabilities, in Europe, the USA, and in Asia.

This study will be of mutual benefit for ANFF, KNMF and the EUMINAfab consortium
which is planning follow-on work in the context of the Horizon 2020 framework. The
results will be made public and are also expected to be of value for other stakeholders.
As well as comparing the modes of operation the study will focus on identifying the
impact and added value of multi partner user facilities.
Outcomes from the New Partnerships for Big and Complex Research Data workshop
included:

In the area of data interoperability, agreement to:
o
Investigate measures to collaborate on the kinds of provenance information needed
to support innovative uses/reuses of the data. This goes beyond the more usual uses
of provenance to support either preservation of the data, or reproducibility of the
processes that led to the data collection.
-
o
Co-develop an abstraction layer to simplify data interoperability across different
discipline and problem domains.
-

This could be taken forward through the existing Research Data Alliance Interest
Group on Research Data Provenance.
This could be taken forward through the existing Research Data Alliance Working
Group on Data Foundation and Terminology.
In the area of Big and Complex Data (defined at the workshop as data that is too large
to be easily moved), agreement by:
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o
The High Performance Computing facilities to discuss trusted data services that
facilitate needs from many research communities (such as climate, health, urban).
-

This could be taken forward through existing discussions between the operators
of HPC facilities in AU and EU.
In the area of Data Services, agreement to:
o
Increased joint meetings between Australia and Europe, bringing together the HPC
and data communities. This would serve to share good practice and also identify
what services could/should be provided.
Outcomes from the High Performance Computing (HPC) meetings included:

Call for, and involvement of Australian interest in Centres of Excellence in HPC to be
developed as part of the Horizon 2020 agenda in 2014 and beyond.

Establishment of mechanisms such as workshops to exchange staff and share expertise
and knowledge between Australian and European HPC practitioners (with particular
reference to operations management, procurements, data-intensive computation, and a
range of HPC technical issues including performance monitoring and allocation
strategies).
o
Investigate the feasibility and development of a high performance computing
resource sharing model between Australian and European counterparts.
o
Provide panel members to assist with reviews of HPC approaches and facilities – i.e.
provide Australian members for European panels and vice versa.
Other outcomes resulting from the EU delegation visit included:

Recognition that the events of the visit provided an excellent opportunity for productive
exchanges in diverse fields including between European and Australian synchrotron and
agricultural data experts.

Collaboration between the Australian Synchrotron and those in Europe is a strong
following on since their participation at the First EU-Australia Workshop for Research
Infrastructure in 2011.

Identifying the agricultural sector as a potential field for collaboration between the EU
and Australia. There is scope for collaboration in global food safety between EU
initiatives such as agINFRA and SEMAGROW with Australia’s Terrestrial Ecosystem
Research Network (TERN). Such collaboration could also take place under the existing
Research Data Alliance Agricultural Data Interoperability Interest Group and Wheat Data
Interoperability Working Group.
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Future Engagement
Based on the outcomes achieved during the events, participants agreed to work towards
strong involvement in the upcoming International Conference on Research Infrastructures
(ICRI) to be held in Greece in 2014. It was agreed that ICRI 2014 would provide a further
opportunity to broaden the international discussion of important issues in research
infrastructure, and that themes arising from the current activities should be considered in
shaping the conference agenda.
In conclusion, the events provided a valuable forum to progress cooperation between
Australia and the EU in research infrastructure including infrastructure to support open
access to research data, and provided the basis for further productive cooperation in these
areas. A review of the progress of initiatives would be undertaken as part of the
Australia-EU Joint Science and Technology Cooperation Committee meeting expected to be
held in late 2014. There was also a commitment to continue dialogue on the next joint
event.
Australian Delegation led by
Robert Griew, Associate Secretary
European Union Delegation led by
Octavi Quintana Trias, Director of
Directorate B: European Research Area,
represented by
Ditta Zizi, Branch Manager
Research and Higher Education Infrastructure
Department of Education
Government of Australia
Directorate General Research and Innovation,
European Commission
Attachments
Attachment A
List of participants at the Third European Union – Australia Workshop
on Research Infrastructure, 5-6 November 2013
Attachment B:
List of participants at the New Partnerships for Big and Complex
Research Data meeting
Program for the Third European Union – Australia Workshop on Research Infrastructure and
the New Partnerships for Big and Complex Research Data meeting can be obtained by
emailing ncris@industry.gov.au
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Attachment A
Third Australian- European Union Research Infrastructure Workshop Participants
Name
Healthy Ageing
Australian Participants
Dr Merran Smith
Professor Graham Galloway
Dr Stewart Hay
Mr Andrew Gilbert
Title
Organisation
Chief Executive
Director of Operations
CEO
General Manager
Miles Apperley
General Manager
Tim Dyke
Dr Olivier Salvado
Professor John McNeil
Dr Michael Dobbie
Dr Andrew Treloar
Executive Director
Group Leader, Biomedical Imaging
Co-chief investigator
CEO
Director of Technology
Prof. Peter R. Taylor
European Participants
Professor Oliver Speck
Director
Population Health Research Network
National Imaging Facility
Therapeutic Innovation Australia Ltd
Bioplatforms Australia Ltd
Australian Microscopy and
Microanalysis Research Facility
National Health and Medical
Research Council (NHMRC)
AIBL, CSIRO
APSREE, CI
Australian Phenomics Network
Australian National Data Service
Victorian Life Sciences Computation
Initiative
Jacques Demotes-Mainard
Program Coordinator
Mr. Anton Ussi
Dr Thomas Schneider
Dr Graham Cameron
Clean Energy
Australian Participants
Head of Operations
Group Leader
Associate Director
Professor Paul Meredith
Professor Hal Gurgenci
Ms Sarah Miller
Dr Richard Corkish
Dr Muriel Watt
Professor Vassilios Agelidis
Dr Chris Fell
Dr Wes Stein
Veronica Heard
Mr Craig Froome
Scientific Coordinator
Interim Director, UQ Solar, Co-director,
Centre for Organic Photonics and
Electronics
Director
Chief Operating Officer, Australian
Solar Thermal Research Initiative
(ASTRI)
Director, Australian Centre for
Advanced Photovoltaics (ARENA
Strategic Research Initiative)
Chair, Australian PV Institute
Director, Australian Energy Research
Institute (AERI)
Research Group Leader, Photovoltaics,
CSIRO Energy Technology
Research Group Leader, CST, CSIRO
Energy Technology
Portfolio Team Leader, Renewable
Futures
Program Manager, UQ Solar and
Global Change Institute
7
EuroBioimaging
European Clinical Research
Infrastructure Network (ECRIN)
European Infrastructure for
Translational Medicine (EATRIS)
EMBL, EIROforum
EBI, ELIXIR
UQ, Centre for Organic Photonics &
Electronics
Queensland Geothermal Energy
Centre of Excellence
CSIRO Energy Transformed Flagship
University of New South Wales,
SPREE
University of New South Wales,
SPREE
University of New South Wales, AERI
CSIRO Energy Technology, Newcastle
CSIRO Energy Technology, Newcastle
Australian Renewable Energy Agency
UQ, Global Change Institute
Name
Clean Energy
European Participants
Dr Manuel Blanco
Loreto Valenzuela
Sergi Girona
Mr Bernhard Fabianek
Nigel G. Taylor
Sustainable Cities
Australian Participants
Professor Bob Stimson
Associate Professor Chris Pettit
Dr Jack Barton
Prof Greg Foliente
Prof Peter Netwon
Prof Pascal Parez
Dr Glenn Geers
Prof Bill Randolph
Prof Prem Chhetri
Lesley Wyborn
Ric Clarke
Marcus Blake
Graeme Wolff
Prof Bill Randolph
Prof Billie Giles-Corti
Prof Peter Newman
Dr Mohsen Kalantari
Dr Ross Wilkinson
Title
Organisation
Director, Australian Solar Thermal
Initiative (ASTRI) and Coordinator of
the EU-SOLARIS Program
Head, Solar Concentrating Medium
Temperature group, Solar
Concentrating Systems Unit
Managing Director
Policy Officer
Action Leader, Photovoltaic Solar
Electricity
Director
Strategic Implementation
e-Research and Data Facilitator
Senior Principal Research Scientist Urban Systems Program
Research Director - SMART
Infrastructure Facility
Director City Futures Research Centre
RMIT School of Business IT and
Logistics
Director, National Geoscience
Information Infrastructure
Branch Head of Analytical Services
Branch
Deputy Director of Geography
Director of Strategy
Director City Futures Research Centre
Director - MacCaughey VicHealth
Centre for Community Wellbeing
Director - Curtin University
Sustainability Policy (CUSP) Institute
Deputy Director - Centre for SDIs and
Land Administration
Executive Director
James Collett
European Participants
Massimo Craglia
General Manager
Dr Alexander Erath
Research Module Coordinator
Dr Hans Jørgen Marker
Co-ordinator
Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Faculty
of Social Sciences, Universty of
Nottingham
Managing Director
Dr Suchith Anand
Sergi Girona
Senior Scientist
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CSIRO Energy Transformed Flagship
Plataforma Solar de Almería-CIEMAT
PRACE
EC
EC, Joint Research Centre
Unit F7 Renewable Energy
Australian Urban Research
Infrastructure Network (AURIN)
AURIN
AURIN
CSIRO
Swinburne University
University of Woollongong
NICTA
NSW University
RMIT University
Geoscience Australia
ABS
ABS
OSP - RET
NSW University
University of Melbourne
Curtin University
University of Melbourne
Australian National Data Service
Planning Analysis Branch,
Department of Infrastructure
INSPIRE
Future Cities Laboratory SingaporeETH / Sustain City program
DASISH (Data Service Infrastructure
for the Social Sciences and
Humanities)
THE ISSUE (- Health-Environment.
Intelligent Solutions Sustaining
Urban Economies)
PRACE
Name
Industry Links
Australian Participants
Ms Rosie Hicks
Dr David Cookson
Professor Paul Meredith
European Participants
Dr Susan Anson
Professor Sergi Girona
Dr Thomas Schneider
Australian Government Participants
Mr Robert Griew
Mr David de Carvalho
Ms Ditta Zizi
Ms Sanie Ymer
Ms Cheryl Kut
Ms Clare McLaughlin
European Commission Participants
Sergi Girona
Massimo Craglia
Octavi Quintana-Trias
Bernhard Fabianek
Carlos Morais Pires
New Zealand Participants
Title
Organisation
CEO
Head of Beamline Science and
Operations
Interim Director, UQ Solar, Co-director,
Centre for Organic Photonics and
Electronics
Australian Synchrotron
UQ, Centre for Organic Photonics &
Electronics
EUMINAfab coordinator
Managing Director
Group Leader
EUMINAfab
PRACE
EMBL, EIROforum
Associate Secretary,
General Manager, Higher Education
Division
General Manager, Research and
Higher Education Infrastructure Branch
Director, Frontier Science and
Engagement Section
Director, eResearch and Astronomy
Section
Counsellor – Education and Science
Department of Education
Managing Director
Senior Scientist
Head of Directorate B: European
Research Area
Policy Officer, Research Infrastructure
Unit
Policy Officer, e-infrastructures
PRACE
INSPIRE
European Commission, Directorate
General Research and Innovation
European Commission, Directorate
General Research and Innovation
European Commission, Directorate
C: Excellence in Science
Director
Ministry of Business, Innovation and
Employment
New Zealand eScience Infrastructure
(NeSI)
Anne Berryman
Nick Jones
Australian National Fabrication
Facility
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Department of Industry
Attachment B
Participants at New Partnerships for Big and Complex Research Data
Name
Organisation
Dr Ross Wilkinson
Dr Adrian Burton
Dr Andrew Treloar
Prof Lindsay Botten
Dr Joseph Antony
Dr Ben Evans
Ms Lucy Guest
Mr Allan Williams
Dr Neil Stringfellow
Professor Graham Galloway
Associate Professor Chris Pettit
Prof Greg Foliente
Ric Clarke
Dr Glenn Geers
Mr Anthony Stinziani
Dr Lesley Wyborn
Dr Andrew Gilbert
Dr Rhys Francis
Prof Prem Chhertri
Mr Graeme Wolff
Dr Samiul Hasan
Professor Jenni Harrison
Mr Peter Hicks
Mr Nigel Ward
Dr Ann Borda
David Groenewegen
Peter R. Taylor
Prof Oliver Speck
Prof Sergi Girona
Massimo Craglia
Alexander Erath
Dr Hans Jorgen Marker
Dr Suchith Anand
Jacques Demotes
Dr Thomas Schneider
Dr Loreta Valenzuela,
Mr Bernhard Fabienek
Dr Carlos Morais Pires
Octavi Quintana-Trias
Dr Graham Cameron
Mr Nick Jones
Professor Robin Stanton
Dr Andreas Drakos
Dr Nick Tate
Dr Frankie Stevens
Ms Ditta Zizi
Ms Cheryl Kut
Dr Sanie Ymer
Ms Clare McLaughlin
Australian National Data Service (ANDS)
Australian National Data Service (ANDS)
Australian National Data Service (ANDS)
National Computational Infrastructure (NCI)
National Computational Infrastructure (NCI)
National Computational Infrastructure (NCI)
National Computational Infrastructure (NCI)
National Computational Infrastructure (NCI)
Pawsey
National Imaging Facility
Australian Urban Research Infrastructure Network (AURIN)
CSIRO
Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS)
NICTA
Geoscience Australia
Geoscience Australia
Bioplatforms Australia
eResearch Coordination project
RMIT University
Office of Spatial Policy, Dept of Industry
CSIRO
iVEC
RDSI
NeCTAR
VeRSI
Director, Research Infrastructure, Monash University Library
VLSCI
Euro-BioImaging; Otto-von-Guericke University
PRACE
INSPIRE
ETH- Singapore
Swedish National Data Service
THE ISSUE UK
European Clinical Research Infrastructure Network (ECRIN)
EMBL, EIROforum
Plataforma Solar de Almería-CIEMAT
European Commission
European Commission
European Commission
EMBL
NZ eStructure Infrastructure
ATSE
agINFRA project
RDSI
RDSI
Department of Education
Department of Education
Department of Education
Department of Industry
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