NeCTAR announces Stage 2 projects recommended for funding

NeCTAR is pleased to announce that the following proposals for Virtual Laboratories and Research Cloud Nodes have been recommended for funding under NeCTAR Stage 2, and to congratulate the associated organisations and their collaborating partners.

Virtual Laboratories
VL201	The Industrial Ecology Lab	University of Sydney
VL206	Marine Virtual Laboratory (MARVL)	University of Tasmania
VL212	Biodiversity and Climate Change	Griffith University
VL215	Endocrine Genomics (EndoVL)	University of Melbourne
VL222	Human Communication Science	University of Western Sydney
Research Cloud nodes
RC201	The Intersect NSW Research Cloud Node	Intersect
RC202	Tasmanian Research Cloud Node	University of Tasmania
RC203	South Australian Research Cloud Node	eResearch SA
RC204	iVEC NeCTAR Research Cloud	iVEC

As proposals that have been recommended for funding, and agreed in principle by the NeCTAR Project Board, NeCTAR will now engage in negotiations with the associated organisations to agree final proposals and funding. NeCTAR looks forward to these proposals joining our Stage 1 portfolio of projects:

Five Virtual Laboratories in the fields of astronomy, climate and weather science, humanities, characterisation and genomics;
16 eResearch Tools across a mix of disciplines; and
Three Research Cloud Nodes.

In May 2012, NeCTAR announced the availability of $11.5 million in Stage 2 funding for the creation and development of new collaborative eResearch infrastructure. The Australian research community responded with over 25 proposals for new collaborative Virtual Laboratories and Research Cloud Nodes. The NeCTAR Expert Panels, consisting of Research and eResearch experts nominated by the Australian research community, met and evaluated each proposal before recommending the selected proposals to the NeCTAR Project Board for funding. The Expert Panels also noted the high quality of the proposals submitted to NeCTAR. All submitters of Stage 2 proposals were notified of the outcome of their proposal via email on Tuesday 4 September.

NeCTAR Director, Associate Professor Glenn Moloney said he was looking forward to successful negotiations with the proposers to welcome them into the NeCTAR family of projects. “NeCTAR recognises that Australian researchers need infrastructure that fits the way they conduct their research. NeCTAR’s Virtual Laboratories are building new collaborative environments that draw together access to data, computation, tools and models to support the needs of their research communities. The Stage 2 Virtual Laboratories will deliver these benefits across a broader range of research disciplines in Australia.”

“These new Research Cloud nodes transform the NeCTAR Research Cloud into a truly national platform for research collaboration and innovation. The Research Cloud is a place where researchers can gain instant access to scalable computing, empowering them to share research knowledge, tools and applications on a national scale.”

NeCTAR and ANDS host software developer day in Hobart
Blue skies, tall ships and an abundant Australian history, provided a top backdrop for a NeCTAR and ANDS hands on developer day at Sandy Bay in Hobart, Monday August 20. The focus of the days are to deploy tools and data on NeCTAR's Research Cloud. Read the full story.

Future developer community events
NeCTAR in partnership with the Australian National Data Service (ANDS) have been hosting successful 'hands on cloud days' around Australia. For events coming up http://www.eventbrite.com/org/2319089783.

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