Research Infrastructure

Astronomy Australia Ltd

Astronomy Australia Ltd (AAL) supports a range of projects to ensure that Australian astronomers stay internationally competitive and have access to the best astronomical research infrastructure.

AAL is a not-for-profit company limited by guarantee. AAL supports Australian astronomers by:

• providing Australia's astronomers with access to major international optical/infrared observatories to remain at the forefront of the discipline;
• supporting the development and operations of new advanced instruments for current and next-generation optical and infrared telescopes, and powerful new radio survey telescopes that will facilitate Australia's key role in the international Square Kilometre Array (SKA) project;
• developing new High Performance Computing facilities and managing the allocation of time on national supercomputing resources for theoretical astrophysics applications and large-volume data processing; and
• advancing a long term vision to create a Federation of National Astronomy Datasets that will give astronomers widespread access to radio, optical and theoretical data, to facilitate data-intensive research in astronomy and astrophysics.

AAL also engages with the Australian astronomy community to advance the national research infrastructure priorities of the Australian Astronomy Decadal Plan and advises the Government on future investments in national astronomical research infrastructure.

AAL is providing key elements of national radio and optical astronomy infrastructure and developing eResearch infrastructure to manage astronomical and astrophysical data. 

Microscopy Australia (formerly AMMRF)

Microscopy Australia is a joint venture between Australian university-based microscopy and microanalysis centres. It was established in July 2007 under the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS).

Microscopy Australia provides researchers with a national grid of equipment, instrumentation and expertise in microscopy and microanalysis that offers nanostructural characterisation capability and services, including widely used optical, electron, X-ray and ion-beam techniques and world-leading flagship platforms.

Australian National Fabrication Facility (ANFF)

The ANFF enables users to process or manipulate hard materials (such as metal, semiconductors and ceramics) and soft materials (such as polymers) and transform these into structures that have application in sensors, pharmaceutical and medical devices and nano-electronics.

The technologies available at the ANFF lies in between conventional ‘millimetre’ scale processing technologies that use standard tooling methods, and atomic or molecular scale technologies.

ANSTO

ANSTO houses a number of instruments/facilities, including the Australian Synchrotron. The Australian Synchrotron is an facility situated in Melbourne and used for physical analysis of materials and biological samples. Bright light generated by the synchrotron is filtered into hard or soft X-rays, infrared or terahertz light, and provided to beamlines where specific spectroscopy, diffraction and imaging methods are applied.

Access to the Australian Synchrotron is by peer-reviewed application three times per year, and the shipping, travel and accommodation costs for successful UWA applicants are reimbursed by the Synchrotron. Details of user access can be found at
https://www.ansto.gov.au/user-access, or feel free to contact Charlie Bond (general queries) or any of the people listed below for technique-specific questions.

AINSE

AINSE provides pathways and networks for collaboration within nuclear science, engineering and related research fields both nationally and internationally. UWA students and researchers have access to a suite of AINSE undergraduate education schools and scholarships for honours students, postgraduate students, and early career researchers. These programs facilitate effective collaboration between AINSE members, including UWA, and ANSTO.

AuScope

AuScope aims to build world class infrastructure to assist Australian researchers in monitoring and understanding the structure and evolution of the Australian Continent with greater accuracy and the ability to access data in a seamless, cost effective manner. The program creates a unique integrated approach to earth science and geospatial research through investments in technology, data and knowledge infrastructure; and by bringing together government, academia and industry in collaborative partnerships.

The Cameca IMS 1280 Secondary Ion Microprobe is a $7 million microanalytical research facility, which was fully commissioned in 2010 at the Centre for Microscopy, Characterisation & Analysis (CMCA) at the University of Western Australia and is unique in its ability to measure in situ stable isotopes at the microscale.

Australian Research Data Commons (ARDC)

The Australian Research Data Commons (ARDC) is a transformational initiative that enables the Australian research community and industry access to nationally significant, leading edge data intensive eInfrastructure, platforms, skills and collections of high-quality data.

Bioplatforms Australia

BPA provides services and scientific infrastructure in the specialist fields of genomics, proteomics, metabolomics and bioinformatics.

It supports Australian life science research with crucial investments in state-of-the-art technologies and cutting edge expertise.

Integrated Marine Observing System (IMOS)

IMOS is a multi-disciplinary, multi-institutional capability to undertake systematic and sustained observing of the marine environment, from the open ocean onto the continental shelf and into the coast, and across physical, chemical and biological variables. All observations undertaken by IMOS produce data streams in near real time and/or delayed mode (quality controlled), that are discoverable, accessible, usable and reusable via the Australian Ocean Data Network (AODN).

Increasingly, even more data is being made available via AODN from a wide range of partner organisations – research institutions, Federal and State Government departments, and private industry. As the national scale marine observing system, IMOS supports a high level of international collaboration. This benefits Australia through coinvestment in our region, and helps position Australian scientists as global leaders in Southern Hemisphere marine and climate science. IMOS has also established partnerships with coastal and ocean modellers in the areas of model validation and development, data assimilation, and observing system design.

IMOS is operated by a consortium of institutions as an unincorporated joint venture, with the University of Tasmania as the Lead Agent.  IMOS facilities, funded to deploy equipment and deliver data streams are operated by eight different institutions within the National Innovation System. There is a strong presence in Western Australia with CSIRO, AIMS, UWA and Curtin hosting facilities in WA for the deployment of infrastructure in Western Australia. UWA is the host for two coastal observing facilities: ocean gliders and ocean radar.

IMOS observations are guided by science planning undertaken collaboratively across the Nodes of the Australian marine and climate science community with input from government, industry and other stakeholders. There are five major research themes that unify IMOS science plans and related observations: long-term ocean change; climate variability and weather extremes; boundary currents; continental shelf and coastal processes; and, the ecosystem response.

In Western Australia the IMOS data have contributed significantly to the understanding of the marine environment.  This includes: recognition, definition and ecological response to marine heat waves; discovery and importance of dense shelf water cascades along Two Rocks, Pilbara and Kimberley transects; definition and variability of the Holloway Current; interaction between Leeuwin and Capes Currents and the formation of eddies; Whale ‘songs’ in the Perth canyon; and documenting the impacts of tropical cyclones on shelf region using ocean gliders.  The IMOS funding has also attracted additional co-investment to WA through Industry (Woodside, Chevron, Origin Energy), Royal Australian Navy (RAN), Fisheries Research and Development Corporation (FRDC), National Environmental Science Program (NESP) and the Australian Research Council.

National Imaging Facility (NIF)

As part of the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS), the NIF has established a national network that provides state of the art imaging of animals, plants and materials for the Australian research community.

It provides access to molecular imaging instrumentation, including:

• a range of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and positron emission tomography (PET) scanners
• live animal imaging equipment including bioluminescence, microCT, ultrasound and intravital microscopy.

Population Health Research Network (PHRN) (UWA LEAD NODE)

The PHRN project is creating and developing research infrastructure in the population health space, including information and communication technology, research equipment, data management and custodianship, analytical capacity and project management.

It provides researchers in Australia with the capability to link de-identified data from a diverse and rich range of health data sets, across sectors and jurisdictions.

This allows them to carry out nationally and internationally significant population-level research, to improve health and wellbeing and to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of health services.

Supports linkage of health and other human services data in privacy-preserving ways and makes the linked data available for approved research. It supports facilities in every Australian state including WA.

WA-based infrastructure supported by PHRN includes an Online Application System that enables researchers to apply for cross-jurisdiction linked data from across Australia and a secure file transfer system. As a result of PHRN activities, WA now has internationally recognised skills in management of personal health information, as well as systems and processes for data linkage and management of linked data. These are vital to a range of health and other human services research in the state.

The PHRN has funded a number of proof of concept studies to demonstrate how the PHRN infrastructure can enable researcher access to cross-jurisdictional linked data. Two of these involved WA researchers and addressed the important research topics:

In-hospital and post-discharge mortality: Learning about quality of care using data linkages from Australian States

Linkage of the Australian Childhood Immunisation Register (ACIR) and state-based registers to evaluate and inform Australia's immunisation program

Pawsey Supercomputing

The Pawsey Supercomputing Centre is encouraging and energising research using supercomputing, large scale data storage and visualisation in Western Australia. They provide facilities and expertise to the research, education and industrial communities. Application areas include nanotechnology, radio astronomy, high energy physics, medical research, mining and petroleum, architecture and construction, multimedia, and urban planning, amongst others.

The Pawsey Supercomputing Centre is an unincorporated joint venture between CSIRO, Curtin University, Edith Cowan University, Murdoch University and The University of Western Australia and is supported by the Western Australian and Federal Governments.

Pawsey’s HPC system is an internationally significant resource which supports Australian computational research.  It provides prioritised support for research in geosciences and radio astronomy, including the processing of the data generated by the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) radio telescope.

TERN

TERN is Australia’s land ecosystem observatory. It measures key terrestrial ecosystem attributes over time from continental scale to field sites at hundreds of representative locations and openly provide model-ready data that enable researchers to detect and interpret changes in land ecosystems. TERN provides open data, research and management tools, data infrastructure and site-based research equipment.