Sidebar 5: eResearch Collaboration Projects
These pages attempt to give some of the history of CSIRO’s use of computing in its research, focussing mainly on the large shared systems and services.
Sidebar 5: eResearch Collaboration Projects
Last updated: 4 Jan 2024.
Robert C. Bell
eResearch Collaboration Projects
Another initiative from the ASC period was the setting up of a program called Accelerated Computing Projects, later renamed eResearch Collaboration Projects, which provided short-term support from the ASC for researchers – porting code, parallelising code, optimising code, providing web portals, visualising data, curating data, etc. The program started with the first half of 2011. Hundreds of projects have been completed. There was a call for proposals every 6 months, for projects of 6 months duration. Here is an aggregated graph of the numbers of projects for each year to the present. Around 80 projects per year have been supported in recent years, bringing a large benefit to CSIRO research, and helping ASC (and later, SC) to be closely engaged with the needs of research.
The downturn in accepted projects in 2020 was because of lack of staff, and COVID-19.
The next graph shows the areas of engagement.
Though the program started with a compute emphasis, visualisation and data have become major focii. (CSIRO staff can find further information at https://confluence.csiro.au/display/SCinternal/SCS+eRCP+Reports ).
The program is continuing: there were 56 applications for the first half of 2024.