NCRIS Capability - Platforms for Collaboration

Full description Much of the research carried out around the globe is now conducted with the assistance of advanced information and communications technology (ICT) tools and services. Researchers can now reach out to each other from opposite ends of the country, even the globe, sharing data, ideas and instruments or equipment. Entirely new fields of research are emerging as researchers can now collect, move and manipulate large amounts of data, enabling new and much more complex problems to be addressed. The technologies themselves create new avenues through which research can be achieved, so that research is routinely undertaken that would not be feasible using any other means. These new and collaborative approaches to research within disciplines and across disciplines, supported by ICT, constitute eResearch. eResearch provides an effective way of enabling institutions and researchers to work together, using shared infrastructure and resources to tackle complex problems. The Australian Government is investing $82 million through the National Collaborative Research Strategy into eResearch through the Platforms for Collaboration (PfC) capability. This investment supports technological platforms that enhance researchers’ ability to generate, collect, share, analyse, store and retrieve information, allowing them to access knowledge, data and information and work together seamlessly from desk to desk between organisations. PFC Such seamless access enables researchers to carry out their research more creatively, efficiently and collaboratively across long distances, regardless of location and time, and disseminate their research outcomes with greater effect.