ANDS kicks off Monthly Tech Talk virtual meetings
On Friday, 6 May, the Australian National Data Service (
ANDS) will start its Monthly Tech Talk virtual meetings on topics of interest to those working with the technical aspects of research data.
The aim is to provide a forum for Australian research institution-based developers, data technologists, data scientists, data librarians and researchers building data tools, and enable them to engage with NCRIS facilities, such as ANDS, Nectar, RDS and QCIF, about their requirements.
The NCRIS facilities will jointly propose the initial topics, with future topics driven by those attending.
The series will initially feature speakers from Nectar’s Power Users group, such as those working on
Stemformatics (such as Rowland Mosbergen, pictured),
Ecosounds, the
BCCVL and the
GVL. They will discuss the issues they face running services on the cloud.
Each month, a meeting room will be booked in Australian capital cities for attendees, with the rooms linked via videoconferencing software. Brisbane's meeting room will be room 505a, Axon Building (#47), The University of Queensland, St Lucia Campus.
More information, or contact QCIF's Belinda Weaver:
b.weaver@uq.edu.au.
QCIF's Belinda Weaver elected to global committee
QCIF eResearch Analyst Team Leader Belinda Weaver (pictured) was recently elected to the global
Software Carpentry Steering Committee as its sole southern hemisphere representative.
The committee of seven (plus four non-voting attendees) is directly elected by Software Carpentry instructors and meets virtually each fortnight to decide issues such as new partnerships and affiliations, instructor training schedules, and financial matters. It also oversees the work of a number of task forces and sub-committees such as mentoring and communications.
Other 2016 Steering Committee members hail from the UK, Canada, Norway, and the US.
Belinda will serve a 12-month term and is keen to raise the profile of Software Carpentry both in Australia and around the world. She will attend an in-person two-day Steering Committee meet-up in New York early next month.
QCIF extends Software Carpentry to DSITI staff
QCIF eResearch Analyst Team Leader Belinda Weaver is extending her
Software Carpentry mission to include the Queensland Government Department of Science, Information Technology and Innovation this week.
Belinda and fellow instructors Amanda Miotto and Kim Keogh (both from Griffith University), and helpers Anup Shah and Paula Andrea Martinez (both from The University of Queensland), are running a two-day workshop for DSITI staff, particularly researchers, across 11–12 April.
The workshop is focusing on
R, a programming language for data exploration, visualisation, and statistical analysis.
More info
Getting stuck into R at the DSITI Software Carpentry workshop on Monday, 11 April.
Seminar: Prof Fran Berman to speak at UQ on data-driven research
Professor Francine Berman (pictured), the U.S. lead of the global
Research Data Alliance, will speak at The University of Queensland on Friday, 27 May, 11am–12pm, on building a sustainable ecosystem for data-driven research.
She will discuss sustainability, infrastructure and data, and explore the opportunities and challenges of creating a viable ecosystem for the data on which current and future research and innovation increasingly depend.
Prof Berman’s career has involved many accomplishments and she is regarded as a leader in digital data preservation and cyber-infrastructure.
As well as being the US Chair of RDA, a community-driven international organisation created to accelerate research data sharing worldwide, she is the Edward P. Hamilton Distinguished Professor in Computer Science at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
UQ’s Research Computing Centre is hosting Prof Berman, and the seminar will take place on UQ’s St Lucia Campus. All are welcome to attend this free seminar, and registering is not required.
More info
QFAB@QCIF domain specialist profile: Dr Xin-Yi Chua
Dr Xin-Yi Chua is Head of Informatics at
QFAB and is currently leading a team with more than 100 years of collective bioinformatics, biostatistics and IT experience across multiple domains, with skill sets in:
- NGS analysis
- biostatistics analysis (integrative–omics analysis, time-course analysis)
- cloud and high performance computing
- data management, integration and mining
- web-application development
- data analysis using machine learning approaches, and
- visualisation.
Dr Chua has worked on a range of diverse projects: from computational biology, such as biomarker discovery, classification modelling and workflow development; to eResearch-based projects, such as web-application development and implementing clinical ePathway applications.
She is motivated by the need to bridge the now apparent gap between data generation and data analysis in life science. The ability to automate repeatable discovery processes and quickly highlight regions of interest for further verification will improve and maximise researchers’ efforts.
Dr Chua received her doctorate from QUT for her work in applying machine learning approaches to enhance performance in inferring transcriptional regulatory interactions in bacteria using comparative genomics. From this work, she developed a keen interest in visual analytics, investigating methods to capture information from large-scale genomic data to facilitate intuitive and rapid comprehension.
xinyi.chua@qfab.org.
Bioinformatics workshops extended to QCIF members 
QRIScloud is now storing 207 data collections, with 3.87 PB ingested.