This document discusses enabling research without geographical boundaries through collaborative research infrastructures like science gateways. It describes how increased complexity in research has led to a need for end-to-end solutions that provide access to data, software, computing services and equipment. Science gateways help meet this need but often lack long-term support, risking disillusioning scientists. Organizations like the Science Gateways Community Institute provide ongoing support to help gateways thrive and avoid typical life cycles of temporary funding and support. The document outlines several international collaborations and projects working to advance science gateways and virtual research environments.
Enabling Research without Geographical Boundaries via Collaborative Research Infrastructures
1.
Sandra
Gesing
Center
for
Research
Compu6ng
sandra.gesing@nd.edu
14
December
2016
Enabling
Research
without
Geographical
Boundaries
via
Collabora6ve
Research
Infrastructures
2. State
of
the
Art
Data-‐
and
compute-‐
intensive
problems
Research
Infrastructures
NO
geographical
boundaries
Geographical
boundaries
3. State
of
the
Art
Increased
complexity
of
• research
ques6ons
• hardware
• soLware
• instruments
• data
volume
• data
formats
The
need
for
end-‐to-‐
end
solu6ons
for
accessing
data,
soLware,
compu6ng
services,
and
equipment
specific
to
the
needs
of
a
science
or
engineering
discipline
4. Science
Gateways
Increased
complexity
of
• research
ques6ons
• hardware
• soLware
• instruments
• data
volume
• data
formats
The
need
for
end-‐to-‐
end
solu6ons
for
accessing
data,
soLware,
compu6ng
services,
and
equipment
specific
to
the
needs
of
a
science
or
engineering
discipline
Science
Gateways!
5. Science
Gateways
Early
adopters
Publicity
Wider
adop6on
Funding
ends
Scien6sts
disillusioned
New
project
prototype
A
typical
life
cycle
of
a
science
gateway
if
• funding
runs
out
• PhD
student
has
finished
PhD
work
• the
person
in
charge
leaves
the
project
6. Science
Gateways
Community
Ins6tute
• Diverse
exper6se
on
demand
• Longer
term
support
engagements
• SoLware
and
visibility
for
gateways
• Informa6on
exchange
in
a
community
environment
• Student
opportuni6es
and
more
stable
career
paths
hYp://sciencegateways.org/
7. Science
Gateways
Community
Ins6tute
• Get
advice
(sustainability,
usability,
cybersecurity,
other)
on
your
exis6ng
gateway
• Work
with
SGCI
to
build
a
gateway
for
you
• Find
a
working
gateway
or
gateway
development
soLware
in
the
catalog
• Learn
how
to
set
up
a
gateway
group
on
your
campus
• Keep
up
to
date
on
gateway
developments
• webinar
series,
gateways
in
the
news,
google
scholar
feed,
case
studies,
annual
conference,
blog
posts
• Enroll
a
student
in
an
internship
program
to
learn
gateway
development
• Partner
with
SGCI
on
your
own
projects,
technologies
and
events
hYp://sciencegateways.org/
8. ICSG
Partners:
Science
Gateways
Community
Ins6tute
(USA)
NeCTAR
(Australia)
NESI
(New
Zealand)
Sci-‐GaIA
(Africa)
Academia
Sinica
Grid
Compu6ng
Center
(Taiwan)
SoLware
Sustainability
Ins6tute
(UK)
VRE4E1C
(Europe)
IWSG
(Europe)
CANARIE
(Canada)
Research
Data
Canada
(Canada)
IEEE
Technical
Area
on
Science
Gateways
(Interna6onal)
The
Interna6onal
Coali6on
on
Science
Gateways
aims
to
provide
an
interna6onal
forum
for
the
science
gateways
community
to:
• Provide
leadership
on
future
direc6ons
for
science
gateways
• Facilitate
awareness
and
interna6onal,
regional
and
na6onal
developments
in
science
gateways
• Iden6fy
and
share
best
prac6ce
in
the
field
hYp://www.icsciencegateways.org/
9. RDA
VRE
IG
Virtual
Research
Environment
Interest
Group
Increasingly
researchers
who
are
not
co-‐located
are
seeking
to
work
dynamically
together
at
various
scales
from
the
local
to
the
interna6onal.
These
researchers
want
to
share
data,
models,
workflows,
best
prac6ce
etc.
to
address
either
local
challenges
which
are
also
poten6ally
of
direct
relevance
to
researchers
in
other
geographical
areas,
or
they
have
a
shared
interest
in
addressing
a
common
issue
such
as
the
grand
challenges
currently
being
faced
by
society
on
a
global
scale
e.g.
climate
change.
…
…
bring
together
those
ini6a6ves
ac6vely
developing
VREs,
virtual
laboratories
and
science
gateways,
along
with
the
representa6ves
of
the
common
infrastructure
services
and
the
researchers
seeking
to
make
use
of
these
technologies
in
an
effort
to
iden6fy
the
necessary
technical
aspects,
governance
issues
and
best
prac6ce
required
to
support
a
more
coordinated
approach
to
the
development
of
VREs.
hYps://www.rd-‐alliance.org/groups/vre-‐ig.html
10. VRE4EIC
hYp://www.vre4eic.eu/
• Workshops
• User
surveys
• Recommenda6ons
on
policies
and
technologies
for
research
environments
• Many
partner
projects…
11. ENVRIplus
hYp://www.envriplus.eu/
ENVRIplus
is
a
Horizon
2020
project
bringing
together
Environmental
and
Earth
System
Research
Infrastructures,
projects
and
networks
together
with
technical
specialist
partners
to
create
a
more
coherent,
interdisciplinary
and
interoperable
cluster
of
Environmental
Research
Infrastructures
across
Europe.
Recommenda6ons
in
report
for
the
vision
of
a
world-‐wide
research
infrastructure:
1. Improving
interdisciplinary
collabora6on
2. Leading
the
forma6on
of
a
gloabal
environmental
sounding
board
3. Combining
both
sta6s6cal
and
mathema6cal
methods
4. Sharing
computa6onally
expensive
results
5. Data-‐intensive
Federa6on
support
6. SoLware
sustainability
7. Promo6ng
ICT
harmonisa6on
8. Decision
making
for
ICT
12. Next
Steps
• Collabora6on,
collabora6on,
collabora6on…
• The
AGU
Fall
Mee6ng
is
a
great
example!
• Working
groups
(a
few
examples
in
this
presenta6on)
• Integra6on
of
instruments
with
research
infrastructures
• Sustainable
science
gateways
• Openly
sharing
of
data
• Advancing
searchability
of
data
• Processing
of
data
• Reports/recommenda6ons
to
RIs
and
funding
bodies
on
policies