Monash e-Research Portal (MeRP) Project

The overall aim of e-Research is to harness IT to do research better. The Monash e-Research Portal (MeRP) project is a multiyear project to make researchers lives easier.  The MeRP project will provide a single integrated and tailored web environment for researchers, providing an easy-to-use and integrated web workspace (‘one-stop-shop’) for researchers to access all the IT tools and support they need.  The MeRP project will bring together activities from diverse areas into a Researchers Desktop IT environment. A number of activities were undertaken in previous years, and these activites are itemised here.

Collaboration tools

A key aim of e‑Research is the use of IT to facilitate better research collaborations within Monash, nationally and internationally, and within and between disciplines. A range of capabilities, including those to be provided by ICE and the AAF will be introduced to assist Monash researchers collaborate. In particular, the following applications and services:

View and download - EVO, Confluence & VRE-Sakai flyers

• EVO next generation "access grid" and video conferencing technology.
• Sakai all-in-one collaboration environment.
• Lotus Quickr collaboration environment.
• Confluence enterprise wiki.
• Twiki enterprise wiki.
• Word Press blog.
• Drupal wiki and web environment.
• Plone content management system.
• Optiportal visual collaboration system.
• Subversion (SVN) version control system.

Research data management

Identify and provide a continuum of information management and digital asset management environments to meet the needs of different research activities. A joint sub-project of the LaRDS and MeRP projects is to identify and provision suitable data management environments for large research data sets, in particular digital image libraries and audio/video/multimedia digital asset management. Solutions address a wide variety of data types including: audio, video, multimedia, digital imaging (still, movie and through to 5D imaging), simulations, instrument data, databases, documents and software. The solutions and services supported by the Centre include the following:

• Monash ARROW repository
• Mediaflux Desktop  DAMS (Digital Asset Management System)
• Storage Resource Broker (SRB)
• Laboratory information management systems

This project is also carrying forward a number of DART/ARCHER project deliverables for use at Monash, and these include:

• Hermes (supported by ARCS)
• XDMS
• Dimsim

Custom tools and advice

Provision of discipline-specific and custom tools, custom GUIs and the custom configuration of software and services are important requirements to meet the specific needs of researchers. The MeRP project aims to carry-forward the successes of the “embedded IM/ICT professional working alongside the researcher” concept piloted under the DART initiative.We are exploring and introducing a range of rapid application development environments including:

• Mediaflux from SGI for XML and digital asset management systems
• Jira and Sugar task tracking systems
• Top Team for custom requirements gathering
• Sun Java Studio Enterprise for Java systems
• Application Express for Oracle systems

And we are considering the use of:

• Eclipse for Lotus

Workflow systems, LIMS and grid tools

Provision of a range of IT tools including grid computing environments such as Nimrod; workflow systems and algorithm workbenches such as Kepler, Taverna and MyGrid; and Laboratory Information Management Systems (LIMS).

Discovery tools - What’s happening at Monash

Monash is a large organisation. Researchers find it hard to know what other researchers at Monash are doing, and hence what opportunities might exist for collaboration, and find it hard to know what IT services are available that might assist their research endeavours. MeRP will provide improved flow of information between researchers and between researchers and IT service providers:

• A new Research tab has been added to the my monash portal as a single consolidated place for researchers to go to find all the tools, services, support and information they need.
• In conjunction with the RAS project, provide improved access to information about what other researchers are doing, by harnessing and integrating information already recorded in the ROPES and related Monash Research Information Systems.
• Information about ITS services for researchers, how to use them, how to access them.
• Improving Monash web sites.  A recent success in this regard was ITS’s upgrade of the Monash web search engine to Google, greatly improving the accessibility of Monash web content to researchers.
• Monash e‑Research Centre web site is continuously enhanced to provide information about facilities and support for researchers.

Administrative systems

In conjunction with the Research Administration Systems project, MeRP will provide simple things to streamline administrative processes around research, so as to improve researcher productivity and reduce manual paperwork (environmentally friendly), such as:

• Make form filling easier, more electronic, and better integrated with less repetition and manual rekeying.
• Notification of calendar of events and key dates, such as seminars, conferences and grant applications.
• Grant application processes.
• Access to research facilities.
• High performance computing:  Provision of a unified request process for access to Monash, VPAC and NCI (previously APAC) high performance computing facilities.
• Booking systems for other research infrastructure such as microscopy facilities.

Project Sponsor: Paul Bonnington, Director, e-Research Centre

Project Manager: Neil Clarke, Director, ITS Research Support Services