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New director focuses on e-research

15 February 2006

Australia needs to place greater emphasis on e-research to remain internationally competitive, Monash University's new Director of the e-Research@Monash Centre, Professor Ah Chung Tsoi, has said.

Professor Ah Chung Tsoi.

But Professor Tsoi, who began his appointment at Monash in December, said the university had led the field by last year establishing its e-research centre.

e-Research uses high-performance computers, or clusters of computers, large databases and massive or multiple scientific instruments to link research teams internationally and solve previously intractable problems in areas as diverse as airplane engine design, climate modelling and drug design.

Professor Tsoi said that while this work could be done without the introduction of e-research, it would be slow and data access and merging could be challenging.

"I am convinced our research will not be able to be globally competitive if we do not embrace e-research in this country," he said.

Professor Tsoi said Monash was well placed to push the e-research agenda in Australia as the concept had support from senior management, the university had a well-established Information Technology Services division that already had the infrastructure in place, and Monash's library-based information management systems were forward looking.

"We also have great academics within the university who are undertaking high-quality research and who understand the importance of e-research," he said.

Before joining Monash, Professor Tsoi was Executive Director, Mathematics, Information and Communication Sciences, at the Australian Research Council. He was instrumental in establishing the ARC's e-research support funding scheme, which supported 37 e-research projects last year.

Professor Tsoi has also worked at the University of Wollongong as Pro Vice-Chancellor (Information Technology), Director, Information Technology Services, and Dean, Faculty of Informatics.

The e-Research@Monash Centre will further promote Monash's strengths in structural biology, grid computing, climate modelling and earth systems, computational engineering and multimedia.

Professor Tsoi said the centre also had broad application and could be used for humanity and social science research as well as the sciences and engineering.