NRDC – Department of Education Press Release – Update 2

UPDATE NO. 2 ON DEVELOPING A ‘NATIONAL RESEARCH DATA CLOUD’ FOR AUSTRALIAN RESEARCHERS
09 May 2018

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The Department of Education and Training circulated an update on the National Research Data Cloud (NRDC) on 15 March 2018.

Since that communication, the department has continued to work with ANDS, Nectar, RDS, their lead agents, and other key stakeholders to progress the NRDC.

That work builds on several exercises, including the Future Design advice provided to the department at the end of December 2017, and the Transition Plan advice provided to the department at the end of March 2018 by the NRDC Reference Group in accordance with its Terms of Reference. The department has accepted these documents as an important underpinning of future effort, and the insightful work of the Reference Group has now concluded.

To accelerate preparation of a business plan for the NRDC in 2018-19, Mr Richard Northam was engaged in April to lead the development of the plan. The plan will be considered by an Interim NRDC Board (which will shortly take over from the existing ANDS Steering Committee, Nectar Board and RDS Board), and be approved by the department as part of the standard business planning process.

The plan will provide a path to build on the successes of the ANDS, Nectar and RDS projects; their existing partnerships as well as the work undertaken in 2017-18 to align the three projects. It will articulate the strategic intent and program design for the NRDC, recognising that 2018-19 is the first year in the transition to the NRDC.

The department and the existing lead agents for ANDS, Nectar and RDS have finalised funding agreement variations to extend funding to the lead agents, enabling the NRDC to commence as a single NCRIS project on 1 July 2018, focusing on the transition to the NRDC through to 30 June 2019.

The department has also held early discussions to inform itself on possible legal structures for the NRDC.

As many of you will be aware, in the 2018-19 Budget, the Government committed additional funding of $1.9 billion to national research infrastructure. Forming another pillar for the NRDC, this investment will ensure researchers have the cutting-edge equipment, services and infrastructure to keep Australia on the forefront of research, including within e-Research.

The next NRDC update is expected to be released towards the end of May 2018.

Any questions on the development of the NRDC, or requests to be kept updated or removed from this list, can be e-mailed to NCRIS@education.gov.au.