End of Year Update on the HASS Research Data Commons and Indigenous Research Capability Program

As 2022 comes to an end, I’m pleased to provide an update on the ARDC’s HASS Research Data Commons and Indigenous Research Capability Program (HASS RDC and IRC Program).

I’m excited to announce several new developments, share new resources, and celebrate the success of the program and our partners below.

The findings of the consultations with researchers, documented in the Trove Researcher Consultation Report, have led to the originally proposed Trove Researcher Platform evolving. To accelerate HASS research for those using GLAM archives and collections, we are pleased that the first of 2 projects is kicking off:

HASS Community Data Lab 

The HASS Community Data Lab will access data from important collections and archives, and provide tools and software to analyse the data. It will be constructed in phases, and be extendable based on the needs of the research community. 

The second project to emerge from the consultations will be announced in 2023.

Integration Activities for the HASS RDC and IRC

To support the HASS RDC and IRC projects, the ARDC is supporting 3 integration activities. These activities deal with specific challenges identified for the projects. The 3 activities are:

1. Access, Authentication and Authorisation Activities
2. Transforming the Online Heritage Resource Management Tool to Describo Collections 
3. Gazetteer of Historic Australian Place Names

The Gazetteer of Historic Australian Place Names is part of the Time Layered Cultural Map (TLCmap). In exciting news, the TLCmap was recently awarded a LIEF grant by the Australian Research Council. The project will expand on the existing TLCmap (which received co-investment from the ARDC), to build open-access infrastructure to create and analyse large spatio-temporal data sets, and to provide new map layers to serve as context for multiple research projects. We’re pleased that our integration activity to create a stand-alone Gazetteer of Historic Australian Place Names will be part of a growing research infrastructure for the HASS community.

I congratulate the TLCmap team, and look forward to contributing to the expanding TLCmap project through my role on its Advisory Board. Read more about the project >

I’d also like to congratulate the team behind the Australian Text Analytics Platform (ATAP), which launched on 1 November. ATAP will link to the data-centred activities of the Language Data Commons of Australia, a HASS RDC project.

I will share more information about the new projects underway in the HASS RDC and IRC in 2023.

Please read on to see our exciting upcoming events and recently released resources. If you have any questions, please contact me.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Reminder: Register now for the HASS RDC and IRC Symposium and Summer School

We’re looking forward to seeing many of you at our upcoming symposium and computational summer school, both in February 2023. I also encourage you to share these events with your networks. They are both free to attend, and there are travel bursaries available for EMCR and Indigenous researchers. See the event pages for more information

HASS RDC and IRC Symposium

When: 2 to 3 February 2023

Where: Melbourne/Naarm

Run by: ARDC

The Symposium will showcase the research infrastructure we are creating in the HASS RDC and IRC Program and the potential for improved research outcomes that it supports.

Presentations will be given by partners from the HASS RDC and IRC Program.

Register now >

HASS RDC and IRC Computational Skills Summer School

When: 7 to 8 February 2023

Where: Sydney/Gadigal Country

Run by: ARDC

The Summer School will feature skills development workshops to help researchers use the research infrastructure that we are creating in the HASS RDC and IRC Program for your research.

The projects from the HASS RDC and IRC Program will present workshops on using the tools and platforms.

The Summer School will include skills development workshops on:

• Basic data management skills
• Using Jupyter Notebooks
• The Australian Text Analytics Platform
• Using the Indigenous Data Catalogue

Register now >

The University of Melbourne’s Professional Certificate in Indigenous Research 

Indigenous research students are invited to apply for the Professional Certificate in Indigenous Research at the University of Melbourne, to be held in Semester 2, 2023.  

This highly successful award course has been running since 2002 and is open to any Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander student who is currently enrolled in a Research Higher Degree (Doctorate or Masters) involving at least 2/3 research. Thanks to a generous Gift to the University from Julie Hannaford, applicants accepted into the course will receive a full scholarship, which covers all course fees, as well as the costs of travel and accommodation for the on-campus symposium. 

More information > 

The University of Melbourne is also offering the Graduate Certificate in Indigenous Research and Leadership for Early Career Researchers who have previously completed the Professional Certificate or who have completed a PhD. This 3-week intensive course will be held online in June, followed by a 3-day on-campus symposium in July. 

More information >

NEW RESOURCES

Summary report of Bringing Data to Life: Co-Designing a Language Data Commons

Bringing Data to Life: Co-Designing a Language Data Commons was held on 4 August on Yuggera and Turrbal land at the Brisbane Powerhouse. It brought together Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and non-Indigenous leaders from academia, galleries, libraries, archives, and museums (GLAM) institutions to discuss co-designing a Language Data Commons for Australia.

The Language Data Commons of Australia is a co-investment project of the HASS RDC.

Read the summary report now >

Indigenous Data Governance and Sovereignty Roundtable 2022

Join the Indigenous Data Network for the Indigenous Data Governance and Sovereignty Roundtable, supported by the ARDC as part of the Improving Indigenous Research Capability project. Watch the lively, incisive, and necessary conversation on the practical and technical application of Indigenous data governance and sovereignty principles for Indigenous research data tools and infrastructure. Together, we will reflect on the impact and effect of recent action, explore emerging topics and precipitate future work.

Watch the recordings >

Overview of the Roundtable for Social Science Research Infrastructure

Read an overview of the roundtable we held with the Academy for Social Sciences in Australia, The Australian National University and The University of Queensland in April 2022 about social science research infrastructure. 

Representatives from Australian universities, research institutes, Commonwealth Government science and data agencies, community organisations, Academies and national collections convened in Canberra to discuss planning and investment in the critical social science research infrastructure needed to address the social and economic challenges facing Australia over the next decade.

The discussion covered the need to collect and manage diverse physical and digital data assets, governance frameworks to manage access, privacy, and security, the increasingly sophisticated tools and platforms required to connect and analyse data, and the need for a highly-skilled workforce of researchers, methodologists, data scientists and engineers.

Read the overview >

Learn more about the HASS RDC and IRC Program.

The ARDC is funded through the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS) to support national digital research infrastructure for Australian researchers.