Supporting leading-edge research
The National Data Assets initiative is a strategic activity for the ARDC’s Data and Services theme. Over 2019-2022, this initiative will enable the ARDC to establish strategic partnerships with research communities and institutions to develop a portfolio of national-scale data assets that support leading-edge research. This approach will create long-lived data assets that leverage existing research and administrative investment to ensure ongoing sustainability and stewardship.
Underpinning this initiative is the principle that collections of data can be national research infrastructure when they:
- support leading edge research (research excellence, impact, priorities)
- are national in scale (multi-organisational aggregation, use, and governance).
The six programs in this initiative ensure a balanced portfolio of:
- data custodians (NCRIS facilities / research organisations / research disciplines and domains / public and private sector)
- beneficiaries (research / industry / public policy / education)
- data collection maturity types (established / emerging)
- research system outcomes (research innovation / research efficiency / research integrity).
Open calls for participation in these programs will be staggered over the next 18 months.
Our programs at a glance
| # | Program | Purpose | ARDC Investment | Open call commences1 | Project duration | Project participants |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cross-NCRIS National Data Assets | Establish cross-NCRIS facility collections to support multi-domain science and research translation | Up to $400K | Mar 2020 | 24 months from Q4 2020 | At least two NCRIS facilities as project partners |
| 2 | Australian Data Partnerships | Establish and develop national data assets to support leading edge research & broader impact | Up to $500K | July 2020 | 30 months from Q4 2020 | Consortia of Australian organisations |
| 3 | Public Sector Bridges | Optimise use of and access to public sector data for specialised research purposes beyond the agencies’ core business. | Up to $350K | May 2020 | 30 months from Q4 2020 | At least one research organisation with an Australian public sector body as project partners |
| 4 | Emerging Collections | Incubate the development of emerging national scale collections | Up to $50K | Two calls: Oct 2020 Oct 2021 | 6 months from Q2 2021 and Q2 2022 | Australian research organisations |
| 5 | Institutional Underpinnings | 1. Catalyse system-wide good institutional practice for FAIR data 2. Support distributed national scale assets | TBA | Two calls: Oct 2020 Mar 2021 | TBA | Australian universities and publicly funded research agencies |
| 6 | Health Studies Australian National Data Asset | Build a (distributed) national data asset from the outputs of NHMRC funded health studies to enable meta analysis, guideline development and data linkage2 | Up to $200K | Nov 2020 | 18 months from Q2 2021 | Consortia of health studies research organisations |
| 1 Current proposed schedule. Subject to change 2 An initial open call for assistance with the design phase for a health studies national data asset concluded in Jan 2020 |
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Indicative timeframe for all for National Data Assets programs: open call to announcement of successful project
