The development of an Australian research data commons involves us all.

To support this, we are establishing a number of small projects under our Discovery Activities program. The aim of our Discovery Activities is to gather a range of perspectives and approaches to creating a research data commons for our nation. To meet the program timelines, projects will be delivered through an open call process and targeted engagement. Projects developed are intended to align with our five strategic themes and the outcomes from these small projects will form core discussions and presentations at our theme based summits:

  • Coordination and Coherence: Facilitating an Australian research data commons
  • People and Policy: Transforming culture and community
  • Data and Services: Maximising the value of Australia’s data assets
  • Software and Platforms: Enabling research insights
  • Storage and Compute: Providing foundation infrastructure

Organisations, institutions, infrastructure providers, research agencies are able to participate in future ARDC programs and activities, regardless of their participation status in the Discovery Activities program.

Start date 1 April 2019
Expected completion date 20 December 2019
Investment by ARDC $4,100,000
1 Data and Services call for application opens
From 1 April 2019, we are inviting Australian research organisations, service providers and research groups that have a passion for data collections, capacity, capability and coherence to submit their project proposal to ARDC. Projects of up to $50,000 with a completion date of 15 September 2019 are eligible for funding.
2 Coordination and Coherence
Projects within this theme will be established through targeted engagement in the first week of April. Projects are expected to be completed by September 2019.
3 People and Policy
Projects within the Skilled workforce will be established through targeted engagement in the first week of April. Projects are expected to be completed by June 2019.
4 Storage and Compute
Projects within this theme will be established through targeted engagement and open call for submissions from 10 April 2019. Projects of up to $50,000 with a completion date of 13 September 2019 are eligible for funding.
5 Application closes for Data and Services
Applications for the Data and Services theme closes 1 May 2019.
6 Application closes for Storage and Compute
Applications for the Storage and Compute theme closes 10 May 2019.
7 Skilled Workforce Summit
ARDC's Skilled Workforce Summit will be held in Sydney on July 29 and 30. The Summit will bring together those who provide training in research data, software and infrastructure to publicly funded researchers.
8 Data and Services Summit
Project outcomes from Data and Services portfolio will be presented at ARDC's Data and Services Summit in September 2019 (exact date to be confirmed).
9 Storage and Compute Infrastructure Summit
Project outputs and outcomes from Storage and Compute portfolio will be presented at ARDC's national Infrastructure for Research Summit on 16 and 17 September 2019.

Core features

Ignite ideas and discussions
Enabling diverse stakeholders to engage in discussions and sharing of ideas to shape a research data commons for our nation.
Community support and involvement
A strong sense of community support and involvement in developing answers to some of the more difficult questions our sector faces.

Who is this project for?

  • Peak bodies
  • Research organisations
  • Infrastructure providers
  • Commercial eInfrastructure providers
  • Government (state and commonwealth)

What does this project enable?

The Discovery Activities will provide information that will be useful to the ARDC and the sector when considering what an Australian research data commons looks like and provides a mechanism to engage a broad community of stakeholders to develop evidence-based strategies.

Handy resources

  • Read the news article about launching our Discovery Activities (news article)
  • Open call for Data and Services project proposals
  • Open call for Storage and Compute project proposals
  • Learn more about the Skilled Workforce Discovery Activities
  • Read the news article about open call for Storage and Compute projects