About the Australian Research Data Commons (ARDC)
The Australian Research Data Commons (ARDC) is building Australia’s research data infrastructure. We provide Australian researchers with access to national research data collections, cloud computing, platforms and digital research skills training.
For over 10 years, we have been providing services to earth and environmental science researchers across Australia. We work with all universities in Australia, government agencies, overseas organisations and more.
How We Support Earth and Environmental Science Researchers
Professor Brendan Mackey is one of the experts behind EcoCommons, developed with co-investment from the ARDC.
Professor Brendan Mackey
Associate Professor Rachael Gallagher used AusTraits, a database developed with co-investment from the ARDC, to inform the prioritisation of recovery actions and national-scale conservation planning following the 2019/20 megafires.
Rachael Gallagher
Dr Tomas Remenyi is a champion of using the ARDC’s cloud computing service to hone digital research skills.
Tomas Remenyi
Stay Up to Date: Get Your Guide for Digital Research in Earth and Environmental Sciences
You’ll also receive our fortnightly newsletter ARDC Connect, which shares latest news, events, training and resources for data-intensive research in Australia.
Datasets for Earth and Environment Sciences Research
ARDC Research Data Australia
Find, access and reuse data for research from over 100 Australian data sources.
Research Data Australia is an online portal for finding data for research and associated projects, researchers and data services. You can find, access and reuse data from more than 100 Australian research organisations, government agencies and cultural institutions, with most data immediately accessible online.
Research Data Australia caters specifically for researchers but is also relevant to policy makers, educators, industry and the business community.
Research Data Australia offers access to data in such areas of interest to earth and environmental science researchers as:
Free Tools for Earth and Environmental Sciences Research
ARDC Nectar Research Cloud
Accelerate your research with cloud compute resources, software and data that can be accessed anywhere. Start your 6-month trial.
Nectar allows fast, remote access to reliable computational capabilities, software and data.
Australian researchers can use Nectar to develop and host services including databases, data repositories, web services and tools, and large-scale research platforms or virtual research environments.
We host services for earth and environmental science researchers on Nectar, which can save time, boost your productivity, facilitate collaboration and give you added power to conduct your research:
Virtual Desktop Service
Access extra computing capabilities through GeoDesktop or any of the 5 other desktops we offer, which you can easily set up in minutes.
Jupyter Notebook Service
Develop, combine and export computational notebooks and interactive visualisations in Python, R and SciPy.
BinderHub Service
Turn your code, data and computational environments into shareable, executable and reproducible Binder environments that can easily be used by collaborators and colleagues.
National GPU Service
Reserve GPUs and large-memory virtual machines in 16 flavours in advance for your research.
Preemptible Instances service
Access extra computational resources for a short period of time on demand.
Nectar also powers digital services provided by ARDC-supported projects and other National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS) facilities, including the Atlas of Living Australia (ALA), AuScope, Integrated Marine Observation System (IMOS), Microscopy Australia, National Imaging Facility (NIF) and Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN).
See a list of the services.
We provide hands-on cloud computing training for all researchers. Topics include basic security and using containers on Nectar.
To access our cloud computing training, visit the Nectar Research Cloud Learning and Training Support Centre.
ARDC Research Vocabularies Australia
Create, find and access controlled vocabularies – which make the meaning of data clear and explicit – to make your research data FAIR and maximise its impact.
Wondering which vocabulary you should use? In partnership with the research community, we’re introducing ‘community lenses’ – domain-specific guides created and maintained by the community for choosing the right vocabulary for a particular purpose.
The prototype guide is now live, covering earth and environmental sciences. Try out the guide and learn more about community lenses, including how you can help create a guide for your research community.
ARDC Research Link Australia
Find information about research, industry, business and government for impactful innovation.
The RLA platform is designed for:
- researchers and publicly funded research organisations to find business and industry partners to translate their research discovery into the development of real-world products
- industry and businesses to find research collaborators to enhance their research and development (R&D) capabilities
- policy makers and governments to gain a picture of the national research capability.
Currently, the service utilises information on the following:
- over 805,500 researchers from ORCID
- over 1.8 million publications as linked from ORCID profiles – publication records are mainly from PubMed and Crossref
- over 310,000 organisation records from the Registry of Research organisations (ROR), the Australian Business Registry (ABR), Crossref and Wikidata
- over 88,000 funded activities, either directly from the Australian Research Council (ARC) and National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) or from ORCID profiles
- 132 instrument records from ARDC Research Data Australia.
You’ll be able to explore the data with interactive analytics dashboards for all research areas or specific domains, such as health and wellbeing research, and Aboriginal and Torre Strait Islander research. More dashboards will be added as more information on grants becomes available.
The ARDC is continuously incorporating a wider range of data sources (e.g. patent data), features and enhancements.
Be Part of the Planet Research Data Commons
To meet the needs of earth and environmental science researchers, ARDC established the Planet Research Data Commons (Planet RDC) with partners in academia, industry and government and with other national stakeholders. The Planet RDC helps accelerate your research through cross-sector, multi-disciplinary and nationwide data collaborations by:
- bringing together data from a wide range of sources
- integrating underpinning compute, storage infrastructure and services with analysis platforms and tools supported by expertise, standards and best practices.
The Planet RDC is a long-term national infrastructure program supported by the Australian Government. Learn more and register your interest.