QRISnews newsletters
Please note the 2020 newsletters can be found on QCIF's new website.
Please also note that due to the migration to a new QCIF website, many of the 'Read more' links in the below newsletters are broken. If you are interested in reading the full article of a particular story, please contact: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Note that all QCIF (and QRIScloud) case studies and training courses can be found on the new QCIF website.
2019
December 2019 - Highlights include: QFAB aids evolutionary discovery to rewrite textbooks; QCIF to lead EcoCommons Australia; QCIF in 2019—a year in review; UQ’s MeDiCI data storage fabric extended to JCU; JCU genomics researcher checks into QFAB’s Analysis Hotel; QFAB paper among most cited from PLOS ONE; QFAB at InSyB2019 and PAG2020.
November 2019 - Highlights include: How to access Queensland Government data for your research; Australian Bioinformatics Commons; QCIF seeks a CEO; USQ Springfield's new weekly Hacky Hour; QGIS tips; Research Software Alliance survey.
October 2019 - Highlights include: QCIF helps trauma educator ease the pain of data storage; Google invests in ReDBox; Prepare for the change from NCI’s Raijin to Gadi; QCIF at eResAU2019; Hospital nutrition project claims top prize at HealthHack Brisbane; QRIScloud’s Denis Lujanski joins AARNet; QFAB at INCOB2019; Linux—smaller tools and building blocks.
September 2019 - Highlights include: Apply for national HPC access in 2020; Phil Gurney steps down as QCIF CEO; QCIF's new QUT eResearch Analyst; QCIF sponsors HealthHack Brisbane; Gareth Price at Sheldon College; Cytoscape eResearch tip.
QRISnews was on hiatus in August 2019: There was no August 2019 QRISnews issue.
July 2019 - Highlights include: QCIF to partner with Bioplatforms Australia to deliver national life sciences data portal; Changing of the guard for QRIScloud hardware; Two new hires for QCIF; eResearch Australasia 2019 workshops announced; Research Data Alliance to visit Brisbane; ResBaz and Winter School photos; Tech Talk on ReDBox and Mediaflux.
June 2019 - Highlights include: Galaxy Australia wins three QLD iAwards; Project winners of ARDC funding announced—including QCIF; The HPCs behind UQ’s all-women Chemistry paper; HealthHack app wins QLD Health eAward; Become a CVL Champion; Run your own Data Storytelling workshop.
May 2019 - Highlights include: QCIF helps Griffith researcher gain more time on national HPCs; QCIF 2019 survey results; QCIF's new Training Manager; QFAB's two new recruits; ResBaz Brisbane 2019; Software Carpentry workshops in Queensland in June; CQU's new Hacky Hour; CQU eResearch training schedule 2019; HASS Tinker training; Winter School travel bursary; ecoEd named as finalist in CAUDIT Awards; Reproducibility using QCIF & ARDC resources.
April 2019 - Highlights include: USQ Hacky Hour case study; QCIF survey; Winter School 2019; Edan Scriven becomes QCIF's newest eResearch Analyst; HealthHack; QFAB workshops; and tips for using several HPCs via QRIScloud.
March 2019 - Highlights include: QCIF launches open data tool; Chantelle Pinnington joins QCIF as the new JCU eResearch Analyst; $25m funding boost for QLD scientific infrastructure; QCIF acknowledged in three research papers; Update of our CQU FruitMaps case study; and news from the QCIF Image Repository Show and Tell.
February 2019 - Our special issue on Data Enhanced Virtual Labs, including virtual labs for HASS (Tinker), ecology (ecocloud), and bioinformatics (Galaxy Australia). Also, Troy Lockett joins QCIF as Business Development/Communications Manager.
2018
December 2018 - Highlights include: QRIScloud features new flavours and containers; ARC grants for QLD; QUT joins AeRO; Australian Threatened Bird Index launched; The do's and don'ts of happy HPC usage; QRIScloud Help Desk holiday hours; and Hacky Hours to return early next year.
November 2018 - Highlights include: QCIF staff seconded to plan national eResearch resources; Valentine Murigneux joins QFAB; QCIF is hiring; Hybrid training in bioinformatics a hit; QCIF at eResearch Australasia 2018; QCIF and QFAB staff in demand at conferences; AeRO at SIGGRAPH Asia 2018; ARDC consultation in Brisbane; Tech Talks return in 2019; Save the dates for eResearch Australasia 2019 and the Winter School in Mathematical & Computational Biology 2019.
October 2018 - Highlights include: QCIF and AURIN support Griffith’s Regional Innovation Data Lab; USQ music researcher’s use of QRIScloud; QFAB Analysis Hotel; Amanda Miotto wins Women in Tech award; Health Hack 2018 winners; UCSC Genome Browser workshop and webinars.
September 2018 - Special edition on geospatial data. Highlights include: CQU data tool eases "mango madness"; QCIF supports geospatial data-centric research; Researchers can access QLD roads data via QRIScloud; USQ tackles Australian agriculture's weeds using QRIScloud; QCIF's new Geospatial Data Officer; Four-year plan to upgrade QRIScloud; QFAB's hand in UQ group's Nature paper; and Brisbane Microscope Facility Forum.
August 2018 - Highlights include: QRIScloud-powered app to increase profitability of nation's beef industry; QRIScloud supports Australia's Threatened Species Index project; New QCIF eResearch Analyst at JCU; Minister mentions QFAB-developed app; and Galaxy Australia training rolls out nationally.
July 2018 - Highlights include: National HPC access via QCIF paves way for ECR's bright future; QRIScloud expansion; USQ's ReDBank service; ReDBox 2 previewed in Montana; ODI-AN's new CEO; Winter School photos; Tech Talk on Internet of Things.
June 2018 - Highlights include: QCIF delivers new authentication services; QFAB's member clinics and Analysis Hotel; Prof. Matt Bellgard joins QCIF's board; DMF Users Group; EMB-ABR interviews QFAB's Dr Gareth Price; Pawsey online courses; Research Bazaar Brisbane photos; configuring Nectar instances to auto update.
May 2018 - Highlights include: National eResearch to benefit from a $72M funding boost; 2018 QCIF survey results; QCIF’s new UQ and Griffith board members; Data Submission Service for life scientists; USQ’s new monthly Hacky Hour; Pawsey training in Brisbane; Pawsey Uptake Project; ResBaz; Health Hack.
April 2018 - Highlights include: Australian Environmental Microbiome Research Data Cloud; Provisioner leads advances in research data management; ResBaz Brisbane 2018; QFAB's 2018 training schedule; QCIF mints new Carpentries instructors; Griffith's Carpentry in R workshop; Health Hack Brisbane 2018; UQ Winter School 2018.
March 2018 - Highlights include: QRIScloud delivers satellite data to the public; Galaxy-QLD becomes Galaxy Australia; Nicko Matigian joins QFAB; ODI Australian Network's new CEO; USQ eResearch training; Hacky Hour UQ's BioLab sessions; QUT's February 2018 Software Carpentry workshop; QFAB's Dr Gareth Price speaks at eHealth event; QCIF attends eResearch NZ 2018.
February 2018 - Highlights include: QCIF's plans for 2018 and beyond; QRISdata collections now even easier to access; the Meltdown and Spectre security vulnerabilities; Tech Talk; Third Spacer Lunch; Software Carpentry workshops in QLD; Streamformatics; QCIF and ReDBox at eResearch NZ; QFAB trains more than 250 researchers in 2017; OpenRefine eResearch tip.
2017
December 2017- Highlights include: QCIF in 2017—a year in review; Nectar virtual labs; Apollo workshop launches new training model; Dr Nick wins largest ARC grant in QLD; Kathy Green to retire as QCIF's Executive Officer; Dr Nick's kidney research discovery and paper; QUT's 'bioeconOMICS' workshop; and Sydney's OpenStack Summit 2017.
November 2017- Highlights include: New HPC for QLD research (goodbye Euramoo, hello Awoonga); QRIScloud's Aspera service to be turned off; Amanda Miotto joins QCIF as an eResearch Analyst for Griffith; Hacky Hour starts at QUT; QCIF releases new ReDBox RAP; QRISdata's object storage interface; Nectar/QRIScloud shared filesystem service for VMs; Nectar's database service adds support for Postgres; QCIF at eResearch Australasia 2017; Health Hack Brisbane 2017 winners; training events.
October 2017- Highlights include: QCIF supports big imaging data; New Nectar database service available on QRIScloud; QCIF CEO joins AeRO as co-chair; Prof. Robyn Ward joins QCIF's board; QCIF's Dr Nick co-authors Nature paper; eResearch Australasia 2017; Brisbane Health Hack offers free childcare; Software Carpentry at JCU and USQ; Seminar on IT in natural disaster management.
September 2017- Highlights include: QRIScloud upgrade; life sciences data sets survey; NCMAS 2018 call for applications; QCIF allocations on FlashLite and NCI's Raijin; Pawsey's Energy and Resources Merit Allocation Scheme; travel grant for women in STEM; National Computational Merit Allocation Commitee; changes to QCIF's board; new QRIScloud systems engineer; Health Hack 2017; QFAB, JCU and USQ workshops.
August 2017- Highlights include: Euramoo being rebuilt as the Awoonga HPC cluster; RAiDs to be added to QRIScloud data collections; QCIF signs up as a Software Carpentry member; QCIF trials object storage for QRIScloud data collections; Stemformatics' Hierarchical Cluster to handle more genomics data set types; 'Best Data Practices in Life Sciences' paper.
July 2017- Highlights include: EcoEd, a new ecoscience training program; QUT's new QCIF eResearch Analyst; Belinda Weaver's new role; QCIF's Dr Jeff Christiansen on Open Science; ReDBox at the Open Repositories 2017 conference; QCIF's SQL workshop at ODI Queensland.
June 2017- Highlights include: Cloud computing enables genomics researchers to devote more time and resources to research; Have your say on accessing government data; Library Carpentry and the Mozilla Global Sprint 2017; Pawsey training; EMBL-ABR Roadshow; Winter School; eResearch 2017; Health Geography Study Group workshop.
May 2017 - Highlights include: QRIScloud's Nextcloud service now in production; NCRIS Roadmap released; QCIF's new CEO; QCIF's user survey results; Galaxy-qld file cleanup; QFAB turns 10; NCRIS symposium; UQ Winter School; Mozilla Global Sprint; Galaxy-qld events.
April 2017 - Highlights include: Dr Phil Gurney announced as QCIF's new CEO; QCIF customer survey 2017; 1000. Genomes Mirror; Nectar Application Catalogue; Prof. Stuart Crozier joins QCIF Board; USQ teams in CSIRO's ON program; BCCVL to showcase in. England.
March 2017 - Highlights include: QRIScloud and Nectar clock up 1,100 and 10,000 users respectively; ODIQ and QCIF partner; AURIN Portal survey; Submissons to the National Research Infrastructure Roadmap published; Australia and NZ sign research agreement; USQ's Dr Erin Rayment joins QCIF board; a Program Manager and Bioinformatician join QCIF's team; ResBaz Brisbane 2017 highlights.
February 2017 - Highlights include: ResBaz Brisbane 2017; new service QRIScomputeHA; 150 GB of storage for QRIScloud's Nextcloud users; Gareth Price joins QFAB; overview of QCIF/QRIScloud in 2016; Adam Sparks becomes 100th rOpenSci member.
2016
December 2016 - Highlights include: Launching applications on Nectar VMs; QFAB support for grant applications; draft 2016 National Research Infrastructure Roadmap; QUT gains two new QCIF eResearch Analysts; Open Data Pathway; QLD GovHack winners; Dr Marlies Hankel promoted; Dr Nick Hamilton nominated for two IMB awards; Kathy Dallest places in UQ competition.
November 2016 - Highlights include: New QRIScloud service for hosting research web portals; Nextcloud service on QRIScloud; Brisbane to host eResearch Australasia 2017; Library Carpentry funding; ReDBox version 1.9 released; QCIF seeks a new CEO; Jo Morris joins QCIF; QFAB to hire more bioinformaticians; UQ joins AeRO; Dirty COW; ResBaz 2017; Brisbane HealthHack 2016 winners.
October 2016 - Highlights include: QCIF at eResearch Australasia 2016; CLIMB UK adopts Australia's GVL; Galaxy-qld meetups launched; New QRIScloud Systems Engineer; Brisbane HealthHack 2016; USQ Software Carpentry workshop; Griffith Hacky Hour helps its 100th researcher.
September 2016 - Highlights include: DustWatch Australia's use of QRIScloud; NCMAS 2017 call for applications; Copernicus Australia's Regional Data Hub; Griffith wins Queensland Spatial Excellence Award; RCC adds GenomeSpace to Galaxy Queensland; QCIF's Dr Marlies Hankel co-authors paper on novel anode materials for lithium ion batteries; International Data Week.
August 2016 - Highlights include: AWRI's use of QRIScloud in Chardonnay genomics research; TERN, RCC and QCIF develop portal for reproducing scientific workflows and results, Galaxy-qld's new user policy; NCI receives funding boost; BCCVL adds five new climate data sets; IAG's Health Geography Study Group; USQ's inaugural Software Carpentry workshop.
July 2016 - Highlights include: New QRISdata tools Aspera and Mediaflux; Cloud Power Users; JCU's new Hacky Hour; GovHack 2016; call for ResBaz 2017 volunteers; NCMAS committee call for expressions of interest; Mozilla Science Lab Fellowships.
June 2016 - Highlights include: Euramoo users gain access to MATLAB; AURIN's Brisbane workshops; USQ's new HPC; QCIF 2016 user survey; QCIF at QUESTnet; QRIScloud in ITnews; Queensland Digital Champions; Software Carpentry extends across Queensland.
May 2016 - Highlights include: QRIScloud large memory node helps QBI gain advantage; Griffith's new QCIF eResearch Analyst; JCU and Griffith endorse QRIScloud; QCIF eResearch Analysts upskill in three-day workshop; RCC selects a new UQ HPC system.
April 2016 - Highlights include: med.data, MATLAB, MeDiCI; Nectar National Server Program; QFAB@QCIF training; QCIF annual customer survey; QRIScloud compute node outage; Monthly Tech Talk; Belinda Weaver elected to Software Carpentry Steering Committee.
March 2016 - Highlights include: QCIF and QFAB merge, a new eRA for JCU, AURIN Map, Compute Lite service, Deep learning with QRIScloud GPU nodes, Beacon and human genomics data sets, NCMAS on FlashLite, and QCIF joins SIBA.
February 2016 - Highlights include: QCIF partnership with Aurin, Light-speed microscope image processing, USQ and CQU endorse QRIScloud, Research Bazaar, and Software Carpentry.
2015
December 2015 - Fighting Superbugs, Enhanced Collection Access Management, QRIScompute upgrades to OpenStack Kilo, BCCVL, Queensland's first ResBaz
November 2015 - QRIScloud helping with climate change research, and highlights from eResearch Australasia 2015 and HealthHack, and introduces QRIScloud usage reports.
October 2015 - Introduces a range on new additions to the QRIScloud portal, highlights eResearch Australasia, NCI applications, Software Carpentry, and more.
September 2015 - Announces the release of the QRIScloud Guide. Introduces the QRISmarketplace. Describes updates to the portal.
August 2015 - QCIF services workshop outcomes, NCRIS 2015 funding, Chris Bridge joins the QCIF board, GovHack, and the Winter School.
July 2015 - Announces Graham Chen's retirement, sign-up for QRIS alerts, USQ's 10Gb AARNet link upgrade, Node Connect, and BCCVL wins QLD iAward.
June 2015 - Describes QCIF's response to VENOM, the value of QRIScloud's data replication, new ReDox releases, and reaching 3 PBs of research data.
May 2015 - Introduces the new QRIScloud services portal and the new data-intensive high performance computer named Flashlite
February 2015 - Introduces the new storage data centre facility, the Biodiversity and Climate Change Virtual Lab (BCCVL), and Large Memory VMs
2014
December 2014 - Season's Greeting message
December 2014 - Describes the expanded Compute and Storage services, the planned shift of the data centre, and introduces new data access capabilities
October 2014 - Provides an update of the expansion of QRIScloud’s storage capacity and other third quarter activities
May 2014 - The inaugural issue of the QRISnews which introduces QRIScloud’s computing and advisory services
