The paper presents a range of issues relating to national research infrastructure capability areas, and is the first step in working towards a shared view of the capabilities that require national research infrastructure to support current, new and emerging areas of research and innovation. The EMBL Australia Partner Laboratory Network was invited to respond to NRIRC and comment on how the NRIRC initiative has contributed to Australian science.
The NRIRC network currently supports national research capability through 27 active projects and is comprised of 222 institutions, employing well over 1700 highly skilled technical experts, researchers and facility managers. NRIRC facilities are used by over 35,000 researchers, both domestically and internationally.
The response paper was prepared on behalf of EMBL Australia, EMBL Australia Bioinformatics Resource (EMBL-ABR) and EMBL with a great number of people involved.
The response highlights some of the key outcomes that Australia’s associate membership of EMBL has, and continues to bring to the landscape, including:
- the internationalization of research,
- the sharing of expertise,
- access to key international infrastructure,
- access to European research funding,
- training the next generation of scientists, and
- revolutionizing the ability to handle massive amounts of biological data.
Collectively these activities substantially leveraging our national investment in research, enabling Australian scientists to address major future research and societal challenges.