CeRDI Newsletter Spring 2021

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Mine Rehabilitation Trials Online 

The Mine Rehabilitation Trials Online (MRTO) project is a foundational project of the Cooperative Research Centre for Transformations in Mining Economies (CRC TiME), led by A/Prof Peter Dahlhaus and Dr. Patrick Bonney. The project commenced in late 2020 and aims to provide access to mine rehabilitation knowledge and data for CRC TiME participants, and the broader mine rehabilitation industry. These systems would typically include data and information on rehabilitation trials and demonstrations, remediation practices, hazard management, landform management, water management, air quality management and stakeholder consultation.

The success of MRTO was dependent on the development of a social and technical architecture that enabled an accepted and trusted platform for data sharing. In addition, CRC TiME stakeholders and the broader mining industry needed to see value in the project. To address these issues, the project involved a social research component to explore and document use-cases that provide a value proposition for the establishment of a CRC TiME knowledge management system for mine rehabilitation trials. It also involves the development of a pilot data management portal to test the potential to federate data from disparate sources for the two case studies (Pilbara and Latrobe Valley) and work through the potential barriers and benefits with the project participants. Finally, David Lemon (CSIRO) develop an architectural framework (covering social, information and technical elements) and guidelines for suitable data governance and stewardship.

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  The social research found that sharing knowledge, learnings and data across the mining sector could have many important benefits for the sector, including for transparency, knowledge discovery, efficiency and improved stakeholder relationships. However, data sharing was found to not be a widespread activity, and several obstacles will need to be overcome for the mining sector to realise the potential of harnessing collective information assets. These include various technical (i.e., data not collected, lack of metadata), motivational (i.e. no incentives), economic (i.e. potential economic damage), political (i.e. lack of trust, enabling guidelines), legal (i.e. ownership and IP issues) and ethical barriers (i.e. lack of reciprocity). 

  Federation University looks forward to exploring the next phase of MRTO and would like to acknowledge the support of the stakeholder advisory committee, which included industry and government stakeholders from across the country. We thank them for their participation. 

  For further information:
  Assoc Professor Peter Dahlhaus

  www.crctime.com.au

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Kangaroo Grass, as a Crop and to Heal Country

The Dja Dja Wurrung Clans Aboriginal Corporation trading as DJAARA is successfully leading the agricultural project, Djandak Dja Kunditja (Country Healing its Home) using the highly regarded Kangaroo Grass (Themeda triandra), grown as a modern perennial broadacre cropping system.  

DJAARA’s business enterprise arm, Djandak, provides a vision for a sustainable future through its leadership of the project. The project will enable the establishment and revival of growing seed for landscape regeneration and as a modernised food crop from its traditional origins over thousands of years.

“The Djandak Dja Kunditja project will grow a large-scale agricultural crop, a crop that is a perineal and suitable to grow across Dja Dja Wurrung Country, especially in our drying climate. The project will enable Dja Dja Wurrung People to combine their Cultural Knowledge with modern agricultural technology to build an exciting Traditional Owner led and owned agricultural business” comments Djandak operations manager, Trent Gibson.

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  Djandak formed the project consortium with collaborations across research with La Trobe University (Bundoora), Federation University, Department of Environment Land Water and Planning, Agriculture Victoria, Regional Development Victoria, Goulbourn Murray Water, and the North Central Catchment Management Authority. 

  Substantial data collection will occur alongside the research experimentation and testing of Kangaroo Grass seed production by La Trobe University. Accurate and timely data capture is a key deliverable of the project to inform best practice, innovation, communication, and outreach. 

  Dr Megan Wong will manage CeRDI’s involvement in the project. CeRDI will work closely with the Djandak appointed PhD candidate and agronomy and ecology researchers at La Trobe University to provide guidance and assistance around information management solutions. The solutions will support trusted data storage and appropriate, fit-for-purpose, access and reuse of Kangaroo Grass data that supports Dja Dja Wurrung’s priorities in the agricultural sector. 

  By investigating how an information management solution for Kangaroo Grass data can support both CARE  and FAIR  principles, this research is significant. It will practically demonstrate how the principles can, when used together, support Indigenous peoples in exercising their rights and interests in research information. The FAIR principles support the approach for making data more finable, accessible (as appropriate), interoperable (able to be integrated with other data, applications and workflows) and reusable. The CARE principles for Indigenous Data Governance were developed to complement the existing FAIR principles to encourage the open and other data movements to consider people and purpose in their advocacy and pursuits (Russo Carrol et al., 2018). 

  Operations Manager Trent Gibson is responsible for this Smartfarms project with Djandak, backed by the Federal Department of Agriculture, Water and Environment. It will receive $1.8 million to support the establishment, research, demonstration, and agronomy package for perennial broad acre cropping systems based on native Kangaroo Grass. This is a three-year project due for completion mid-2023.  

  Reference

  Russo Carrol, S., Hudson, M., Chapman, J., Figueroa-Rodríguez, O.L., Holbrook, J., Lovett, R., Materechera, S., Parsons, M., Raseroka, K., Rodriguez-Lonebear, D., Rowe, R., Sara, R., Walker, J., (2018). CARE Principles for Indigenous Data Governance, in: Indigenous Data Sovereignty Principles for the Governance of Indigenous Data Workshop. Gaborone, Botswana.
   

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Agricultural Research Federation Platform

The Agricultural Research Federation (AgReFed) Platform, a collaboration between CeRDI, University of Sydney, Queensland Cyber Infrastructure Foundation (QCIF) and Australian Research Data Commons (ARDC), commenced earlier this year with the aim of accelerating research innovation and expanding AgReFed participation.  

The AgReFed platform supports collaboration and innovative insights in agricultural research, development and policy by improving the discoverability of trusted, reusable and analysis-ready agricultural research data across Australia. Three core deliverables will be completed over the coming 18 months including a) developing tools to assist researchers to improve data findability and accessibility associated with the FAIR data practices, b) enabling the identification and integration of high value, third party data sets from the grains and agronomy research sectors, and c) utilising data for reuse and sharing across the agricultural industry.

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  	AgReFed - Explore the data

  Significant project progress has been made by the AgReFed research and technical team to advance milestones associated with the project. Research collaborations and engagement activities have commenced, generating substantial new information and insights to support the way agricultural researchers collect, describe, and disseminate their research findings and data to inform the AgReFed platform development.

  The AgReFed Platform project is building on the data governance and technical stewardship frameworks developed and enacted through earlier project phases. Interviews with 14 representatives from the agriculture research have recently been conducted to inform the development and refine the use cases to be implemented on the AgReFed platform. Insights collected during interviews have also informed an understanding of the current user experience with the AgReFed platform and its features. The insights from interviews are now being used to support the development of core functionality for AgReFed.

  To date, the research activities further reinforce the importance for this project of incorporating features within the portal that will improve the uptake of the platform among researchers. Work is now underway to ensure that the platform design incorporates opportunities for education and training, and information supporting data examples and reusable code that can foster the FAIR principles within AgReFed.

  The work conducted thus far will to allow researchers to better access trusted, reusable agricultural data, using AgReFed. This will facilitate data reuse and cross-discipline collaborations for novel research insights and practical applications in policy, reporting and on-ground decision making. 

  The goals and aspirations for the project are now firmly set and the work plan for 2022 will build upon the knowledge gained through this year’s activities allowing for the continued enhancements and usage of the AgReFed platform.

  For further information about AgReFed: 

  www.agrefed.org.au

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Virtual Honour Roll

Collaboration between the Ballarat RSL and CeRDI has culminated in the establishment of a virtual Honour Roll , recording the men and women from Ballarat and surrounding districts that enlisted during World War II. Funded by the Department of Veteran’s Affairs through the Commemorative Grants program, this project enables members of the public to access to information about local residents who served during World War II. 

CeRDI created the platform hosting the honour roll, which can be accessed from the homepage for the Ballarat RSL . The development of a virtual Honour Roll provides family members of the service personnel, and other members of the public with easy, online access to service details, including the service number, name, rank and branch of service, and enlistment dates, along with printable certificates of service. The site also includes a feature allowing visitors to place of a virtual poppy against names on the Honour Roll. 

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  Prior to the completion of this project, the names of Ballarat residents who served in World War II were available only as a hard copy. The Honour Roll thus provides an important historical marker, and an opportunity to reflect, on the significant contribution that men and women from this region made to the second World War.

  Data for the Honour Roll was sourced from the Shrine of Remembrance and the Department of Veterans' Affairs.

  ballaratrsl.cerdi.edu.au

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Green Scripts

Staff at CeRDI recently completed an online resource to support Green Scripts and the Dementia Sensory and Forest Trail at Ballarat’s Woowookarung National Park . Green Scripts is a dementia-friendly social prescribing project aimed at linking people with dementia and their careers with dementia-inclusive community activities.

The online resource delivers information to support the health experiences and benefits for people with dementia and their carers in using the new park. Social prescribing, which is encouraged by the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners as a routine for primary health practitioners, is an alternative method for improving the health outcomes of patients through the prescribing of social and community activities. 

 

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  An area within the Woowookarung Park has been developed as a dementia sensory forest trail. The online resources complement the park’s information by providing dementia specific insights about the trail. The information highlights the sensory experiences available along the park walk, supporting awareness and stimulation through movement, connection, feeling and thinking. The online resource also contains information for health professionals around green scripting. Links to other resources are also available on the site.

  The project was completed in collaboration with project lead Caroline Gibson from Ballarat Health Services.

  Funding for the online resource was provided by the Bigger Hearts Dementia Alliance following the awarding of a Dementia Friendly Community grant. 

  www.greenscripts.org.au

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Chronicling Aboriginal Heroism

The website and mapping portal for the Aboriginal Heroes of Fire, Food and Flood project was recently launched. The project documents the stories of Aboriginal heroes in shaping Victoria’s history between 1800 and 1930.  

Associate Professor Fred Cahir and Dr Dan Tout, historians from the School of Arts, are leading the project. Research for the project involved extensive consultation and collaboration with Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities, historians and historical societies enabling the collation of stories highlighting Aboriginal acts of heroism. The stories are available in an accessible format on the project website, with digital mapping of Aboriginal heroism.

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  Researchers and technical staff from CeRDI supported the portal development and mapping features for the project. Documentary film-makers Wind and Sky Productions will produce a documentary film for the project and a book will also be written.

  The outputs from the research will have multiple uses, including for curriculum development in schools, and to promote cultural heritage tourism. The resources are available publicly to engender broader community knowledge about Victoria’s shared history and acts of heroism.

  The project has been funded by the Telematics Trust.

  www.aboriginalheroesmatter.org.au

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Rangelands Carbon Measurement 

Researchers at Federation University are taking a lead role in a $6.5M project which aims to transform how rangeland farmers measure, manage and trade carbon. The project is a collaboration involving Australia’s largest beef producer, the Australian Agricultural Company (AACo), alongside the University of Technology Sydney, Charles Sturt University and three technology partners, Cibo Labs, FLINTpro (Mullion Group), and Carbon link.

The Food Agility CRC supported project will be implemented over three years with CeRDI and the Federation Business School contributing to the research. A key outcome associated with the project is the development of a tool to accurately and affordably measure soil carbon in Australian rangelands, which comprise 75% of the nation’s landmass. It is anticipated that the tool will assist with reducing reliance on expensive soil tests while facilitating farmer management of soil health and participation in the growing carbon market.

Federation University will receive approximately $1 million funding for the project which will expand opportunities for the university to have a real-world impact through collaboration with private sector companies and other universities.

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Visualising Australasia’s Soils: Award finalist

Visualising Australasia’s Soils, a CeRDI-led project funded by the Soil CRC was recently selected as one of three finalists in this year’s IoT Awards for the Interoperability by Design category.

Visualising Australasia’s Soils is an interoperable spatial knowledge system that provides Soil CRC participants and the broader agricultural industry with access to data, information and knowledge on Australasian soils.

Award finalists were celebrated and winners announced with short videos for each category published online . In the video, the award judges present an overview of the importance of interoperability by design, and detail why each of the finalists were nominated and which features of VAS, its data sharing and collaboration, impressed the judges. Senquip ORB was announced as the winner of the category and we extend our congratulations to them.

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  Congratulations also to Peter Dahlhaus, Andrew MacLeod and all the CeRDI team for gaining further national recognition and increasing awareness of Federation’s activities in the data interoperability area. 

  To view the awards visit:

  www.iothub.com.au/awards/winners
  
  
   

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PhD Scholarships

Federation University with industry support from IBM is currently inviting applicants for 10 PhD scholarships . Projects have been co-designed and will be co-supervised by IBM scientists and leading academics within the University’s Research Centres. Two of the PhD projects will be led by CeRDI academics including:

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  Decision support to achieve net zero carbon for land managers and enterprise managers 
  Overview: To meet sustainable development goals, many enterprises aspire to achieve net zero carbon. Working with regional industries, this project uses sensors and artificial intelligence to access the quantity and quality of data for carbon monitoring, modelling, accounting and visualisations, as an evidential base for their claims of carbon neutrality.  
  Project outcomes will include collaborative development, regional data sharing and the uptake of digital technologies including data federation, visualisation, image analysis, modelling and AI.
  
  Academic background: IT, data science, AI, agriculture
  Supervisors: Federation University/CeRDI: Dr Birgita Hansen, Dr Nathan Robinson; IBM: Dr Arun Vishwanath, Dr Ram Kolluri
  
  For further information about this PhD scholarship please contact Birgita or Nathan: b.hansen@federation.edu.au   n.robinson@federation.edu.au
  
   

  Maximising data integration and interoperability for better regional outcomes
  Overview: Rapid regional change through climate, population and economic pressures is an urgent global issue. This project explores the use of data sharing and modern smart technologies to enhance regional liveability, prosperity, innovation, safety and social connectedness in the rapidly growing City of Ballarat, using data visualisation and analytics to improve planning.
  
  Academic background: Data Science, Design Thinking, Smart Cities, Organisational Strategy and Organisational Change
  Supervisors: Federation University: Associate Professor Helen Thompson, Dr Shoaib Riaz ; IBM: Professor Iven Mareels
  
  For further information about this PhD scholarship please contact Helen or Shoaib:
  h.thompson@federation.edu.au   s.riaz@federation.edu.au
  
   

  The full list of scholarships, projects, conditions and eligibility criteria is available at Federation University’s Graduate Research School .

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Staff Profiles

Dr Francisco Ascui

Dr Francisco Ascui, Professor Environmental Accounting 

Francisco Ascui joined CeRDI on a part-time basis as Professor of Environmental Accounting in 2021, initially to provide input to a Food Agility CRC project with National Australia Bank on Sustainable Agribusiness Adaptations . Francisco is an internationally recognised expert in environmental accounting, finance and risk management, with a PhD in carbon accounting, an MBA and an MSc in Environmental Change and Management. He worked for ten years in international energy and carbon markets before moving into academia in 2009. At the University of Edinburgh Business School between 2009 and 2014 he co-founded and directed the Centre for Business, Climate Change, and Sustainability and developed the world’s first MSc in Climate Change Finance and Investment . In 2015 his work on carbon accounting was identified by the UK Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) as one of 50 landmark research contributions over the last 50 years and in recent years he has pioneered the development of a standardised methodology for natural capital risk assessment , which has been promoted by the Capitals Coalition , Natural Capital Finance Alliance and the Central Banks and Supervisors Network for Greening the Financial System (NGFS).

In addition to his academic role he is also active as a consultant, having delivered over 100 projects in more than 20 different countries for clients including multilateral agencies, governments, investment banks and companies. He is currently working on projects with the World Bank, the National Institute for Forest Products Innovation , ClimateWorks Australia and the Soil CRC .

Francisco’s interests lie in addressing the social and institutional challenges that often prevent the necessary finance from flowing into solutions to environmental problems. These challenges often include issues to do with measurement, accounting, reporting and verification, as well as the associated human capacity, institutions, policy and regulation. He is an interdisciplinary scholar who believes that we can only solve these challenges by actively working together to bridge disciplinary silos.

 

Dr Carolyn Staines

Dr Carolyn Staines, Research Associate

Dr Carolyn Staines joined CeRDI in 2021 as a generalist researcher to provide support across a range of projects.
Carolyn has a richly diverse research background including in psycholinguistics, women’s health, farm safety, injury epidemiology, cancer epidemiology, nursing practice and patient care. With three decades of research experience, Carolyn enjoys applying her skills and knowledge wherever they are needed.

Carolyn completed a PhD at the Monash University Accident Research Centre in 2013. Her work explored the evolution of drowning deaths, and their prevention, over a period of a century. It aimed to inform the prevention of drowning deaths in developing communities and enabled Carolyn to contribute to two WHO reports on drowning prevention: World Report on Child Injury Prevention, 2008; Global Report on Drowning: Preventing a Leading Killer, 2014.

To complement her research skills, Carolyn also brings her experience as a scientific writer/editor where her focus is always on clear communication, making the language and message as simple as possible.

 

Dr Azadeh Noori Hoshyar

Dr Azadeh Noori Hoshyar, Research Associate

Dr. Azadeh Noori Hoshyar is a lecturer in information technology at Federation University Australia’s Brisbane campus. Prior to that, she was a postdoctoral research fellow at Bond University, and received her PhD from Western Sydney University (WSU) in 2019. Azadeh has a Master’s degree in engineering from the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) and a Master’s in information technology (computer science) from the National University of Malaysia. Her research expertise includes artificial intelligence, image processing, and signal processing. She has worked on several AI-based projects in different real-world applications. Dr. Azadeh has published widely in high-ranking peer-reviewed journals and at international conferences.  

Azadeh is currently working on the project to detect and classify defects on mining structures using deep learning technique. 

She has received different awards and grants including “Women in STEM Researcher of the Year Award 2020”, “RSP funding” and “$50,000 funding from industry”.  

Azadeh is a member of the Australian Computer Society, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Australian Network of Structural Health Monitoring and IHM Lab (Western Sydney School of Engineering). 

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News Snippets

CRC for High Performance Soils Annual Report 2021: The CeRDI-led, collaborative project Visualising Australasia’s Soils was featured in the 2020-2021 Soil CRC Annual Report . In the report, VAS was presented as a case study documenting the achievements of the pilot project for improving soil data access and development of a dedicated data portal for project partners. 
 

Presentation at 2021 TERN Symposium: CeRDI’s Dr Megan Wong recently presented at the TERN Science Symposium. The symposium provides a forum for sharing both transdisciplinary and traditional approaches to ecosystem science research, technological development, data system innovation, collaboration and action. Megan gave a presentation about enabling soil data reuse for ecosystem management and decision making using a standards-based approach . Visualising Australasia’s Soils provides the backdrop for enabling soil data to be discovered and accessed and Megan provides a brief demonstration of the VAS portal during the presentation.
 

 

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  Conference Presentation: Digital Agriculture: Assoc Prof Helen Thompson presented a paper at the Digital Agriculture research showcase for the Sydney Institute of Agriculture , 30 November 2021. Helen’s presentation, entitled ‘Making the most of agricultural data for research impact and innovation’, was included in the On-Farm Digital Sensing and Analytics session.

  Snipe Research in the Media: After the substantial interest in the Latham’s Snipe research following a very successful story by Dr Birgita Hansen in The Conversation in August, more media interest has followed. Birgita has since been interviewed on ABC radio Gippsland, and by Georgia Stynes on ABC Canberra radio. Since then, more updates on the progress of the Snipe and successful tagging in Japan was recently shared on the Snipe Research Website. Three birds that were tagged in Japan prior to their southerly migration have made it south. This is the first-time satellite tracks have been successfully achieved for a full migration from north to south or vice versa. All three birds flew non-stop from Hokkaido across the Pacific Ocean. An update about this is available on the Latham’s snipe project website.

  ABC News Story: A recent story was published on ABC news about regional groundwater management and the monitoring of groundwater levels at Musk. CeRDI’s Peter Dahlhaus was interviewed for the story which included reference to CeRDI’s flagship project Visualising Victoria’s Groundwater (VVG). VVG is an interoperative web-GIS that federates groundwater data from disparate sources to assist groundwater researchers and to assist water managers to make correct choices for the sustainable use of ground water resources.

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HDR News

Dr Chris Bahlo, PhD: Congratulations to Dr Chris Bahlo who was recently awarded her PhD and received her testamur.  Chris’s thesis is titled Open data and interoperability standards: Opportunities for animal welfare in extensive livestock systems. Principal supervisor for Chris’s PhD was Associate Professor Peter Dahlhaus together with associate supervisor, Associate Professor Helen Thompson. Since completing studies, Chris has been employed in CeRDI providing technical and research expertise on a range of projects, including the AgReFed project.

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  Federation University Australia Virtual Higher Degrees by Research Conference 2021: CeRDI PhD candidate Elissa Ashton-Smith recently participated in the HDR conference, held on 24 November. Elissa gave an oral presentation at the event, entitled: Low tide during lock-down: a critical ethnography of beach usage during COVID-19. Elissa’s presentation was awarded the best oral presentation for the School of Science, Psychology and Sport.

  CeRDI PhD student awarded Industry Internship: CeRDI PhD candidate Dr Rekha Attanayake was recently awarded a research internship with AgVic. The internship, which is three-months duration, involves conducting research in the plant pathology field to investigate plant virus interaction on climate change. Titled ‘The effects of elevated CO2 and water availability on plants and insect vector/virus complex’, the project and internship will commence in early 2022. Rekha’s PhD supervisor, CeRDI’s Associate Professor Peter Dahlhaus, will provide academic mentoring during the internship with Intern Supervision from Dr. Piotr Trebicki, Senior Research Scientist – Plant Vector-Borne Diseases, Agriculture Victoria Research, Horsham. This internship provides Rekha with opportunities to develop her research expertise, further complementing the skills developed alongside her PhD. Rekha’s PhD research focuses on developing new methods to help farmers make decisions on lime use and lime requirement.

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About CeRDI

The Centre for eResearch and Digital Innovation (CeRDI) is a research centre at Federation University Australia focused on:

• the application of information and communications technology (ICT) and the development of innovative, world class knowledge management systems;
• significantly advancing the digital literacy and knowledge management capabilities of partner organisations;
• fostering partnerships for the development and implementation of eResearch with industry, government and academia; and
• measuring the impact of eResearch and digital innovation through longitudinal research.

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Contact CeRDI

For further details about CeRDI’s diverse portfolio of research please visit our website: www.cerdi.edu.au, or contact Director, Associate Professor Helen Thompson: h.thompson@federation.edu.au

Mailing Address

Centre for eResearch and Digital Innovation
Federation University Australia
PO Box 691
Ballarat Vic 3353

Office Location

Suite 15, Greenhill Enterprise Centre
Ballarat Technology Park
University Drive
Mount Helen Vic 3350

Phone: +61 3 5327 9314
Email: support@cerdi.edu.au

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