Two Griffith University projects were acknowledged with a win at the 2022 Council of Australasian University Directors of Information Technology (CAUDIT) Awards for innovative platforms set to accelerate environmental and biosecurity modelling and decision-making.
EcoCommons Australia and Biosecurity Commons received the Excellence in Research Support Award for the development of both platforms.
EcoCommons is a world-first collaborative commons and platform that will allow researchers to analyse and model ecological and environmental challenges, while Biosecurity Commons is a platform for modelling and analysing biosecurity risk and response such as the threat of invasive species to Australia.
Griffith Program Manager for EcoCommons Australia, Dr Elisa Bayraktarov said EcoCommons will empower Australian practitioners and researchers to use trusted datasets, modelling tools, and training resources to produce high-quality research and will inform and accelerate evidence-based policy and decision-making for the environment.
“This is fantastic news, and we are very proud to be recognised by CAUDIT in their annual awards,” Dr Bayraktarov said.
“EcoCommons launches in November and this award demonstrates how important the platform will be for our community of researchers.”
Biosecurity Commons partnered with EcoCommons to leverage the core platform architecture and infrastructure and build the world’s first virtual laboratory for the biosecurity sector.
“We are delighted to win this award,” said Paul Tudman, Biosecurity Commons Program Manager.
“Biosecurity Commons is a ground-breaking project that will change biosecurity risk and response analysis, and it is great to get recognition from CAUDIT for this.
“This new Biosecurity project will build on and extend the functionality of the existing workflows in EcoCommons and deliver a cloud-based decision-support platform for modelling and analysing biosecurity risk and response.”
The Excellence in Research Support Award highlights excellence in the application or innovative use of digital technology in support of research activities within the membership, and in particular work that has had a positive impact on how research is undertaken.
The annual CAUDIT Awards highlight excellence and innovation across the higher education and research sectors, and also recognise, celebrate and promote outstanding achievements and innovation of staff working in IT at CAUDIT member organisations.
EcoCommons will launch on 29 November at an event which is free and open to everyone.