CQUniversity Annual Report - Central Queensland University

CQUniversity ANNUAL REPORT 2012
31
FACILITIES AND INFRASTRUCTURE
Research at the University has gone from strength to strength in 2012,
particularly on the back of signifi cant investment in the purchase of
facilities, development of systems and implementation of infrastructure
across the campus portfolio. Besides the continued support for
research activities within existing operations, the University has
invested heavily in new, dedicated research facilities in support of the
excellent work undertaken by our world-class research teams.
ACCESS GRID
Our leading-edge video collaboration facilities (i.e. access grids)
at Rockhampton, Bundaberg and Mackay were upgraded during
2012 to provide high-defi nition video and audio capability.
Access grids provide visualisation of multiple data sets in real
time, enabling researchers to collaborate with researchers
around the world.
REVIEW OF OUR ACTIVITIES
TABLE 5: BUILDINGS INFRASTRUCTURE HIGHLIGHTS FOR
RESEARCH IN 2012 HAVE INCLUDED:
Campus Description Cost/
Budget
Rockhampton Central Queensland Innovation and
Research Precinct (Stage 1 – occupation
and fi tout post facility purchase)
$1.1m
Adelaide
Appleton Institute – Sleep Research
Centre fi tout
$2.0m
Biodiesel researchers Associate Professor Nanjappa Ashwath and
Subhash Hathurusingha inspect a beauty leaf tree as a likely new
fuel source.
During 2012, the University successfully submitted ERA and Higher
Education Research Data Collection (HERDC) reporting. Much of this
work was due to the consultation between Offi ce of Research, Library
Directorate and Information Technology Directorate. The ability to work
together to ensure the required information was provided in a timely
manner whilst giving the Offi ce of Research the opportunity to correct
and qualify data to guarantee reporting was correctly recorded and
giving positive outcomes in terms of research output for the University.
Key systems supporting the signifi cant research portfolio include:
eRESEARCH
eResearch support for existing and new researchers has been
bolstered through the University’s alliance with the Australian Access
Federation and Queensland Cyber Infrastructure Foundation (QCIF)
which has improved access for researchers to national facilities such
as QCloud research services including data storage, specialist webbased
video collaboration tools, and access grid visualisation services.
HIGH PERFORMANCE COMPUTING (HPC)
In 2012, CQUniversity was successful in gaining funding from the
Queensland Cyber Infrastructure Foundation (QCIF) to upgrade the High
Performance Computing (HPC) facility. The new HPC facility which was
commissioned in November 2012 provides a signifi cant increase (14 x
previous capacity) to allow researchers to undertake more advanced
analysis and visualisation of data. The HPC facility has enabled
CQUniversity researchers to signifi cantly improve research results in
areas such as analysing genomic data, hydrological statistical analysis,
time delay control system problems, and medical image reconstruction.
Dr Vicky Vicente-Beckett displays the trophy
on offer for schools competing in the regional
titration competition.