July 14, 2014
by William Harms, Arete
University of Chicago research computing experts and research computing experts at the University of Southampton and the University of Cambridge are looking at ways they can collaboratively tackle the enormous challenges associated with big data and computation at the scale faced by research universities. The two UK universities are national leaders in the use of computer technology for research.
The universities were brought together in September for a conference at UChicago and in October for a follow up conference in the United Kingdom organized by the University and the UK Science and Innovation Network through the British Consulate-General in Chicago.
“Big Data was highlighted by the UK government as one of ‘Eight Great Technologies’ that will propel the UK to future economic growth,” said Jack Westwood, Vice Consul for Science and Innovation at the British Consulate, who spoke at a conference in the Crerar Library. The British government is investing £600 million or about $1 billion in these technologies, with work on big data receiving £189 million, reflecting the fact that it underpins many of the other seven technologies, such as Advanced Materials and Energy Storage Westwood said. The investments are intended to promote national prosperity, he said.
Managing big data has become fundamental to progress in science. That challenge is best met by institutional and often international cooperation. “For efficient and productive collaboration in a highly networked world, computing methods and processes must be streamlined and aligned among research centers. This project aims to initiate that process,” he explained.
British researchers have collected data in a number of areas that are important to US researchers, Westwood said. “In terms of health, the UK data is massive. Since we have the National Health Service, we have large amounts of patient information that could be useful in clinical trials,” he said. A new genome sequencing initiative in the UK intends to sequence 100,000 patient genomes which will provide information that will be useful in understanding cancer and Alzheimer’s disease and provide a guide to more personalized medicine, he said.
The three Universities exchanged detailed information about their research computing capabilities and resource models, data management implementations, and strategy for attracting partnerships, both internal and external.
Access to that UK data and other information available on the internet requires an improvement in the methods that scholars have to use the data, something that will be facilitated by the collaboration, said Hakizumwami Birali Runesha, Director of Research Computing in the Office of the Vice President for Research and National Laboratories at the University and Director of the UChicago Research Computing Center.
“Step one is developing the tools we need to manage data throughout its lifecycle and we aren’t there yet,” he said. “This potential collaboration is important because by working together, the universities can look at better ways to transfer, process, and manage large data so that it can be useful to researchers,” he said.
A similar problem faced by scientists in both the UK and the US is how to make their data publically available to meet government requirements for broad access to government financed research work, Runesha said.
There are areas of complimentary activity around Big Data and collaboration on software development to enhance open source software features to access and easily use computing resources to help accommodate faculty who will be working with large data sets, he said.
“Increasingly, science needs to be more collaborative in order to be transformative. That is why this collaboration is necessary,” he added.
The potential collaboration comes at a time when universities and research operations in the UK are also becoming increasing collaborative.
A big data consortium led by the University of Southampton, for instance, has just been awarded £7.6 million ($12.2 million) to launch and run a new research center, providing access to and tools for analyzing government data; with the aim of informing UK social and economic policy.
Additionally, The Open Data Institute (ODI) has awarded Honorary Founding Partner status to the University of Southampton in recognition of its exceptional contribution to the setup and development of the organization. It comes exactly 12 months after its unofficial opening and move to its London headquarters.
Oz Parchment, Director of Research Computing at the University of Southampton, who is participating in the exploratory talks, said, “I think understanding what is happening on both sides of the Atlantic is valuable. This can often provide us with different perspectives on how to meet our very similar challenges around big data and open access to data.”
Paul Calleja, Director, High Performance Computing Services at the University of Cambridge, said, “We are developing a clear vision of what we need to do for the long term. This collaboration has the potential of being very valuable to all of us.”
See the original version of this article at http://arete.uchicago.edu/updates/data-partners.