DAFNI Newsletter July 2023
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News from our central team
University of Oxford: National water modelling propelled by DAFNI hardware infusion
The purchase of DAFNI-funded hardware is enabling the Oxford Programme for Sustainable Infrastructure Systems (OPSIS) at University of Oxford to visualise modelling results, including satellite imagery and future scenarios, at very high resolution.
The Climate Investment Challenge (CIC) from Imperial College Business School
The Centre for Greening FInance and Investment project co-sponsored the challenge and CGFI members Yilka Hysaj (Imperial College London), Christophe Christiaen and David Wallom (University of Oxford), and DAFNI lead Brian Matthews worked with the CIC on the Data Analytics Prize, which asked students to focus on using data analytics of data to solve business challenges for associated with climate change, with £5,000 awarded to the winning team.
The finalists were invited to pitch their ideas at an evening event at London’s Royal Institution on 9th June 2023, where Brian Matthews joined the judging panel.
Congratulations to the winning Team Reckon! – Aparna Holenarasipura Sreedhara & Akanksha Sahay from the University of Cambridge with their entry “Financing a just coal transition”, looking at analysing the costs and risks of transitioning away from the use of fossil fuels in emerging economies.
Akanksha said, “Special thanks to Brian Matthews for his invaluable feedback on modelling and data aspects of the solution.”
The UK Centre for Greening Finance and Investment CGFI will continue to mentor the prize winner throughout the summer to help move their idea towards implementation.
New DAFNI features
DAFNI issued its release 4.2 in June 2023, adding the following new features:
- Reworked how Datasets are uploaded in DAFNI removing the 5GB limit on file sizes. There is still a soft limit of ~50GB for total Dataset size
- Added an option to manually specify the Geojson for Dataset spatial coverage when uploading a Dataset and when filling in the metadata in Publish and Publish and Visualise steps in Workflows.
Calling all researchers who are submitting a proposal to Research Councils
DAFNI is on the Joint Electronic Submission (Je-S) grant submission system — you will see us listed as a facility which can be added to your grant proposal.
If your grant application requires novel workflows or you have particular requirements we would advise a conversation prior to submission. This is so we can advise accordingly. Look forward to joining your proposals.
Contact: marion.samler@stfc.ac.uk
DAFNI technical training
- 27 September 2023
- 22 November 2023
To attend the event you will need experience of entering code through a command line interface, for more information and to book, please visit: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/dafni-31793198351
To request your account, please go to the DAFNI website and complete the short questionnaire:
Funding opportunity
TWINE Demonstrators – digital twins for the natural environment
Apply for funding of up to £700,000 to deliver a digital twin pilot project which demonstrates how research using Earth Observation (EO) data and emerging digital twinning technologies can transform environmental science in the following priority areas:
- Climate change, mitigations and adaptation
- Biodiversity and ecosystems
- Natural hazards, including weather, and their mitigation
This funding opportunity is being delivered by NERC, in partnership with the Met Office, as part of the Twinning Capability for the Natural Environment (TWINE) programme.
This funding opportunity closes on 3 October 2023 and grants must start in January 2024 for 15 months
For more information, please visit the UKRI Funding Finder – NERC TWINE Demonstrators page: https://www.ukri.org/opportunity/twine-demonstrators-digital-twins-for-environmental-science/
About DAFNI
DAFNI was originally funded by an £8 million EPSRC investment in the UK Collaboratorium for Research in Infrastructure and Cities (UKCRIC) and a £1.2m grant under EPSRC’s Resource Only Strategic Equipment. Its aim has been to become the national platform to satisfy the computational needs in support of data analysis, infrastructure modelling and visualisation, and encourage whole-system thinking for the UK’s infrastructure research needs.
In March 2023 UKRI awarded £4m to STFC Scientific Computing to establish a national Centre of Excellence for Resilient Infrastructure Analysis, and move the Data & Analytics Facility for National Infrastructure (DAFNI) into its new phase.
Today, the platform supports research that aims to provide the UK with a world-leading infrastructure system that is more integrated, efficient, powerful, reliable, resilient and affordable. It is enabling the community to conduct research that is able to generate new insights at a higher level of detail and accuracy than ever before.
To find out more about DAFNI, visit: www.dafni.ac.uk
