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EPSRC E-Infrastructure Roadmap E‐Infrastructure Roadmap Executive Summary E‐Infrastructure Roadmap Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) Research Infrastructure Team Dr Louise Tillman Dr Susan Morrell Dr Tracy Hanlon Dr Daniel Emmerson Dr Michele Erat Dr Edward Clark Mr Timothy Erskine Version 1.1 August 2014 Page | 1 E‐Infrastructure Roadmap Executive Summary Contents Executive Summary ............................................................................................................................................. 3 Methodology ..................................................................................................................................................... 14 Capability ........................................................................................................................................................... 16 Connections ...................................................................................................................................................... 22 Software Development ..................................................................................................................................... 28 Data Infrastructure ............................................................................................................................................ 35 Hardware and Compute .................................................................................................................................... 42 Integration and Coordination ........................................................................................................................... 47 Pathways to Impact ........................................................................................................................................... 50 Glossary ............................................................................................................................................................. 51 Version 1.1 August 2014 Page | 2 E‐Infrastructure Roadmap Executive Summary Executive Summary Purpose A coherent strategy for developing and delivering the UK’s future e‐infrastructure needs is essential in driving forward the continued development of a globally competitive research base within the UK. Since 2009 there have been a number reports and reviews on e‐infrastructure, outlining our future requirements and how e‐ infrastructure should be funded and supported. As shown in the figure below, the EPSRC along with its sister Research Councils, the Funding Councils, the Technology Strategy Board and BIS plays a key role in developing the strategy as well as delivering the funding to support e‐infrastructure in the UK. The development of a sustainable and cutting edge e‐infrastructure eco‐ system is vital in allowing EPSRC to deliver its Strategic Goals and support excellent and innovative science and engineering research. Figure 1: E‐infrastructure pipeline taken from the E‐Infrastructure Leadership Council: One year On report The EPSRC Research Infrastructure team, with the help of its Strategic Advisory team, Research Council colleagues and key members of the EPS community have formulated an EPSRC e‐infrastructure roadmap to begin to develop a clear strategy and action plan for EPSRC. In the roadmap EPSRC aims to: . Understand the whole UK e‐infrastructure landscape, view it holistically and consider it within an international context. Understand the requirements of the EPS research community that make use of e‐infrastructure; ensuring there are no gaps or duplication. Identify where EPSRC, and more specifically the EPSRC Research Infrastructure team can add the most value. Provide a framework for spending reviews and business cases for funding opportunities from government. Be used as a discussion tool with other stakeholders and Research Councils. Version 1.1 August 2014 Page | 3 E‐Infrastructure Roadmap Executive Summary Scope The EPSRC e‐infrastructure roadmap will not be an RCUK roadmap and focuses on the actions that EPSRC can lead on or work in close partnership with others to deliver. However with the establishment of the RCUK E‐infrastructure group (a group that involves representatives from EPSRC, ESRC, BBSRC, MRC, STFC, NERC, AHRC, JANET, TSB, Met Office, JISC) the EPSRC e‐infrastructure roadmap provides an important tool in helping to develop a longer‐term cross‐council view, as well as providing strategic input to BIS’s E‐infrastructure Leadership Council. Ultimately this will lead to co‐ordinated strategies for developing the science base and making an impact on industry, from SMEs to large industrial primes. Due to the fast moving nature of developments and investments in this area we are proposing that the roadmap will be treated as living document that will be updated on a regular basis (6 monthly initially) after further feedback from the broader research community and other key stakeholders. E‐infrastructure Eco‐system: The e‐infrastructure eco‐system is a complex and multi‐dimensional entity with many different strands, requirements and stakeholders. For the purposes of the EPSRC e‐infrastructure roadmap, the landscape has been divided into a number of interrelated themes represented in the diagram below: Management and Co-ordination Pathways to Impact Governance Research And Computing and Data People Development Sector Skills Domain Knowledge Security and Networks Authentication Data Hardware Software Infrastructure And Compute Development Figure 2: E‐Infrastructure Eco‐system Theme Key Points Presented below is a summary of key points from each theme, focusing on the Vision for the Future, i.e. what we want the UK landscape to look like in 10 years time. Further information on each theme is available in the body of the report. Version 1.1 August 2014 Page | 4 E‐Infrastructure Roadmap Executive Summary Capability: By Capability, we mean People Development, Computing and Data Skills and Research and Sector Domain Knowledge. These underpin the whole roadmap: having skilled people is both an input to and output of a healthy e‐infrastructure ecosystem. Training in both tools (such as programming and software engineering, and basic data analysis) and research methods (applying computational techniques and data analytics as research tools) is required at all career stages. The key challenges are around ensuring that researchers in software/computational techniques get recognition, and have access to sustainable academic career paths. This is a particular problem for research software engineers and research technologists. There are also benefits to be gained from co‐ordination and integration of training, such as sharing best practice and resources, and community building. In the capability theme our vision for the future is as follows: . UK researchers will be classed as among the best in the world. Investments in people and skills will lead to a flow of talented people who will help the UK to capitalise on the information revolution and drive the economy forward. World class researchers who are domain experts will have sufficient software engineering expertise to develop their codes to be `right first time` but also reusable. A strong cadre of software engineers will exist, who can take on longer‐term maintenance and development of codes, working closely with the domain experts to add functionality as needed. Graduates will have the required analytical skills. A smooth training pathway will exist between the various career stages within universities (e.g. effective linkage from Centres of Doctoral Training/Postgraduate training to postdoctoral and first academic post) leading to skills that are also recognised in industry, facilitating the movement of staff between universities and industry . A new breed of innovators and entrepreneurs will exist in ‘computational and data science’ in an open, interdisciplinary environment. Research data management will be embedded in all research projects, thanks to a good understanding of the issues involved and sufficient technologists to provide the necessary expertise. Sufficient numbers of researchers will exist with the data visualisation, analytics and interpretation skills needed to help capitalise on the information economy. Connections: As the volume of data being generated through scientific research rises rapidly, and the scale of international collaboration increases it is essential that the research community has access to high speed, high capacity infrastructure that can be shared in an open and secure manner. With the launch of JANET6 in autumn 2013, it is important that the community and EPSRC work closely with JANET to ensure that maximum benefit is derived from the services offered both through the new network and authentication and security programmes such as Moonshot. In the connections theme our vision for the future is as follows: . Connections will enable a safe and secure research environment, allowing researchers to collaborate and use flexible e‐infrastructure, moving seamlessly from and between desk‐top computing, mobile technologies, and high performance compute and storage resources. The UK will have a highly reliable, secure and robust research network, with the flexibility to deal with changes in demand and usage. HEI internal network infrastructure will mirror the external WAN connectivity where appropriate. Version 1.1 August 2014 Page | 5 E‐Infrastructure Roadmap Executive Summary . Researchers will be able to easily access the bandwidth that they require to facilitate their
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