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A South African Research Infrastructure Roadmap

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A South African Research Infrastructure Roadmap A South African Research Infrastructure Roadmap J V Wood, G León, G von Gruenewaldt and A P Botha November 2013 Ver 1.0 Table of Contents 1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................................... 1 2. The role of research infrastructures .............................................................................................................. 3 2.1 An overview of the RI landscape ........................................................................................................... 3 2.2 Relevance of distributed research infrastructures ................................................................................ 6 3. Methodology.................................................................................................................................................. 9 4. South African political context and link with National Development Plan and other key policy documents 11 5. Socio-economic impact of RI........................................................................................................................ 13 5.1 The context of the RI ecosystem ......................................................................................................... 13 5.2 Socio-economic benefits ..................................................................................................................... 14 5.2.1 Local benefits ............................................................................................................................. 14 5.2.2 Added value for the RI ecosystem .............................................................................................. 14 5.2.3 Long-term induced value ............................................................................................................ 15 6. Lessons learnt from International Research Infrastructure Roadmaps ....................................................... 16 7. Relevance of research infrastructures to South African research priorities ................................................ 19 7.1 The 2006 NACI Research Infrastructure Assessment .......................................................................... 19 7.2 The Ten-Year Innovation Plan ............................................................................................................. 20 7.2.1 The Bio-economy Strategy ......................................................................................................... 21 7.2.2 The 10-Year Global Change Research Plan for South Africa ....................................................... 22 7.2.3 Human and Social Dynamic in Development Grand Challenge (HSDD GC) Science Plan ........... 22 7.2.4 Establishment of South African National Space Agency (SANSA) .............................................. 23 7.2.5 The National Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Research, Development and Innovation strategy 24 7.3 Other South African policy based R&D priorities ................................................................................ 24 7.3.1 The South African Strategy for the Palaeosciences .................................................................... 24 7.3.2 The Charter for Humanities and Social Sciences ........................................................................ 25 7.3.3 Sustainable Development and the Environment ....................................................................... 25 7.3.4 Health ......................................................................................................................................... 26 7.3.5 Energy ......................................................................................................................................... 27 7.3.6 Water .......................................................................................................................................... 28 8. Research infrastructures in the context of scientific domains .................................................................... 28 8.1 Humans and society ............................................................................................................................ 29 8.2 Health, Biological and Food Security ................................................................................................... 31 8.3 Earth and Environment ....................................................................................................................... 32 8.4 Materials and Manufacturing ............................................................................................................. 33 8.5 Energy ................................................................................................................................................. 34 8.6 Physical Sciences and Engineering ...................................................................................................... 34 9. The role of Technological Infrastructures in a South African Research Infrastructures Roadmap (SARIR) . 36 10. Criteria for prioritisation .......................................................................................................................... 38 11. Candidate RIs selected ............................................................................................................................ 40 Page | i 11.1 Humans and Society ............................................................................................................................ 41 11.1.1 The S A Network of Health and Demographic Surveillance Sites ............................................... 41 11.1.2 South African HSS Data Archive.................................................................................................. 44 11.1.3 National Centre for Digital Language Resources (NCDLR) .......................................................... 46 11.1.4 Contribution to National Challenges of RI for Humans and Society ........................................... 49 11.1.5 Stakeholder Departments of Humans and Society RI ................................................................ 49 11.2 Health, Biological and Food Security ................................................................................................... 50 11.2.1 Animal Bio Security Lab P4 Level (ABL-4) ................................................................................... 50 11.2.2 Distributed Platform for “omics” Research (DIPLOMICS)........................................................... 52 11.2.3 Distributed Platform for Biobanks and GMO Facilities .............................................................. 54 11.2.4 Distributed Platform for Nuclear Medicine ................................................................................ 56 11.2.5 Contribution to National Challenges of RI for Health, Biological and Food Security ................. 57 11.2.6 Stakeholder Departments of Health, Biological and Food Security RI ....................................... 57 11.3 Earth and Environment ....................................................................................................................... 58 11.3.1 A South African Marine and Antarctic Research Facility ............................................................ 58 11.3.2 Shallow Marine and Coastal Research Infrastructure ................................................................ 60 11.3.3 An expanded National Terrestrial Environmental Observation Network .................................. 63 11.3.4 A Natural Sciences Collection Facility ......................................................................................... 66 11.3.5 Biogeochemistry Research Infrastructure Platform ................................................................... 69 11.3.6 Contribution to National Challenges of RI for Earth and the Environment ................................ 72 11.3.7 Stakeholder Departments of Earth and Environment RI ............................................................ 72 11.4 Materials and Manufacturing ............................................................................................................. 73 11.4.1 Materials Characterisation Facility ............................................................................................. 73 11.4.2 Nano-manufacturing Facility ...................................................................................................... 75 11.4.3 Contribution to National Challenges of RI for Materials and Manufacturing ............................ 77 11.4.4 Stakeholder Departments of the Materials and Manufacturing RI ............................................ 77 11.5 Energy ................................................................................................................................................. 78 11.5.1 SAFARI-2 Materials Research Reactor ........................................................................................ 78 11.5.2 Solar Research Facility ................................................................................................................ 80 11.5.3 Contribution to National Challenges of RI for Materials and Manufacturing ............................ 82 11.5.4 Stakeholder Departments of the Materials and Manufacturing RI ............................................ 82 11.6 Physical Sciences and Engineering .....................................................................................................
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