QCIF NEWS

QCIF at the 2025 Annual Symposium of the HASS and Indigenous Research Data Commons

QCIF was proud to be represented at the 2025 Annual Symposium of the Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences (HASS) and Indigenous Research Data Commons (RDC), held online and in person at the University of Technology Sydney on Gadigal Country from 11–12 November.

EcoCommons Partners with Google to Advance Global Biodiversity Mapping

We are proud to announce that EcoCommons Australia, led by Dr Jenna Wraith, Head of Sustainable Futures at QCIF, is partnering with Google in a global initiative to create species distribution maps at an unprecedented scale.

From Q to Cube: QCIF announces new branding and website

This update reflects our evolution, as we expand our capabilities and deepen our engagement with industry, government, and academia across Australia and beyond.

Spring brings new beginnings for QCIF

With the return of spring in the Southern Hemisphere, QCIF Ltd is embracing the season’s spirit of renewal with fresh energy and exciting developments that mark the beginning of a new chapter for us.

QCIF proud to support RSAA25 as Silver Sponsor

Peter Marendy, Head of Data and Software Solutions, will deliver a presentation on Federated Learning, highlighting how this innovative approach is transforming collaborative machine learning amid increasing data sensitivity and regulatory complexity.

QCIF joins The Precinct to drive research and innovation in Queensland

QCIF has officially joined The Precinct, marking a strategic move to strengthen collaboration between research, government, and industry across the state.

Southern Cross University commits to ongoing ReDBox deployment after successful pilot

Southern Cross University (SCU) has confirmed it will continue with Redbox as an ongoing subscriber following a successful three-month pilot program.

Statewide access to Ingenuity Pathway Analysis (IPA) accelerates biomedical research in Queensland

QCIF is proud to support Queensland’s biomedical research community through a statewide shared license for QIAGEN IPA.

Game-changing biosecurity tool for Australia's agricultural protection

Meet Taxodactyl, a new bioinformatics workflow that could transform how Australia protects its borders from biological threats.

QCIF joins the Research Data Alliance (RDA) to advance open science and global data sharing

QCIF is proud to announce that we have officially joined the Research Data Alliance (RDA), an international community committed to advancing open, cross-disciplinary data sharing to tackle the grand challenges of society.

Celebrating Jenna and Melissa's journey with Homeward Bound

QCIF is proud to celebrate two exceptional members of our community who have been selected for the prestigious Homeward Bound program.

The new faces of QCIF

QCIF is excited to welcome new team members whose diverse backgrounds—from biotechnology and administration to software development and AI—will strengthen our capabilities and support impactful research.

Repurposed hardware boosts national capacity and powers innovation

After successfully completing a previous project, QCIF Ltd made available HPC hardware to the Australian BioCommons, giving the hardware a second life in in enabling research and uplifting national capacity for the benefit of the scientific community.

University of the Sunshine Coast to host ResBaz Queensland for the first time

ResBaz Queensland is set to return in 2025, and for the first time, the University of the Sunshine Coast (UniSC) will host the event at its state-of-the-art Moreton Bay Campus from 1–3 July 2025.

QCIF appoints new leader to accelerate AI and Quantum technology adoption

QCIF Ltd is pleased to welcome Dr Moji Ghadimi as its new Head of Applied AI and Quantum Algorithms, bringing extensive experience in AI, Quantum Computing, and Technology Infrastructure to the organisation.

Deakin University upgrades to QCIF managed ReDBox 4.0 platform

Deakin University has successfully upgraded their existing on-premise ReDBox 1.0 Research Data Management Platform (RDMP) to the QCIF Managed Redbox 4.0 platform, hosted securely on Amazon Web Services (AWS).

Empowering researchers with Deep Learning skills: JCU eRA leads CNN workshop on Gadi

QCIF’s eResearch Analyst from JCU, Dr Erin Graham, recently led a highly successful two-day workshop on Image Classification with Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs), hosted on Gadi, the National Computational Infrastructure’s (NCI) peak supercomputer.

Getting started with EcoCommons: free online seminar

The EcoCommons team will be delivering an Introduction to EcoCommons workshop at the Brisbane Geospatial Share.

QCIF partners with Instats to expand the reach of digital skills training and data science expertise

QCIF is excited to announce a game-changing partnership with Instats as our preferred online seminar and consultancy platform for non-QCIF members, offering our deep digital and data expertise to the world.

Meet our new leaders in statistics and bioinformatics

We are pleased to announce the appointments of Dr Farah Zahir as Head of Statistics & Principal Data Scientist (Biostatistics) and Nicholas Matigian as Head of Bioinformatics & Principal Data Scientist (Bioinformatics).

New WildObs paper highlights challenges and opportunities in camera trap research

A decade-long review of Australian camera trap data in Biological Reviews highlights WildObs' potential to enhance wildlife research, improving efficiency, quality, and scale while reinforcing Australia’s leadership in wildlife monitoring.

New bioinformatics pipeline for the identification and detection of viral genomes from Oxford Nanopore sequencing

In collaboration with QUT and DAFF, QCIF contributed expertise in bioinformatics and computational infrastructure, helping enhance biosecurity diagnostics.

QCIF appoints new Skills Development Consultant to further its core mission for digital upskilling

Meet Danny Meloncelli, the latest addition to our Skills Development team at QCIF.

QCIF annual snapshot 2024

Explore QCIF’s 2024 highlights, showcasing a year of innovation and impactful support for the research community.

EcoCommons Australia: A powerful new tool for ecological modelling

A new article published in Environmental Modelling and Software outlines how EcoCommons was created to help researchers and policy decision-makers conduct trusted ecological modelling more efficiently than ever before.

Unlocking new insights for better agricultural data

Griffith University and QCIF will join forces to leverage the latest innovations in data wrangling techniques as part of a new internship project to improve decision-making for farmers.

ReDBox 4.0 community event – new speakers confirmed

Join us for an exciting online event where we will dive into Redbox 4.0, the future Roadmap and best practices in research data management.

QCIF welcomes Pat Loria as new Manager of Skills Development

Pat brings a wealth of experience, previously serving as the Associate Director of Library Academic and Research Services at Western Sydney University and is well-equipped to drive QCIF’s skills development initiatives forward.

Improving biosecurity diagnostics with standardised workflows and interactive visualisation

The QCIF's Data Science team has partnered with the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF), QUT and Australian BioCommons in a nation-wide project aimed at transforming biosecurity diagnostics.

In Memoriam: John Bancroft, former QCIF CEO

It is with deep sadness that we announce the passing of our former CEO, John Bancroft.

QCIF welcomes Daisy Li as new Software Developer

Daisy will focus on maintaining and developing data ingress and egress processes for KeyPoint, a universal trusted research environment for sharing, accessing and analysing sensitive data.

Deakin University upgrades to ReDBox 3 for library dataset management

Deakin University has upgraded its RedBox subscription from version 1 to version 3, transitioning from an on-premises system to an AWS cloud-based system.

Sensitive data infrastructure for skin cancer detection

QCIF has partnered with UQ to deliver sensitive data infrastructure and specialised compute services for the project “3D Total Skin Imaging for Melanoma Early Detection in Regional Australia.”

QCIF to build cutting-edge data processing infrastructure for wildlife research

QCIF is partnering with Planet RDC to scale up WildObs, a collaborative initiative involving scientists, government agencies, and environmental groups focused on using machine-based observations to monitor wildlife.

QCIF hires Principal Data Scientist for Sustainable Futures portfolio

We are excited to announce the appointment of Dr Sebastian Lopez Marcano for QCIF’s Sustainable Futures portfolio.

Co-design workshops for HASS and Indigenous RDC

The ARDC’s HASS and Indigenous RDC sought community feedback on the draft project plans and is currently in the reviewing stage.

EcoCommons in operations with QCIF

The EcoCommons Australia platform has successfully migrated to QCIF.

HTC delivers its inaugural impact report

Health Translation Queensland (HTC) has launched its first impact report.

QCIF Talent Spotlight: Joanna Salerno

We have launched our QCIF Talent Spotlight series – a selection of short interviews with QCIF researchers, staff, and experts.

ReDBox releases version 3.5

The new update introduces exciting enhancements.

Supercomputing Asia 2024 highlights

Skills training and the future of careers in technology were some of the topics discussed by our QCIF team members at SCA 2024.

ARDC launches its Australian National PID strategy

The ARDC has launched its Australian National Persistent Identifier (PID) strategy, which aims to improve research quality and efficiency across the research sector.

Mark Crowe joins The Carpentries Board of Directors

Mark Crowe has been elected as a member of The Carpentries Board of Directors alongside renowned researchers and trainers.

QCIF welcomes new eResearch Analyst from SCU

Dr Emilia Decker from Southern Cross University joins our team.

Macarena Rojas joins QCIF

Macarena Rojas has joined QCIF as our new Manager, Engagement & Outreach.

Innovative data capabilities for tacking grand challenges

QCIF’s contributions showcased at the ARDC Leadership Forum.

UQ recognises secure data platform KeyPoint for innovation excellence

KeyPoint wins UQ award.

QCIF CEO reflects on 2023

Our CEO provides an end-of-year summary on QCIF's activities in 2023.

QCIF helps mint 14 new Carpentries Instructors

Fourteen new expert digital and data skills instructors for Australian researchers were trained in October this year.

Record number of workshops at ResBazQld 2023

This year’s ResBazQld featured a record 43 different workshops.

Galaxy Australia boasts two new interactive tools

Galaxy Australia has two new interactive tools — one for proteomics, the other to help users meet ENA metadata regulations.

Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland trials ReDBox

The University of Auckland has become the first non-Australian university to pilot ReDBox.

QCIF welcomes new Biometrician to support analytics for grains research

Varun Ranganath has joined QCIF.

EcoCommons moves to QCIF

Management of the EcoCommons Australia platform will transfer from Griffith University to QCIF on 1 January 2024.

Secure sensitive data platform now live

KeyPoint, a trusted research environment to analyse and share sensitive research data, is now live.

QCIF joins Women in Technology

QCIF has become a member of Women in Technology, one of Australia’s largest communities that support women across all fields of science and technology.

QCIF sponsors major supercomputing conference

The SupercomputingAsia conference is coming to Australia for the first time next February.

Monash wins QCIF door prize at eResAU2023

Monash University won QCIF's door prize at the eResearch Australasia conference, resulting in a free KeyPoint tenancy for 12 months.

HeSANDA’s Queensland node for data sharing launched

The Health Studies Australian National Data Asset Queensland node has been launched.

Windows available on National GPU Service

​​Windows virtual machines are now available on the ARDC Nectar Research Cloud’s National GPU Service.​

ARDC announces BinderHub service for researchers

BinderHub aims to reshape the way researchers collaborate, explore and achieve reproducibility in their work.

Eve Ansell joins QCIF

Linguistics researcher Eve Ansell has joined QCIF as our new Business Support Officer.

QCIF and UQ head to iAwards national final

QCIF and UQ are in the running for an AIIA national iAward after placing in the state competition.

Clinical trial data unlocked for research with new national platform

The Health Data Australia platform was launched on 18 July 2023.

Global Galaxy conference a success in Brisbane

More than 130 delegates attended last month’s international Galaxy Community Conference in Brisbane.

Cancer may lurk in ‘normal looking’ skin

QCIF assisted a UQ study that found skin with few visible freckles may still carry sun-damaged DNA mutations that can trigger cancer.

A 'digital health revolution' to tackle chronic diseases

QCIF is contributing to a $13.7m project to unlock digital health data on debilitating diseases.

QCIF helps create more Carpentries instructors

QCIF and ARDC co-instructed a global online workshop last month to create more Carpentries instructors.

Gale announced as first ResBaz national sponsor

Gale has become the first sponsor to provide national support for ResBaz.

Brisbane set to host global Galaxy conference

The international Galaxy community’s annual meeting is coming to Brisbane in July.

Inaugural Queensland Research Software Developers Forum a success

The first Queensland Research Software Developers' Forum last month was a resounding success with a full house and plans for further events.

New UQ supercomputer available for QCIF Member researchers’ use

QCIF Member researchers have access to the new supercomputer The University of Queensland launched late last year.

UWA subscribes to ReDBox

The University of Western Australia has become the first Group of Eight university to subscribe to QCIF-managed ReDBox for research data management.

QRIScloud continues upward trend in user survey results

QRIScloud is continuing its year-on-year upwards trend of positive user feedback.

QCIF hires new CQUni eResearch Analyst

Billy Kenzler has joined QCIF as an eResearch Analyst based at CQUniversity’s Rockhampton campus.

QCIF hires new UniSC eResearch Analyst 

Dr Daniel (Danny) Meloncelli has joined QCIF as the new eResearch Analyst at the University of the Sunshine Coast.

QCIF announces new Strategic Plan 

QCIF has released its Strategic Plan for 2023–2025, reiterating a focus on our Members.

SCU gains its first QCIF eResearch Analyst

QCIF eResearch Analyst Dr Adewuyi (Ade) Ayodele Adeyinka has moved from UniSQ to SCU.

QCIF adds another bioinformatician to the team

Dr Magdalena (Magda) Antczak joined QCIF as a Bioinformatician in February this year.

A new imaging data tool launched for Australian researchers

A new imaging tool to assist Australian researchers in processing cryogenic electron microscopy data was launched earlier this month. 

QCIF joins the Australian Data Science Network

QCIF has joined the Australian Data Science Network (ADSN) as a partner.

QCIF gains state-wide Ingenuity Pathway Analysis licence

QCIF has organised a state-wide license for Ingenuity Pathway Analysis.

QCIF develops a secure data analysis environment

A secure data analysis environment is being tested and is expected to go live in early 2023.

New national GPU service goes live

Australian researchers can now access high-end cloud computing power on the ARDC Nectar Research Cloud via the new National GPU Service.

QCIF's HPC software support for life sciences brings value to Members

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QCIF hires a second eResearch Analyst for Griffith Uni

Isaac Jennings has joined QCIF as an eResearch Analyst based at Griffith University.

ResBazQld proves its value

This year’s three-day ResBazQld event featured 34 workshops, providing the equivalent of a total of approximately 750 days of training for researchers.

QCIF helps create 22 more Carpentries instructors

Last month, the ARDC refreshed the cohort of certified Carpentries digital research skills instructors nationwide, with QCIF's help.

Australian data platform will transform climate crisis predictions and native species conservation

A world-first data analysis platform for ecology and environmental sciences has been launched.

Four new staff join QCIF Bioinformatics

The QCIF Bioinformatics team is expanding due to increased demand this year.

Two biostatisticians join QCIF 

William Pinzon Perez and Josh Knowles have joined QCIF’s Biostatistics team.

QCIF’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic

QCIF is ensuring researchers can still access our resources and services even while they, and our staff, work from home.

Galaxy Australia awarded fast-tracked Pawsey access for COVID-19 research

Pawsey Supercomputing Centre has awarded the Galaxy Australia team expedited access to its cloud computer for COVID-19 research.

JCU bioinformatician Justin Lee joins QCIF

JCU bioinformatician Dr Justin Lee has joined QCIF to help create an Australian platform for collaborative genome annotation.

QCIF hires a USC-based bioinformatician and software developer

QCIF has hired a full-time bioinformatician and software developer based at USC.

Liz Ryan joins QFAB

Dr Elizabeth (Liz) Ryan has joined QFAB, QCIF’s bioinformatics arm, as a Senior Biostatistician.

Diego Guillen joins QCIF

Diego Guillen has joined QCIF’s Data Services team as a Software Engineer.

QCIF announces its new CEO

Sach Jayasinghe has joined QCIF as our new Chief Executive Officer.

New Virtual Desktop Service launched

Australian researchers can now set up a personal computer in the cloud in minutes using ARDC’s new Virtual Desktop Service.

QCIF announces two new JCU eResearch Analysts

Dr Erin Graham and Pauline Lawrey have joined QCIF as eResearch Analysts based at JCU.