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Victorian eResearch enters virtual realm

Tuesday, 23 August 2011

A futuristic e-science laboratory that will propel research into the virtual realm was opened today by Victorian Minister for Technology Gordon Rich-Phillips in Melbourne.

Minister Rich-Phillips visited La Trobe University's Bundoora Campus to open the Visualisation Laboratory (VisLab), a high-tech laboratory equipped with innovative visualisation technology to allow researchers to run experiments remotely.

Minister Rich-Phillips said bringing research facilities out of the lab and into the virtual realm provides exciting new opportunities for collaboration on global research projects.

"VisLab will support Victorian researchers to open up doors to new research opportunities and generate breakthrough discoveries," Mr Rich-Phillips said.

"These facilities are an excellent example of what can be achieved through utilising our state's infrastructure, as well as providing a facility for La Trobe's researchers to engage with their international counterparts."

Researchers based in remote locations will be able to use VisLab to gain virtual access to laboratory infrastructure, allowing them to perform experiments without the expense of travelling to the laboratory.

VisLab will link to the Australian Synchrotron and other local and international facilities, including those with existing La Trobe remote stations. It will link to analytical equipment at Berlin's BESSY Synchrotron, the Canadian Light Source at Saskatoon and Chicago's Argonne Advanced Photon Source machine.

VisLab also doubles as a classroom, promoting and teaching science and technology to high-school and university students.

"The outreach work by VisLab will promote science and technology as exciting career paths and help ensure the skills of our future researchers are of the highest calibre," Mr Rich-Phillips said.

"To ensure the current technology skills in Victoria are maintained, the Victorian Government has committed a further $2 million in funding to the Victorian eResearch Strategic Initiative (VeRSI) through which VisLab was funded."

This new funding has allowed VeRSI's membership to expand to include all of Victoria's eight universities, as well as the Australian Synchrotron and the Victorian Government Department for Primary Industries.

VisLab is a collaboration between the La Trobe eResearch office, the Centre for Materials and Surface Science and VeRSI.

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