OUTPUT 1

1.1  A list of existing and prospective Australian HASS infrastructure
Status
Name
Description
Existing
1.  Trove *
Trove is a digital platform which provides online access to over 22 million aggregated
initiatives
documentary resources, from more than 1300 Australian institutions, including
libraries, government departments, museums, and cultural and historical societies.
Through the National Library of Australia, it has digitised millions of records and
grants the Australian public free access to a wide range of information.
Source: https://trove.nla.gov.au.
2.  PARADISEC  The Pacific and Regional Archive for Digital Sources in Endangered Cultures is a
digital archive of records of some of the many small cultures and languages of the
*
world, with the primary goal to safely preserve material that would otherwise be
destroyed. It is a consortium of three universities (University of Sydney, University of
Melbourne and Australian National University), and uses external data storage
facility the Research Data Storage Infrastructure. It established a framework for
accessing, cataloguing and digitising audio, text and visual material, and preserving
digital copies. It ensures that the archive provides access to interested communities
and conforms to international standards for digital archiving. It has spread from Asia /
Pacific to languages across the globe, with 1000 languages in the collection.
Source: http://www.paradisec.org.au.
3.  AustLit
AustLit is a research infrastructure used to disseminate the results of research in
literature, theatre, film and television, Indigenous cultures, publishing, media history
and Australian literature education. It provides access to data, information and
curated content that develops understandings of Australian culture and communities,
both past and present. They currently have to purchase and maintain their own
server in order to achieve the storage speed necessary to deliver 24/7 service, so
future government investment could look to improving the means by which other
organisations can harness strong and efficient data storage (like NeCTAR). It is part
of the Australian National Corpus (AusNC).
Source: https://www.austlit.edu.au.
4.
A government initiative that tracks and measures children and young people’s
  Victorian
health, wellbeing, safety, learning and development outcomes as identified in the
Child and
VCAMS outcomes Framework. It synthesises this data on under 18-year-old
Adolescent
outcomes and releases the data onto a portal page in stages. The portal provides
interactive dashboards of data at state and LGA level. The portal allows users to
Monitoring
view and customise data to identify emerging issues, and to compare and monitor
(VCAMs)*
the progress of children, young people and their families. Users are able to view and
explore data visualisations about children and young people.
Source:
https://www.education.vic.gov.au/about/research/pages/vcams.aspx?Redirect=1.
5.
ARDC is a transformational initiative that enables the Australian research community
  Australian
and industry to access nationally significant, leading edge, data intensive
Research
infrastructure platforms that similarly build skills and capabilities. IT facilitates the
Data
effective use of services to maximise research quality and impact through a coherent
research environment that enables researchers to find, access and contribute to
Commons
documents. It is supported by the Australian Government and NCRIS.
(ARDC) *
Source: https://ardc.edu.au.

HASS EXAMPLES  |  1

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6.
AusNC is a discovery service that collates and provides access to assorted
  Australian
examples of Australian English text, transcriptions, audio and audio-visual material. It
National
provides access to multiple different corpora, including AustLit. It is used for both
Corpus
academic research and teaching purposes.
Source: https://www.ausnc.org.au.
7.
ADB is an Australian dictionary of national biography. It contains concise, information
  Australian
descriptions of the lives of over 12,000 significant and representative persons in
Dictionary of  Australian history, from prime ministers and premiers to bishops, artists, authors,
Biography
teachers, and thieves. It is based at ANU, and the information is available both
online and as a hardcopy publication.
(ADB)
Source: http://adb.anu.edu.au.
8.  AusStage
AusStage provides an accessible online resource for researching live performance in
Australia. Development is led by a consortium of universities, government agencies,
industry organisations and collecting institutions with funding from the Australian
Research Council and other sources. It is committed to collecting and sharing
information about Australian live performance as an ongoing, open-access and
collaborative endeavour. It has contributions from artists, spectators, producers,
agents, students, teachers, researchers, librarians, archivists and the public.
Researchers and students use AusStage to develop new knowledge about live
performance in Australia and to assess the contribution that live events make to the
nation's cultural vitality and international image.
Source: https://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/learn/about/project-history.html.
9.
GPD is a web-based and searchable database designed to capture all published and
  Global
unpublished experimental and quasi-experimental evaluations of policing
Policing
interventions conducted since 1950. It was developed at University of Queensland.
Database
Source: http://www.gpd.uq.edu.au/search.php
10.
The TLC map is an upcoming infrastructure, funded by the ARC, to support a time-
  Time
layered cultural map of Australia. It is an online research platform to deliver
Layered
researcher driven national-scale infrastructure for the humanities, focused on
Cultural Map  mapping, time series and data integration. It enables researchers to visualise hidden
geographic and historical patterns and trends, and to build online resources which
(upcoming)
present to a wider public the rich layers of cultural data in Australian locations. It links
geo-spatial maps of Australian cultural and historical information and will give new
perspectives to the public, with online and printed resources.
Source: https://www.arc.gov.au/news-publications/media/research-
highlights/australian-cultural-and-historical-data-be-linked-new-research-
infrastructure.
11.
The QUT Digital Observatory provides state-of-the-art infrastructure for tracking,
  QUT Digital
collecting, and analysing digital media data. IT manages large sets of continuous
Observatory  and dynamic digital data to enable innovative digital media and society research,
across multiple fields. The infrastructure allows on-demand data gathering for Twitter
and Facebook, an access to analytical software collections.
Source: https://www.qut.edu.au/institute-for-future-environments/facilities/digital-
observatory.
12.
An online database of the Australian and the New Zealand Government records, in
  Discovering
associated with the National Archives of Australia and the Archives of New Zealand,
Anzacs
of WW1 and the Boer War. It enables users to enhance an e-profile dedicated to the

HASS EXAMPLES  |  2

OUTPUT 1

wartime journey of someone who served. It also enables users to access personal
stories about the service of men and women through original archive records.
Source: https://discoveringanzacs.naa.gov.au.
13.  Collaborative  The Collaborative Embodied Movement Design Network was established by Monash
Embodied
University, but has since been terminated. It aimed to provide ground-breaking
infrastructure to enable the collaboration between leading digital arts, intelligent
Movement
systems and human computer interaction (HCI) centres across Australia, thereby
enabling and scaling new research into the creative potential of movement-based
Design
human computer interaction systems, with benefits in many fields.
Network
Source: https://research.monash.edu/en/projects/collaborative-embodied-movement-
design-network.
14.  Humanities
Funded by Deakin University and NeCTAR, HuNi combines data from many
Australian cultural websites into the biggest humanities and creative arts database
Networked
ever assembled in Australia. HuNI data covers all disciplines and brings together
Infrastructure  information about the people, works, events, organisations and places that make up
(HuNI)
the country's rich cultural landscape. One example of HuNi infrastructure is Design
and Art Australia Online, a collaborative e-Research tool built upon the foundation of
the Dictionary of Australian Artists Online. It is an open source, and freely accessibly.
It presents biographical data on Australian artists, designers, craftspeople and
curators.
Source: https://huni.net.au/#/search.
15.
An online knowledge hub that makes public policy research visible, discoverable and
  Analysis and  usable. Collects and curates high-quality content, with a database of over 40,000
Policy
resources, including specialist collections, grey literature reports, articles and data. It
Observatory  was established in 2002 at Swinburne University of Technology and is a not-for-profit
collaborative knowledge infrastructure and web platform that works with institutions
(APO)
across Australia, New Zealand and beyond.
Source: https://apo.org.au.
16.  Aboriginal
Funded through the Australian Research Council, the extended archive gives access
History
to primary source material collected and donated by individuals and community-
controlled organisations around Australia. Scholars, policymakers and communities
Archive
can use the new archive to deliver a better-informed evidence base, for
understanding the contemporary history of Australia. The archive is also a valuable
resource for students of History and many other areas of academic study. It contains
a large amount of unique primary source material not available or easily accessible
elsewhere.
Source: https://www.arc.gov.au/news-publications/publications/making-difference-
outcomes-arc-supported-research-2016-17/funding-research-infrastructure-
equipment-and-facilities/aboriginal-history-archive.
17.  AURIN*
The Australian Urban Research Infrastructure Network is an initiative of the
Australian Government under the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure
Strategy (NCRIS) and associated programmes. It is a collaborative network of
leading researchers and data providers across the academic, government, and
commercial sectors; a one-stop online Workbench with access to thousands of multi-
disciplinary datasets, from hundreds of data sources and analytical tools covering
spatial and statistical modelling, planning and visualisation.

HASS EXAMPLES  |  3

OUTPUT 1

It aims to provide researchers with access to diverse sources of data, the ability to
integrate data across disciplines and interrogate that data to answer their research
questions.
Source: https://aurin.org.au/about-aurin/the-aurin-journey/
18.  Queensland  The Victorian and Queensland Places websites both provide access to research and
writing data sets that provide a historical and current assessment of all settlements in
Places +
Victoria and Queensland and help provide context and insights into the growth of
Victorian
regional and metropolitan cities, and associated issues of this. The website
Places
combines original research with newly digitised historical sources and unique images
to give a comprehensive view of each place and its history.
Source: https://www.victorianplaces.com.au/about;
https://queenslandplaces.com.au/places.
Prospective  1.  Atlas of
The Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery suggests the extension of the ALA (Atlas of
initiatives
Cultural
Living Australia- a collaborative national project that aggregates biodiversity data
Australia
from multiple sources and makes it freely available and usable online), to more
specifically provide access to large cultural datasets to help regions remember and
develop their cultural history. In the Tasmanian context, the museum points to the
potential of linking historical photos, newspapers, architectural plans, sound
recordings, convict recordings, to enable the identification of convicts in
photographs. Or providing access to early colonial art from Tasmanian artists, or
artefacts retrieved from fieldwork in Tasmania, that are distributed across the country
(like John Glovers painting or materials kept in universities).
Source: submission to the 2016 National Research Infrastructure Roadmap
Capability Issues Paper.
2.  Australian
The Academy did not put forward a specific proposal but responded to the Capability
Academy of
Issue Paper in support of the need to increase the Understanding Cultures and
the
Communities capability. Investment into HASS research infrastructure needs to be
Humanities
cross disciplinary and collaborative.
Source: submission to the 2016 National Research Infrastructure Roadmap
Capability Issues Paper.
3.  GLAM Peak
Museums Galleries Australia has proposed the creation of an integrated
infrastructure that expands Australia’s digital access to collections from galleries,
libraries, archives and museums. It has already received investment to complete a
supply-side development of a national framework and case-study toolkit. It needs
user-side investment, to allow people to easily find, interrogate, compare and use the
digital data to create knowledge.
Source: submission to the 2016 National Research Infrastructure Roadmap
Capability Issues Paper.
4.
The Department of Social Services (DSS) has proposed the creation of the DAH, to
  Data Analytics  remove the barriers faced by policy makers and researchers trying to access
Hub
nationally secured data. It would piggy back off existing infrastructure, like the
Secure Unified Research Environment (SURE), to streamline data sharing processes
and help unify a standardised approach to data sharing, to benefit Australian
research and policy making.
Source: submission to the 2016 National Research Infrastructure Roadmap
Capability Issues Paper.
5.  HASS lab
Prospective only – does not exist in this form.
Source: Arising from discussion with
and developed by dandolo.

HASS EXAMPLES  |  4

OUTPUT 1

*Identified as meeting the criteria for investment.

1.2  A list of existing and prospective international HASS infrastructure
Country
Name
Description
Europe
1.  DARIAH*
There are a number of digital research infrastructures that are funded by the
2.  CLARIN*
European Commission and connected in the European Research Infrastructure
3.  CLARIAH*
Consortium). They all promote the development of research methods in the arts
and humanities, by:
▪  Documenting the state of the arts
▪  Supporting the preservation and curation of research data with a focus on
particular challenges including diversity, provenance, multimedia collections
and granularity
▪  Acting as a coordinator and integrator for a diverse community of practices.
Their names change based on the country of the infrastructure.
Source: https://www.dariah.eu/activities/projects-list/; https://www.clarin.eu;
https://www.clariah.nl/en/about.
4.  CESSDA
CESSDA provides large-scale, integrated and sustainable data services to the
social sciences. It brings together social science data archives across Europe,
with the aim of promoting the results of social science research and supporting
national and international research and cooperation. It provides access to a data
catalogue (containing metadata of all CESSDA service providers in a one-stop
shop), a data management expert guide (to help European experts make their
research data findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable) and a training
website (with a collection of resources and events for learning about the
management, preservation and distribution of research data).
Source: https://www.cessda.eu.
5.  Survey of
The Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) is a
Health, Ageing
multidisciplinary and cross-national panel database of micro data on health,
and Retirement
socio-economic status and social and family networks of about 140,000
in Europe
individuals aged 50 or older (around 380,000 interviews). It covers 27 EU
(SHARE)
countries and Israel and is an ERIC.
SHARE responds to a Communication by the European Commission calling to
"examine the possibility of establishing, in co-operation with Member States, a
European Longitudinal Ageing Survey". Access to the data collected and
generated in the SHARE projects is provided free of charge for scientific use
globally, subject to the EU and national data protection laws.
Source: http://www.share-project.org/home0.html.
6.  Europeana
Europeana Collections aims to transform the world with culture by making it
Collections*
easier for people to use and access Europe’s rich heritage whether for work, for
learning or entertainment. Europeana Collections was established in 2009. It
acted as the replacement to the European Digital Library Network, aimed to be a

HASS EXAMPLES  |  5

OUTPUT 1

cross-border, cross-domain, user-centred research service. The project will be
expanded to Europeana Pro (in beta round). It provides access to over 50 million
digitised items – books, music, artworks and more – with sophisticated search
and filter tools to help you find what you’re looking for, from over 3000 different
institutions. It groups collections thematically (e.g. by art, fashion, music,
photography or historic event), with each collection containing extended galleries,
blogs, articles and exhibitions that aim to inform users and to inspire future
research.
Source: https://www.europeana.eu/portal/en
7.  OSF.io
The Open Science Framework is a cloud-based management program / scholarly
common to connect the entire research cycle. It allows users to structure projects
(keeping all files, data and protocols in one centralised location), allows
researchers to control parts of a project that is open to public or private. Labs
and teams across the globe use OSF to open their projects up to the scientific
community. OSF is a free, open source service of the Centre for Open Science.
Source: http://osf.io/
8.  AGATE
Elaboration of a Concept for a European Academics Internet Gateway for the
Social Sciences and Humanities. Established by the Union of the German
Academies of Sciences and Humanities, in close collaboration with ALLEA, the
federation of All European Academies. It is bringing together participants from the
‘European science academies, infrastructure projects in the fields of digital
humanities and social sciences, and related infrastructures, such as DARIAH,
CLARIAH(NL)/CLARIN, Europeana, OpenAire, and the German Council for
Scientific Information Infrastructures’ to conduct a feasibility study for the project.
Source: AGATE social science research.
US
9.  Smithsonian
The DPO supports discovery through digitization. Founded in 2009 as a division
Institution
of the Smithsonian’s Office of the Chief Information Officer, DPO partners with
Digitisation
others to increase the quantity, quality, and impact of digitized Smithsonian
Program Office
collections. It offers access to more than 155 million objects and specimens,
volumes, and archives, distributed across 19 museums, nine research centres, a
zoo, and numerous storage facilities
Example: The Cooper Hewitt Museum, where the whole collection of 200,000
objects was digitised in less than a year.
Source: https://dpo.si.edu.
NZ
10. Online
Online Cenotaph is our digital social space where enthusiasts, families, and
Cenotaph:
researchers can share and contribute to the records of those who served for
Auckland War
Aotearoa New Zealand. 1/3rd of the collection was digitised over the last four
Memorial
years.
Source: http://www.aucklandmuseum.com/war-memorial/online-cenotaph
11. Unnamed NZ
The NZ Police force are implementing an innovative online mobile platform for
police Force
Initiative
frontline police staff to rapidly access information about key aspects of their work.
It’s built on a concept developed by paramedics in NZ and comprises checklist-
type information, together with a range of material about ‘how to’ deal with
various issues and some emerging ideas around ‘what works’.
Source: interview conducted by dandolopartners.
*Identified as meeting the criteria for investment.

HASS EXAMPLES  |  6

OUTPUT 1

1.3  List of underdeveloped ideas (from stakeholder engagement) not captured in
local and international infrastructure [section 1.1-1.2]
▪  A one stop shop portal for government data, such as the ABS has done. Huge ethical issues associated with this,
but they can be overcome.
▪  Computational linguistics – the use of data and digital methods.
▪  Performing arts infrastructure (e.g. recreating Shakespeare’s stage time virtually)
▪  Development and analysis of social media analytics and datasets.
▪  More linkages between social sciences longitudinal studies – eg, linking medical databases with other databases.
▪  Replicating ancient sites virtually, for later consumption by students and researchers using VR.

HASS EXAMPLES  |  7

Case Studies for HASS
Applying our proposed HASS research infrastructure investment
criteria to existing Australian / European infrastructure as well as a
prospective ideas for future infrastructure
May 2019

Contents
Local
International
Case study 1: PARADISEC
Case study 4: DARIAH
Case study 2: Trove
ting
Case study 5: Europeana Collections
Exis
Case study 3: Time-Layered Cultural
Map (upcoming)
Case study 6: National Ethics Approval
ive
Portal
ect
sp
Case study 7: HASS Lab
Pro

Case study 1: existing Australian HASS research
infrastructure
PARADISEC
2

Project overview
The primary objective of PARADISEC, to preserve endangered cultures through the digitisation of historic cultural language
sources, solidifies its value and national need in Australia where many cultures are at the highest risk of being lost.
Objectives
• PARADISEC aims to establish a framework for accessioning, cataloguing and digitising audio, text and visual material, and preserving digital copies.
• A primary goal is to safely preserve endangered cultural materials that would otherwise be lost, especially ethnographic field tapes from the 1950s and 1960s that examine these
cultures in their prime- before colonisation.
Problem being addressed
Solution proposed
Many of the languages currently spoken in Australia and the Pacific
Al ows for the digitising and preservation of audio, text and visual materials
Islands are at risk of being lost forever if they are not documented
necessary to interpret at risk languages.
correctly.
Materials are verified before they are deposited online. Further, the software
It is hard to assess the accuracy and value of existing sources of
requires researchers to complete a deposit form that validates their profession
information available on the internet.
(as either linguists, ethnographers, ethnomusicologists and other researchers) to
permit them to digitally deposit material.
Researchers are discouraged from contributing their findings due to
Depositors can specify conditions on the access and use of their data. Moreover,
need to safeguard their work for publication.
some primary records are only accessible to registered users.
There is a fear of duplication of documents interfering with the
The software requires all materials to be itemised and notifies depositors of
program’s usability.
similar name titles- rejecting duplicated files.
Descendants of the represented cultures cannot access the materials.
Distributes copies of recordings across the world, i.e. to the Vanuatu Cultural
Centre, the University of New Caledonia, the Institute of Papua New Guinea
Studies.
Description
• The Pacific And Regional Archive for Digital Sources in Endangered Cultures (PARADISEC) was first established in 2003, when researchers began to recognise that many
fieldwork recordings in Australia were not being cared for properly. It is now a digital archive of records of some of the many small cultures and languages of the world. The online
archive contains 500 collections representing over 1,200 languages, including Indonesian, Malay, Indigenous Australian languages from across the country.
• It is a consortium of three universities (University of Sydney, University of Melbourne and Australian National University), and uses external data storage facility infrastructure-
the Research Data Storage Infrastructure.
3

Response to criteria
The benefits of PARADISEC have expanded beyond Australia, meeting the HASS investment criteria through the
implementation of fully functional and multi-disciplinary infrastructure that propels HASS research both nationally and
internationally.
Criteria
Response
Objectives are clear and a wide need can be
• There are clear objectives of the project to create a Pacific and regional archive of all relevant and at risk documents attached to
demonstrated across institutions and / or across
endangered languages and cultures in these regions. Moreover, there is clear room for the project to expand beyond these original
disciplines
regions. The benefits of the project spread across dif erent disciplines and institutions, with linguistic, cultural, historic, geographic and
social implications.
• The Nabu management system was funded by the Australian Research Council Linkage Infrastructure Equipment and Facilities scheme
Scale
.[Provide number of investments, quantity]
• Number of investments
• They were also initially sponsored by the University of Sydney, the University of Melbourne, the Australian National University, the
University of New England and Grangenet.
• The project is of national and international significance. It recognises that Australia lies in a region of great linguistic and cultural diversity,
Size and nature of public benefit
with over 2000 of the world’s 6000 languages spoken in Australia and the Pacific Islands- with this figure likely to drop to a few hundred in
• National / international significance and / or
the next century. It thereby seeks to make unique and irreplaceable audio visual recordings of these languages and cultural expressions.
innovation.
This is integral to the HASS sector- to ensure the languages and cultures can persist into the future.
• Enables innovation in research outcomes
• Moreover, the project is not at risk of duplication. There are  no other existing projects / initiatives that share the PARADISEC objective,
target or successful scale of reach.
Need for (continued) national investment
• PARADISEC is constantly looking to extend its funding opportunities. It operates on a project basis, and this cannot fund tape digitisation,
• Why there is a gap
nor the necessary negotiation and travel to ensure that collections are located, transported and digitised. Therefore, much of the available
• Who is active in this space
materials are not being stored. If funded to XXX PARADISEC could expand from YYY records to ZZZ, covering AAA additional languages
• Existing / potential collaboration
and cultural practices. Based on support of $XXX, records would be expected to increase by YYY and usage by ZZZ more users/ projects.
Meets other requirements
• It ensures that the archive provides access to all interested communities whose cultures are projected through the platform. Further, it
• Access
conforms to international standards for digital archiving.
• Co-investment
• The ‘PARADISEC Catalog’ can be accessed by anyone. Some fast unrestricted  are available via the OLAC or the LINGUIST LIST
gateway, otherwise it requires users to first register before use.
• PARADISEC relies on various kinds of grants, however, where it is not possible to apply for a grant they require applicants wanting
assistance in their research to include allowances for this purpose.  They also except donations from philanthropic organisation and the
general public.
4

Project implementation and impact
The project has enabled access to researchers, to the public and within this, to the descendants of its represented cultures. It
enables collaborative documentation of languages and has a direct positive impact in preserving and dif using cultural
resources.
PARADISEC has implemented
• The ‘PARADISEC catalog’ has 500 col ections representing over 1,200 languages.
new and effective research
• It implemented a media management system cal ed Nabu in 2012- Nabu is a South Efate word for ‘road’
infrastructure
as a connector of various locations.
• Nabu provides a catalogue of items, metadata for these items, and information about the workflow status
of the items.
• The ‘catalog’ al ows researchers (and any interested) the ability to filter their search by the content
language, country and top 100 collectors (researchers who have deposited material to the catalog).
The investment has had
─ Filter by the 409 available col ections or the 18,149  available items
functional change
─ Moreover, users can use a map function to locate the region of an item before listening to it.
• Provides additional information on materials (primary texts, lexical resources, language descriptions, and
other resources about each material).
• Access is restricted to registered users of the catalog. However, some items – like the digitised fieldnotes
of Arthur Capel , Stephen A Wurm and Calvin Roesler- are publicly available through the PARADISEC
website.
• The infrastructure has enabled the publication of 10 academic articles and 4 books.
• The infrastructure has spread from Asia / Pacific to languages across the globe, reaching Northern
PARADISEC has had positive
America, Asia and central Africa.
outcomes
• This has simultaneously allowed for it to extend from solely capturing cultural data from endangered
communities to harnessing this data for intersectional analyses (economic, social, political and most of al
environmental).
• Beyond digitisation, the organisation is now involved in training and supporting language workers and
provides recording equipment to researchers and students to undertake fieldwork.
5
The collection currently contains approximately 7,800 hours of archived audio material. It contains 33.5 terabytes of data.

Case study 2: Existing Australian HASS research
infrastructure
Trove

Project overview
Trove is a digital platform that acts as a single point of access ‘search engine’ for 22 mil ion aggregated documentary
resources from more than 1300 Australian institutions.   Objectives
The main objective for Trove is to aggregate HASS data and research resources into a single, interconnected portal that al ows both researchers and the general public
to access information relevant to their research or their general interest. Trove helps to preserve legacy Australian knowledge and supports its use now and into the
future.
Problem being addressed
Solution proposed
A major barrier to HASS research is accessibility and retrievability of
Trove provides free, web-based access to mil ions of aggregated online
resources – particularly in regional communities.
resources to al  Australians, including researchers and the general public. For
researchers, the NLA can sometimes support more sophisticated uses and
analysis.
A major problem and risk with HASS research is the loss of data and
Trove has a large and ever-growing store of research and data, with the ability to
research stores, in addition to the ‘siloing’ of other national y useful data
add more. Institutions are able to partner with the NLA to add their historical
and research inside institutional wal s.
stores to the archive.
Description
Trove is a digital archive that safely stores and provides provides access to 22 mil ion aggregated documentary resources, including books, archived websites, let ers,
diaries, research papers, music, videos, and Australian newspapers ranging from 1803 to 1954). These resources are derived from more than 1300 Australian
institutions, such as libraries, government departments, museums, cultural and historical societies, and universities.
Trove has helped to support a paradigm shift for Australian researchers in the humanities and social sciences. It is the most significant community store of Australia’s
social and cultural past in the country. It acts as a community, a set of services, an aggregation of metadata, and a growing repository of ful  text digital resources. Over
25,000 searches occur on Trove every hour, and constant improvements are being made.
An example of its usefulness to researchers is one researcher who used Trove to look at transgendered history. As a result of research, he worked out that a large
number of trans men were living in rural and isolated communities. This has transformed the understanding of LGBTI history, by breaking down the assumption that
LGBTI Australians mostly lived in cities.
7

Response to criteria
Xx
Criteria
Response
Objectives are clear and a wide need can be
Trove’s primary objective is to be portal for researchers and the general public to access the National Library of Australia’s resources. Its
demonstrated across institutions and / or across
secondary objective is to unite researchers, cultural institutions and the public for continual capture, use, refinement and expansion of
disciplines
Australian research.
Since the project was launched by the NLA in 2008, Trove has grown to contain 2.2 mil ion records from 1,300 institutions. It is the single
Scale
largest store, online destination and source for HASS research in the country. It aims to connect HASS researchers and the public with any
• Number of investments
and all relevant national resource they require. In this regard, Trove is an example of HASS research infrastructure that does not require
duplication and is able to effectively operate across the entire nation.
Size and nature of public benefit
• National / international significance and / or
Trove is of national significance due to the size of its stores (2.2 mil ion records from 1,300 institutions), the broad scope of its offering (a set
innovation.
of services, aggregation of national metadata, and a growing repository for full-text digital resources), and its status as one of a small number
• Enables innovation in research outcomes
of backbone investments that preserve nationally critical cultural material.
Need for (continued) national investment
The significance of Trove as both an Australian cultural vault and as a critical piece of infrastructure for the HASS research community
• Why there is a gap
justifies the need for continued national investment in the platform. Without it, the backbone of cultural discovery for both researchers and the
• Who is active in this space
general public would be lost, and enormous stores of Australian cultural material would be put at risk. There is a further role for government
• Existing / potential collaboration
investment to ensure its continual maintenance and improvement so that it can achieve its objective. Without further evolution, it will lack the
modern tools researchers require to do their work, and wil not keep up with the pace of technical change.
Meets other requirements
Trove provides free, open access to all Australians.
• Access
• Co-investment
It was initially funded by the NLA’s own budget, however it received a grant from government in 2016 to maintain and upgrade its
servers/systems. The NLA is currently developing a new business model to encourage further co-investment from partner institutions and
diversify funding partners, due to uncertainty of continued government support.
Trove has already positively impacted thousands of Australians. More than 25,000 people use the resource every day – with about 70% of
that access by the general public, and this use has enabled the refinement and continued accuracy improvement and quality of resources.
8

Project implementation and impact
Trove has already been successfully implemented and had positive impacts for the Australian HASS sector.
Trove is an existing piece of
• Enormous vault for vast quantities of Australian cultural stores.
effective research infrastructure
• Web-based access for all Australians, including HASS researchers.
• Trove has:
─ become an aggregation point for vast quantities of nationally significant information that would
otherwise be dispersed over disconnected platforms.
─ simplified and expanded the access to data, with faster processing speed and more accessible
The investment has had
settings, and free access to al including the general public.
functional change
─ enabled researchers to quickly interrogate large volumes of texts that were previously irretrievable or
required huge amounts of manual ef ort (eg, newspapers on microfilm).
─ improved data accuracy, through Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software, which al ows
members of the public to scan newspapers and update manual text corrections.
─ reduced duplication of ef ort, by providing one national y recognized and supported store, without
which there would be a larger number of institutional stores with significant overlap.
• Trove is now a significant cultural asset for Australia, because of its status as a huge vault of nationally
Trove has had positive outcomes
significant historical documents that has been successful y deployed to mil ions of Australians and HASS
researchers. It has generated a step-change in the Australian humanities and social sciences research
because of the breadth and depth of its col ection, and the ease and scale of access to its systems.
9

Case study 3: upcoming Australian HASS research
infrastructure
Time-Layered Cultural Map

Project overview
The Time-Layered Cultural Map of Australia wil  push innovation in the Australian HASS research sector through a cross-
disciplinary data integration that enables new thinking around entrenched research topics.
Objectives
• The TLCMap is not a singular project or software infrastructure with a defined research objective and outcome.
• Rather, it aims to invigorate future research and innovation more broadly in the HASS sector through the provision of visual mapping tools. This wil  help provide
a new impetus for multi-disciplinary research that harnesses data integration and time series to push the scope and granularity of al  HASS research projects.
Problem being addressed
Solution proposed
The process of integrating data and maps from disparate sources is
The planned TLCMap wil  provide tools, data and an umbrella infrastructure
dif icult, slow and expensive. Combining data from separate sources is
related to time and place, activating and drawing together existing high-quality
difficult.
resources in an efficient and one-stop-shop location. This wil  cut costs and
• I.e. Place and time data in texts like newspaper articles has to be
time.1
manually geocoded and date-stamped to serve in maps and
timelines.1
Moreover, these digital maps help answer research questions, turn research
outcomes into research tools for others and are an interactive and visual way to
engage the community. For example, Prof. Ros Smith, from C21CH, plans to
It is hard to excite new thinking on stubborn research questions and
use the TLCMap to visually represent literary true crime sites in urban and rural
propel innovation in the HASS sector- similarly restricting overall
Australia.
engagement in HASS.
• This wil  help collate instances where true crime stories appear in dif erent
times (often spanning centuries) and dif erent locations.
• It wil  provide new ways of presenting evidence of character reuse and create
extended publication events.
Description
• The University of Newcastle’s Centre for 21st Century Humanities (C21CH) put in a bid and won a $420,000 grant from the ARC for the upcoming infrastructure
of a Time Layered Cultural Map of Australia (the TLCMap).
• The TLCMap of Australia is an online research platform that wil  deliver researcher driven national-scale infrastructure for the humanities, with a specific focus on
mapping, time series, and data integration.
• It will link geo-spatial maps of Australian cultural and historical information and wil  give new perspectives to the public, with online and printed resources.
1: https://www.newcastle.edu.au/newsroom/faculty-of-education-and-arts/centre-for-21st-century-humanities-leads-funding-bid-to-develop-ground-
breaking-software-platform
11

Response to criteria
The TLCMap holds up against the proposed HASS infrastructure investment criteria, through a clear and wide application
across the HASS sector that wil  provide access to all researchers and build the national capability of the sector.
Criteria
Response
Objectives are clear and a wide need can be
TLCMap aims to enable inter-disciplinary research and innovation, responding to the need for data integration of Australian history and
demonstrated across institutions and / or across
culture to interpret the hidden patterns that emerge from their combination. Part of the research proposal developed prospective projects
disciplines
that demonstrate the projects reach across the HASS sector :1
• One of the founding professors (Prof Hugh Craig) plans to use the software to collaborate with the UON Priority Research Centre in
Generational Health and Ageing to analyse domestic violence data. The TLCMap wil  provide visualisation of the geographic and
temporal distribution of domestic violence reports.
• The TLCMap wil  be used by Prof Victoria Haskins to draw comparisons between instances of mid-19th century kidnapping of
indigenous women and children in California and Queensland. It wil  be able to pin point comparative geographical movements of
kidnappers.
Scale
• The TLCMap wil  be created by a recent Australian Research Council Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities (LIEF)  grant
• Number of investments
of $420,000. It wil  be a one-year project.
• The University of Newcastle have commit ed to basic maintenance funding for 2-5 years after the grant round.
• Wil  go on to seek additional funding streams to constantly expand and improve efficiency and reach.
Size and nature of public benefit
• For researchers, it wil  transform access to data and to visualisation tools and open new perspectives on Australian culture and history.
• National / international significance and / or
• Moreover, it is of benefit for all HASS sector workers, researchers and students, including but not limited to use by historians,
innovation.
linguistics, literary scholars, built environment researchers and cultural heritage professionals.
• Enables innovation in research outcomes
• For the public, it wil  enable increased accessibility to historical and cultural data through visualisations made available online and in
print.
Need for (continued) national investment
• There is no existing Australian gazetteer- a geographical index or dictionary. Gazetteers are important to national research. They act as
• Why there is a gap
the interface between the social / cultural world and the physical world of geographic information. They are thereby an integral tool in
• Who is active in this space
exploring the evolution of research questions and expanding the scope and understanding that can be achieved.
• Existing / potential collaboration
• There is a national gap and need for an Australian gazetteer, and the TLCMap could fulfil this.
Meets other requirements
• The program is mostly for researchers- and runs on the logic that “there is no platform without a project, and no project without a
• Access
platform”. By this, the C21CH are seeking to grant access to all research projects to help harness visual tools to push new innovation.
• Co-investment
The only condition of use is that it has an aim to progress a specific project.
• However, it is seeking to expand and include a wider circle of users and hopes to begin to provide immediate results for absolute
beginners and students.
1: https://www.newcastle.edu.au/newsroom/faculty-of-education-and-arts/centre-for-21st-century-humanities-leads-funding-bid-to-develop-ground-
12
breaking-software-platform

Project implementation and impact
The Time-Layered Cultural Map infrastructure wil  be implemented this year and provide functional changes to the HASS
research sector, with anticipated positive impacts on future innovation.
• XXX infrastructure that wil  process data from dif erent categories of maps: time maps, deep maps, data
Implemented new and effective
maps, text maps, media maps, virtual maps. [Need to specify nature of infrastructure].
research infrastructure
• YYY infrastructure to link geo-spatial maps of Australian cultural and historical information [Need to
specify nature of infrastructure].
• ZZZ infrastructure to adapts data into time series. [Need to specify nature of infrastructure].
• Researches can search data held in dif erent Australian repositories by location and time
─ With software to detect place names and time references in of icial records, diaries, newspaper
The investment has had
articles and books.
functional change
• Researchers can use the TLCMap to collaborate. The infrastructure al ows researchers to combine the
existing data sets with their own research and field notes to create new fields and clusters of information,
each with a dif erent specific project, content and depth.
• The cultural implications of the work allow for people to combine historic data and bet er understand the
context and activities of Australian history.
The TLCMap wil  likely have
• The TLCMap of ers the opportunity for al  kinds of researchers, in any stage of development of an idea, to
positive outcomes
pursue research with new, interactive and visual technological infrastructure- al owing the HASS sector to
tap into the benefits of technological advancement and push further innovation in the sector.
• [Need to provide further evidence of impact].
13

Case study 4: existing international HASS research
infrastructure
DARIAH

Project overview
The Digital Research Infrastructure for the Arts and Humanities accelerates European research for arts and humanities
scholars through the simplification of large, complex data sets and necessary computational tools of digital research methods.
Objectives
• The Digital Research Infrastructure for the Arts and Humanities (DARIAH) aims to enhance and support digitally-enabled research and teaching across the arts
and humanities.
• [Needs to provide further examples to substantiate the objective].
Problem being addressed
Solution proposed
The HASS sector is not properly connected and it is dif icult to pool
By working with communities of practice, DARIAH brings together individual
resources effectively- and to scale them for access to all.
state-of-the-art digital arts and humanities activities and scales their results to
a European level.
There is a fear amongst HASS researches that their work wil  not be
DARIAH preserves, provides access to and disseminates research that
properly attributed and potentially exploited if they share it and
stems from expert collaborations and ensures that best practices,
relinquish their control over their content.
methodological and technical standards are followed.
Description:
• DARIAH was established as  a European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC) in August 2014.
• DARIAH is a network of people, expertise, information, knowledge, content, methods, tools and technologies from its member countries.
• It develops, maintains and operates an infrastructure in support of ICT-based research practices and sustains researchers in using them to build, analyse and
interpret digital resources.
• DARIAH integrates digital arts and humanities research and activities from across Europe, enabling transnational and transdisciplinary approaches.
1: https://ardc.edu.au/news/stimulating-collaboration-and-strengthening-ambitions/
15

Response to criteria
Since its establishment, DARIAH has introduced clear objectives and services that enable constant expansion and growth
of the infrastructure to adapt to the evolving needs of the European HASS research sector.
Criteria
Response
Objectives are clear and a wide need can be
• Structurally, it operates through a network of Europe-wide Virtual Competency Centers (digital interface systems), each of the four VCCs is cross-
demonstrated across institutions and / or across
disciplinary, multi-institutional, international and centered on a specific area of expertise.
disciplines
• DARIAH adheres to a ‘bottom-up’ organisational approach around emerging research needs- pooling the researcher-level needs to motivate and
shape the online services and tools. This demonstrates their wide / clear objective to enhance and support digitally-enabled research and teaching
across the arts and humanities.
Scale
• As part of ERIC (the European Research Infrastructure Consortium), DARIAH is partly funded by the European Commission with co-funding by the
• Number of investments
Horizon 2020 project (a 30 bil ion euro investment for Research and Innovation between 2018-2020).
• DARIAH is important as it documents the state of the arts, supports the preservation and curation of research data with a focus on particular
Size and nature of public benefit
challenges including diversity, provenance, multimedia collections and granularity, and acts as a coordinator and integrator for a diverse
• National / international significance and / or
community of practices.
innovation.
• There are 10 active projects and 6 past projects
• Enables innovation in research outcomes
• Current projects include: European Holocaust Research Infrastructure (integrates the data, services and expertise of existing Holocaust
infrastructures on an unprecedented scale)
• Past projects include: Humanities at Scale (connects various hubs of excellence in trans-national arts and humanities research and
helps them share their results and innovations)
• A 2014 DARIAH survey of VCC2 ‘Education and Research’ reached twelve EU countries and 17000 researchers. The survey was of significance
as it was used to help provide a reliable account for how scholars use digital information technology to conduct research across Europe.
Need for (continued) national investment
• The European Commission established the European Research Infrastructure Consortium as it understood the importance of European research
• Why there is a gap
infrastructure on a non-economic basis.
• Who is active in this space
• Investing in a similar infrastructure in Australia would help promote innovation and knowledge and technology transfers, an area that Australia
• Existing / potential collaboration
currently lags in.
Meets other requirements
• Currently, DARIAH has 17 Members and several cooperating partners in eleven non-member countries. For the most part, DARIAH membership
• Access
depends on being a part of the EU- however, it can extend to interested parties. For example, DARIAH is open to institutions and individual
• Co-investment
researchers who have an interest in collaborating with or contributing to DARIAH, as part of working groups or otherwise.
16

Project implementation and impact
The investment enabled new and effective research infrastructure and functional change to the European HASS sector with
interconnected positive impacts on research, education, culture and the economy.
• VVC1: the E-Infrastructure, maintains a digital environment that allows community-developed data and tools to be
shared
• VVC 2: Research and Education Liaison, acts as the primary interface with research and teaching communities
─ DH Course Registry provides and overview of formal training programs available in digital humanities, linguistics
Implemented new and effective
or curation, based in a European higher education Institution.
research infrastructure
─ DARIAH Teach Platform of ers a Moodle-based set of courses in digital humanities.
─ PARTHENOS Training platform of ers lectures and exercises in digital humanities, digital heritage and research
infrastructures.
• VVC3: Scholarly Content Management, manages stages of creation, curation and dissemination through pooling of
scholarly digital resources.
• VVC 4: Advocacy, Impact and Outreach, connects the 20 dynamic work groups to integrate national services
• Enabled high-impact research in digital arts and humanities through the formed networks of people, partnerships,
The investment has had
outreach and scholarly communication.
functional change
• Enabled validation and academic recognition through a control ed platform of data sharing services and tools that
proactively enhance the reach of digital arts and humanities while ensuring strict copyright standards.
• Increased the provision of training and education opportunities, like the teaching of computational methods.
• Provided information services for policy engagement.
• DARIAH works with partners and demonstrates how traditional humanities research skil s play a prominent role in the
digital age, and how such skil s can be deployed in a commercial setting. DARIAH has impact on four interconnected
domains: research, education, culture and economy
DARIAH has had positive
─ The consortium builds services for researchers working with ICT-based methods to support the sustainable
outcomes
development of digital y-enabled research in the arts and humanities.
─ Advances research through long-term storage of work, ensuring al documents are easily retrievable.
─ Provides teaching material as wel as teaching opportunities to develop digital research skil s.
─ Directly contributes to the understanding of the cultural, economic, social and political life in Europe.
.
17

Case study 5: existing international HASS research
infrastructure
Europeana Collections

Project overview
Europeana Collections propels research in the HASS sector through digital infrastructure targeted at cultural collaboration.
Objectives
• Europeana Col ections aims to transform the world with culture by making it easier for people to use and access Europe’s rich heritage whether for work, for learning or
entertainment.
• To extend the reach and impact of existing assets to ensure ongoing relevance and support for and understanding of creative achievements and the endeavour it seeks to
build on Europe’s rich heritage and make it easier for people to use and access, whether for work, for learning or just for fun.
• It aims to do this through innovative aggregation infrastructure, improved metadata quality, ef icient distribution infrastructure and increased quantity of resources.
Problem being addressed
Solution proposed
Europeana allows researchers to showcase collections in blogs, galleries, online
Researchers struggle to promote and distribute their research without
exhibitions and campaigns and benefit from Europeana's active follower base on
publication.
social media to reach mil ions of citizens across Europe. This helps them reach new
audiences and make collections available for reuse within research, education and
the creative industries. It also centralises research in one location, making it more
accessible.
It is hard to collaborate between researchers across Europe- due to
Al ows researchers to communicate with validated, like-minded industry
geography and uncertainty of the value and expertise of dif erent
professionals of the Europeana Network Association to solve common issues.
researchers.
Sharing on Europeana Collections ensures that all material is data compliant with
There is a fear amongst HASS researches that their work wil not be
the Europeana Data Model. The EDM specifies the data types and obligations of the
properly attributed and potentially exploited if they share it and relinquish
research values accepted on the infrastructure. It also provides a digital system that
their control over their content.
validates data based on its adherence to these standards.
Description:
• Europeana Col ections was established in 2009. It acted as the replacement to the European Digital Library Network, aimed to be a cross-border, cross-domain, user-
centred research service. The project wil be expanded to Europeana Pro (in beta round).
• It provides access to over 50 mil ion digitised items – books, music, artworks and more – with sophisticated search and filter tools to help you find what you’re looking for,
from over 3000 dif erent institutions.
• It groups col ections thematical y (e.g. by art, fashion, music, photography or historic event), with each collection containing extended galleries, blogs, articles and exhibitions
that aim to inform users and to inspire future research.
19

Response to criteria
The project meets the proposed hurdle and evaluative criteria for national HASS infrastructure investment and could be
considered a valuable investment due to its success and scope for future collaboration and expansion.
Criteria
Response
Objectives are clear and a wide need can be
• Europeana Collections bring together the organisations that have great content with the people and sectors that want to research, share and
demonstrated across institutions and / or
create new things.
across disciplines
• It has clear priority areas that intersect across the HASS sector:
• Namely, academic research, creative industries, cultural heritage institutions, education, advocacy, campaigns, standardisation
tools, projects.
Scale
• Europeana is an initiative of the European Union, co-financed by the European Union’s Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) and European
• Number of investments
Union Member States. It has has received 15 CEF grants totalling 7.5 mil ion euro, in the past 2 years.
• Each new round of grants enables the infrastructure to fund dif erent research projects that improve the content on Europeana Collections,
allowing for better access to and reuse of new types of data through the platform. This has allowed the available collection to continually
expand, with 50 mil ion digitised items, and within this over 13 mil ion images licensed for re-use.
• Europeana works with thousands of European archives, libraries and museums to share cultural heritage for enjoyment, education and
Size and nature of public benefit
research.
• National / international significance and / or
• The infrastructure understands the importance of creative collaboration and teamwork on innovation and pushes users to utilise
innovation.
technological innovation and make cultural resources a part of everyday life. For example, the infrastructure offers the ‘Europeana
• Enables innovation in research outcomes
Transcribathon’, which encourages users to decipher, transcribe and annotate handwrit en stories. The Europeana 1914-1918 collection
has a total of 52,100 documents- because of this initiative 14,175 have been completed and 15,583 are in the process of being transcribed.
Need for (continued) national investment
• The catalyst for Europeana was set in a letter from Jacques Chirac to the European Commission and premiers from across Europe in
• Why there is a gap
2005, that recommended the importance of the creation of a digital European library- to make Europe’s cultural heritage accessible to all.
• Who is active in this space
• Europeana operates in the same space as the European Research Infrastructure Consortium, and adds value with its culturally rich focus.
• Existing / potential collaboration
• The ERICs, linked to Europeana Collections via the European Commission, act as potential collaborators.
• At its core, Europeana Collections aims to be accessible to all who seek to use its services. It is available in over 27 language and
Meets other requirements
completely free.
• Access
• Beyond this, since 2016 Europeana Collections facilitates the process of conducting research through an annual research grant program
• Co-investment
(up to 8,000 euro) that aims to support early career scholars in the the Humanities undertaking innovative research projects that reuse
openly licensed Europeana data and digital tools. innovation through also Beyond this, it offers grant funding streams to encourage future
innovation and research in the cultural sector.
20

Project implementation and impact
Europeana Collections implements effective digital infrastructure that allows for functional changes in the conducting of cultural
research and simultaneously provides structures / resources to measure the positive outcomes it enables.
• Meta-aggregator and display space for European digitised works.
• Data publication platform: that connects, links and shares researchers content.
Implemented new and effective
• HASS discovery platform: online access to a vast store of books, photos and paintings to television
research infrastructure
broadcasts and 3D objects.
• HASS data funding platform: provides users with various funding strategies and an incubation process for
cultural heritage products.
• Enables the user to explore 58,780,359 artworks, artefacts, books, films and music from European
museums, gal eries, libraries and archives.
• The digital objects that users can find in Europeana are not stored on a central computer, but remain with
The investment may have
the cultural institution and are hosted on their networks.
functional change
• Enables users to share content, link it to thousands of other col ections and have that content accessible
to new audiences to reuse in research, education and creative industries.
• Crowdsourcing initiatives enable users to transcribe digital material and help solidify the vast ful y digital
record of events.
• Accessible to many across Europe due to the multilingual keyword search function.
• Europeana Col ections have positive outcomes for the easy distribution of information, col aboration of
researches and digitization and preservation of literary, artistic and cultural resources.
• Moreover, the infrastructure provides an ‘Impact Playbook’ that advertises the cultural heritage sector and
Europeana Collections has had
also provides researchers with tools to measure their own impact. In this way, it also plays an integral part
positive outcomes
in educating the research sector.
─ The ‘Change Pathway’ tool, that connects activities and outputs of an organisation with outcomes,
─ The ‘Empathy Map’ a col aborative tool that grants deeper insight into stakeholders,
─ The ‘Strategic Perspectives’ tool, which provides strategic contexts for decision making, on what is to
be measured and why it needs to be measured.
21

Case study 6: prospective Australian HASS
research infrastructure
National Ethics Approval Portal

Project overview
The National Ethics Approval Portal wil  streamline the process for ethics approval across Australian jurisdictions and wil  be
integral to facilitated HASS research, particularly in sectors that intersect with policy.
Objectives
• The objective of a National Ethics Approval Portal would be to enable more ef icient and more cross-jurisdictional research in government set ings and engaging
with government clients. For example, it could span research applications from users of public health and human services, teachers, students, police of icers,
prisoners etc.
Problem being addressed
Solution proposed
The need to complete multiple ethics approval processes for dif erent
Proposes a standardised national approach with common base application
jurisdictions is a dis-incentive to research crossing jurisdictional borders-
standards- accounting for regional and remote variation.
restricting existing research to narrow scope.
There is a missed opportunity to maximise the face that dif erent
Implement a common portal / clearing house that allows researchers to submit
Australian jurisdictions have dif erent policy settings, and to be able to
all applications through the one location, to encourage researchers to conduct
compare and contrast the advantages / disadvantages of those. E.g. a
more cross-jurisdictional research.
common argument for federation is that it creates a natural basis for good
experimentation- however, this is complicated by the current processes.
There are opportunities for automation to make the process more efficient and
From an process perspective, it is very expensive and labour intensive
less expensive. For example, a national portal could provide preliminary
(for researchers and jurisdictions processing applications). In terms of
assessments to researchers completing the application of the risk level (if it is
economies of scale, and considering the processes occurring in 8 states /
targeting high needs group) and triage the information to inform researchers on
territories, the process is not effective.
application status and expected completion of the review (with identification of
what departments are reviewing what documents).
Description:
• [Provide and overview of the organisation that wil  help set it up, who wil  invest, which states might pilot the program [in which sector], etc]
• It is a HASS project as most research in policy set ing will be in sociology, criminology, psychology, public policy, economic, behavioural science, education,
public health etc- al  of which may require ethics approval.
23

Response to criteria
An standardised National Ethics Approval Portal  adheres to both the baseline requirements for all NRI investments, and
the evaluative criteria, and could be considered a high value proposal for investment.
Criteria
Response
• There is a process barrier to efficiency in lots of HASS research because of the lack of a standard approach.
Objectives are clear and a wide need can be
• It would be too great an investment for any one institution (e.g. a university) to make because it would require the coordination of
demonstrated across institutions and / or across
wide range of actors. Further, it is too much for one jurisdiction because cross-jurisdictional research is of less interest and
disciplines
significance to the one jurisdiction.
Scale
• Taking an assumption driven approach:  one jurisdiction (Victoria) with 2 full-time staff members (approx. 80 hours a week) working in
• Number of investments
approving ethics requests for education research; these workers process 20 apps per week /1000 per annum; across 8 jurisdictions,
totalling 8000 research applications per annum. Simplifying this process would not only cut the cost of workers and make it more efficient
but  would likely increase the number of applications undertaken a year due to the increased appeal of the process.
Size and nature of public benefit
• The public has a specific interest in research being done within a government setting / context- not only as it allows for standardised
• National / international significance and / or
control and maintenance / adherence to the national values but it also ensures that research is being done with a policy lens applied to it-
innovation.
increasing its chance to have an impact.
• Enables innovation in research outcomes
• On a national level, there is benefit in cross-jurisdictional research in building innovative  research questions that have a direct impact on
Australian policy. For example, if one state has implemented a policy lever, and the others have not, a cross-jurisdictional review can
compare the consequences of the dif erent settings to assess their utility
Need for (continued) national investment
• It is a collective action problem. There is no one actor that is sufficiently incentivised to undertake this project alone- rather investment
• Why there is a gap
requires coordination and a standard setting.
• Who is active in this space
• However, this may be initially extremely dif icult to set up. The government could look to pilot the program in specific jurisdictions and sectors
• Existing / potential collaboration
and expand it depending on success.
Meets other requirements
• Access would remain the same to all that currently involved in ethics approval processes for research (open access)- the only retaining
• Access
caveat is that the process does not guarantee that applications are successful, it only streamlines the process (and may help ensure all
• Co-investment
relevant documents are included)).
• There is scope for co-investment at an early stage. For example, if you can convince the Vic DET that there wil  be 20 hours saving a week of
staff time, and you can expand this to every sector (justice; human services etc), then you have scope for co-investment.
24

Project implementation and impact
If successfully implemented, a National Ethics Approval Portal would bring beneficial functional change to the conducting of all
HASS research in Australia that requires ethics approval.
There is scope for new and
• There is an online national portal for schools right now but practical y speaking, every jurisdiction has their
effective Ethics Approval
own process.
infrastructure
• [Need to specify specific infrastructure to achieve objectives]
• Less of a barrier to doing cross-jurisdictional research.
The investment may have
─ It is faster / more efficient
functional change
─ It is cheaper
─ The application process is more consistent
National Ethics Approval
• It has scope to have positive outcomes in research in sociology, criminology, psychology, public policy,
infrastructure could have many
economic, behavioural science, education, public health.
positive outcomes
• [Need to include more outcomes]
25

Case study 7: prospective Australian HASS
research infrastructure
HASS Lab

Project overview
HASS Lab is a storehouse for historical HASS data and research, an active research platform for the progression and
dissemination of current research, and a collaboration space for all HASS researchers.
Objectives
The objective for HASS Lab is to be the ‘one stop shop’ for HASS research stores and col aboration in Australia. It is a national archive of all significant HASS
research and data, a platform for current researchers to build on and share their work, and a col aboration space for researchers to join up with others and form
cross-institution, cross-disciplinary partnerships on topics of mutual interest.
Problem being addressed
Solution proposed
Lack of online collaboration space and tools for HASS researchers,
Cloud-based col aboration space for researchers that al ows them to
preventing effective research partnerships, reinforcing the ‘lone wolf’
easily discuss their research, find partnerships with others, and take
trend, and causing inef iciencies in Australian research.
advantage of a range of col aboration tools available as part of HASS
Lab.
Lack of comprehensive national store for past, present and future
Cloud-based research storage platform with both historical stores and
HASS data and research – including research currently being
active research currently being undertaken. It includes tools and APIs
conducted – and acts as a ‘one stop shop’ for HASS researchers.
that make HASS Lab data and research stores useable to a wide range
of research partners.
Description:
The ”HASS Lab” is a data and col aboration platform, widely accessible by a consortium of universities and their research staff. It is both a historical store of data
and research, and an active research platform for new content to be frequently added. This al ows researchers from multiple disciplines to join up and conduct broad
and dif erent research around topics of interest.
27

Response to criteria
Criteria
Response
• The objective for HASS Lab is to join up as many Australian universities (and other relevant institutions) as possible through one cloud-
Objectives are clear and a wide need can be
based research storehouse and collaboration site. This would increase the dissemination, access, collaboration and impact of this
demonstrated across institutions and / or across
research. There is currently no central, universal repository for historical research, no storehouse for current, cutting-edge research, and
disciplines
no platform for collaboration across institutions or across disciplines (with the exception of ad hoc message boards).
• The HASS Lab would be one of the most ambitious NRI investments in humanities and social sciences in Australian history. It would offer
Scale
every Australian university the opportunity to join one single collaboration platform, providing the researchers at each the access to
• Number of investments
colleagues and research from the others.  The HASS Lab could also be linked to other Australian organisations with an interest in HASS
research. It has the potential to be the one stop shop for all HASS research and researchers in Australia.
Size and nature of public benefit
• National / international significance and / or
• The HASS Lab would be an Australian first. It would put the nation, its universities and its researchers on par with the leading international
innovation.
jurisdictions. [Provide examples of innovation in research outcomes].
• Enables innovation in research outcomes
Need for (continued) national investment
• The HASS Lab would benefit a very large number of Australian universities and other institutions, but the project is too broad to be
• Why there is a gap
delivered by one partner. There is a role for the government to be both the initial investor and the project manager, brokering access and
• Who is active in this space
leading development, after which they could get a return on that investment through platform access fees by universities and other
• Existing / potential collaboration
partners.
• The HASS Lab is a generational step change in Australian research and research collaboration. Collaboration should begin almost
immediately. However, is likely to take years to get the system fully developed and integrated with partner universities. It will take yet
more time for historical data and research to be audited and uploaded in standard, searchable and accessible formats.
Meets other requirements
• Al  Australian universities, their researchers and potentially their students would have access to HASS Lab. Other partners would be
• Access
considered for access on a case-by-case basis. Al  Australian universities wishing to partner with HASS Lab would need to co-invest in
• Co-investment
the development, ongoing maintenance and ongoing improvement of the platform. The HASS Lab proposal has a fully developed change
management, risk management, and asset management plan.
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Project implementation and impact
HASS Lab wil be a once-in-a-generation infrastructure investment in HASS research outcomes in Australia, putting our
universities, their research and their research on a shared platform on par with the best in the world.
Proposed research infrastructure
• Cloud based col aboration space for researchers from multiple disciplines.
to be implemented
• Cloud based research platform with active and historical stores.
Proposed functional change of
• Broader linkages between research partners.
the investment
• Aggregation of ef ort on topics of interest.
• Convergence to shared data standards.
• Convergence to shared terminology.
• Increased access to broad stores of historical data and research.
• Increased access to cut ing edge / current data and research.
• Increased capability of sector and its researchers.
• Increased visibility of historical and current research and research trends.
• Making new discoveries through multi-disciplinary approaches to topics of shared interest, such as
Prospective project outcomes
climate change, Islamophobia, populism.
• Breaking down ‘solo model’ of research, maximising dissemination, col aboration, access and impact of
research.
• Increasing value for money and ef iciency from government investment in HASS research and
infrastructure.
• Increasing research col aboration between universities who are partners in the HASS Lab.
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Document Outline