Research infrastructure connecting land and sea
Coastal Research Infrastructure (CoastRI) is an initiative of the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS)
Thank you for your participation in the coastal research infrastructure (CoastRI) survey and interest in this initiative. Last week the 2023 funding allocations for the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS) were announced and we are pleased to report that we received funds to support consultation to develop a proposal for CoastRI to be submitted to NCRIS in 2024. We have also received some funds for initial investments in coastal observing and modelling infrastructure.
What is happening?
A collaboration of up to 13 NCRIS capabilities are working to design CoastRI. The partner capabilities include environmental observations, data delivery and compute, genomics and elemental analyses, health and wellbeing, and modelling. A full list of partners can be found on the CoastRI web site: https://www.coastri.org.au/.
We are currently conducting meetings with end-users to understand their priorities and needs from coastal infrastructure. These needs will inform the scope and scale of the program. The objective of this national consulting is to identify common gaps, areas of need, and opportunities to value-add to or leverage off existing programs.
Discussions are currently underway with state agencies and we are working to progress consultation with industry, First Nations Peoples and others. We are also assembling an independent scientific committee to help review and endorse the proposed program of work.
In conjunction with end-user needs analysis we will be conducting science meetings to explore how we could meet the identified needs and create benefit at regional and national scales.
What is the timeline?
The 2024 funding round is anticipated to occur mid-2024. With that in mind the intent is to have a full proposal compiled by May 2024.
We will continue to keep you updated as consultation progresses.