National Computational Infrastructure

Strengthening Australia’s research infrastructure ecosystem 🤝

NCI’s Dr Hanah Rodríguez joined colleagues from across the NCRIS community at the AeRO session “Aligning Enterprise IT with National Research Infrastructure”.

Together with partners across national research infrastructure, the session highlighted how Australia’s national supercomputing capabilities (NCI and Pawsey Supercomputing Research Centre), data platforms and digital services work together to support researchers and institutions nationwide.

A great opportunity to build stronger connections between institutional IT and the national capabilities powering Australian research. 🇦🇺

🌏 What if we could see Australia’s future climate before it happens?

Researchers are using advanced climate models to simulate how Australia’s weather and climate extremes may change, helping build a clearer picture of future risks, from extreme heat to flooding and coastal impacts.

Powered by NCI’s HPCD, and expertise, the Australian Climate Service is turning vast climate datasets into actionable insights to support climate adaptation and resilience across the nation.

Read more: https://nci.org.au/research/case-studies/supporting-a-better-understanding-australias-climate-risks

**Haven't had a chance to read our 2025 Annual Report yet?!

Dive in to see how Australia's sovereign supercomputing infrastructure supported a year of record demand and breakthrough research. From climate science and AI to genomics and health, discover how NCI enabled more than 8,300 researchers to tackle some of the nation's biggest scientific challenges.

Behind every climate forecast, every medical breakthrough, every map of the universe, there’s infrastructure making it possible.
NCI exists to make sure Australian researchers have what they need to tackle the problems that matter most. Not just computing power, but the expertise, the data, and the support to go further.
Our 2025 Annual Report is out. It’s the story of what happens when a nation invests in its research future.

🔗 Read full report here :https://nci.org.au/sites/default/files/annual-reports/2026-06/NCI%20Annual%20Report%202025%20final.pdf

Featured on 9News: What's making this year's El Niño more intense? 🌊
Powered by NCI's supercomputing, Professor Matthew England's research reveals the hidden ocean warming beneath the Pacific that could shape Australia's climate in the months ahead.

Watch the full video here:

Warming ocean to make El Nino hotter, longer The climate driver will gain strength over coming months, thanks to a spike in subsurface Pacific Ocean temperature

✨🧠 **What if AI could help us see the earliest signs of neurological disease, before symptoms appear?** ✨

Researchers at ANU are using generative AI and NCI’s Gadi supercomputer to reconstruct diseased brain regions into realistic healthy anatomy, creating a powerful new way to study how conditions like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson develop.

🔬 The research could help overcome one of medical imaging’s biggest challenges: detecting subtle brain changes earlier while preserving patient privacy.

✨ Read more : https://nci.org.au/research/research-highlights/how-hpc-powered-ai-could-transform-early-detection-brain-disease

What happens when the global HPC, AI and quantum community comes together in Hamburg?

Last month, NCI’s Daniel Rodwell and team joined international peers at ISC High Performance 2026, immersed in a week of conversations, collaboration, and cutting-edge ideas across high performance computing, artificial intelligence, and quantum technologies.

From advances in scalable computing to the push for more sustainable digital infrastructure, ISC 2026 showcased what’s next for the global research computing ecosystem. A standout moment was the “HPC around the world: Asia” session, chaired by the National Supercomputing Centre Singapore, which highlighted the strong momentum and continued investment in HPC and AI capabilities across the region.

In true ISC spirit, it was a week of sharing ideas, strengthening connections, and seeing first-hand how global infrastructure is shaping the future of research.
ISC High Performance returns to Hamburg in the week of 7–11 June 2027.

Celebrating 20 years of NCRIS 🎉

The NCRIS@20 Symposium brought together Australia’s research community to reflect on two decades of nationally coordinated research infrastructure, and to look ahead to the future we are building together !!

Across all sessions, one idea stood out: NCRIS is not just a collection of facilities, it is a coordinated ecosystem that enables discovery, connects disciplines, and helps translate research into impact.

From discussions on A Healthier Australia, it was clear how research infrastructure ultimately underpins human outcomes, from urgent medical challenges to long-term improvements in healthcare. Another key theme was the importance of integration at scale 🌏. Whether in Earth system science or global collaborations, complex challenges require coordinated capability and shared national infrastructure. Sessions on controlling matter and powering Australia highlighted how emerging fields like quantum, energy, and space are rapidly moving from future ambition to active research frontiers, enabled by sustained investment in infrastructure and expertise.

A consistent thread throughout was that research infrastructure works best as a team sport 🤝 bringing together facilities, researchers, and government to support end-to-end research journeys.
The “Choose Your Own Research Adventure” session reinforced this, showcasing how NCRIS enables flexible, evolving research pathways designed around researcher needs.

Finally, discussions on the 2026 NRI Roadmap highlighted the importance of understanding future research demand and ensuring infrastructure continues to evolve with national priorities.

At NCI, it was a strong reminder that our role sits within a much larger coordinated ecosystem, one that is continually shaped by collaboration, foresight, and the needs of researchers.

🎉 Celebrating 20 years of NCRIS!

NCI Director Professor Andrew Rohl joined colleagues from ARDC, AAL, AAF and Pawsey for an interactive session at the NCRIS Symposium, celebrating two decades of NCRIS and its impact on Australian research. 👏

Andrew spoke about how NCI and Pawsey Supercomputing Research Centre help researchers tackle complex problems using national supercomputing resources, specialist expertise, and data collections and curation services. He also highlighted how researchers can access these capabilities through the National Computational Merit Allocation Scheme (NCMAS) and the importance of ongoing national investment in research infrastructure. 🚀