DAFNI Newsletter, November 2025

Strategy has always been fundamental to DAFNI and we have been busy preparing for our upcoming Strategy Board meeting in the new year. As part of this, we are continuing to build momentum for our DSIT-funded Data Infrastructure for National Infrastructure (DINI) project and are looking for support from our community. If you are interested in supporting this statement of need, please contact us info@dafni.ac.uk.

Our feature case study this month is USARIS (Uncertainty quantification and Sensitivity Analysis for Resilient Infrastructure Systems). Led by Dr Francesca Pianosi of University of Bristol, the USARIS project set out the foundations for integrating functionalities for Uncertainty Quantification and Sensitivity Analysis (UQ&SA) into the DAFNI platform. It developed a range of pilot applications of UQ&SA for infrastructure models, and produced training materials to inform and educate industry, policymakers and early career researchers about the importance of uncertainty and sensitivity analysis, and how to apply it in practice.

The first stage of our OpenLAND project is now underway, we are working with UK academics to upload their data and models onto the DAFNI platform. To learn more, please read the project update below in our partnerships section. 

We’re also pleased to announce that our new website will launch in December, and will include a showcase of our Centre of Excellence research, originally funded by UKRI.

 Dr Brian Matthews, DAFNI Programme Lead

The Fellows programme launches on the 12th of December, with applications closing on 4 February 2026. For more information, sign up for our webinar taking place on 21st of January at 12pm.

Mathematical modelling is increasingly used to inform decisions in a variety of sectors, from flood risk management to energy planning, and from UK government decisions to EU policy level. 

The USARIS project (Uncertainty quantification and Sensitivity Analysis for Resilient Infrastructure Systems) has developed a toolkit to allow researchers and analysts to improve understanding of uncertainty in infrastructure models. Government and industry in the infrastructure sector can use this toolkit to put model results into context and to use model predictions in a more appropriate and responsible way.

Infrastructure projects cost billions of pounds and take years or even decades to plan and build. USARIS work will help to ensure that infrastructure systems are better suited to future demands and needs by identifying key uncertainties present in scenario building.

The USARIS project is led by Dr Francesca Pianosi, Associate Professor in Water and Environmental Engineering, and Saskia Salwey, Research Associate, both in the School of Civil, Aerospace and Design Engineering at the University of Bristol. *Saskia is now a postdoctoral researcher at Utrecht University.

Click to download or read the full case study

Our first webinar of 2026 is ‘DAFNI Fellows’ on the 21st of January 2026 at 12pm.

We will cover the DAFNI Fellowship announcement of opportunity in more detail, discussing what the fellowship involves, funding available, application process, high level programme goals, the duration of the fellowship and eligibility. In addition, we will cover frequently asked questions and allocate time for questions from attendees.

If you are interested in this event please sign up the event here.

The DAFNI Fellows will launch on 12th of December at midday. If you have any questions, please email  info@dafni.ac.uk

Watch our past webinars: Webinars – DAFNI

Catch up on conferences and interviews on our YouTube channel: DAFNI Facility – YouTube

Partnership News

The Computing Insight UK (CIUK) event runs from 3rd – 5th December in Manchester.

We are pleased to announce our DSIT funded project ‘Data Infrastructure for National Infrastructure’ (DINI) will be showcased at the event. Tom Kirkham (DAFNI Science Lead) will be there on the day to discuss the poster and take any questions.

It’s not too late to sign up, click to view more information and registration details.

The theme for the conference is Computing Unites.

The conference will include two full days of presentations about high performance computing and associated science and research, alongside the CIUK exhibition with 50 exhibitors showcasing the latest hardware and software releases.  A series of parallel breakout sessions will explore the latest “hot topics” and include some relevant user group meetings.

The Computing Insight UK (CIUK) event runs from 3rd – 5th December in Manchester.

We are pleased to announce our DSIT funded project ‘Data Infrastructure for National Infrastructure’ (DINI) will be showcased at the event. Tom Kirkham (DAFNI Science Lead) will be there on the day to discuss the poster and take any questions.

It’s not too late to sign up, click to view more information and registration details.

The theme for the conference is Computing Unites.

The conference will include two full days of presentations about high performance computing and associated science and research, alongside the CIUK exhibition with 50 exhibitors showcasing the latest hardware and software releases.  A series of parallel breakout sessions will explore the latest “hot topics” and include some relevant user group meetings.

UrbanAIR partners visit Rutherford Appleton Laboratory 

On Wednesday 26th November, DAFNI and STFC welcomed 18 UrbanAIR partners to the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL) at Harwell Campus. This visit followed the two-day consortium meeting at Imperial College London and included colleagues from TU Delft, the lead institution for the project.

The day was designed to showcase the cutting-edge work taking place at Harwell, highlight the pivotal role of the DAFNI platform, and strengthen collaboration across Europe.

The visit began at RAL Space, where Michelle Hamilton, Earth Observation Lead, shared insights into current research being executed at RAL Space, Professor Femke Vossepoel (TU Delft) introduced the UrbanAIR project, followed by Wendy Garland, Senior Environmental Data Scientist, who presented an overview of the Centre for Environmental Data Analysis (CEDA).

Guests also toured the Satellite Integration and Testing facilities and experienced the innovative PufferSphere display.

The afternoon featured a tour of the data centre, a presentation on DAFNI by Bethan Perkins, DAFNI Group Lead, visits to the Central Laser Facility, offering a closer look at world-class research infrastructure.

This event not only celebrated the collaborative spirit of UrbanAIR but showcased Harwell Campus’s role as a hub for innovation and international partnership.

User liasion news

OpenLAND is a three-year project that builds on DAFNI’s previous work on OpenCLIM. It focuses on exploring how changes in UK land use could support net zero goals, soil health, biodiversity, and agriculture. 

The project is being delivered in collaboration with researchers from the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research and the School of Environmental Sciences at the University of East Anglia (UEA), as well as partners from UKCEH, Newcastle University, and Sayers & Partners.

OpenLAND will quantify the implications of land interventions on soil carbon and health, biodiversity, agriculture, and flood risk, while exploring the synergies and trade-offs between interventions. Potential land use interventions include ecosystem restoration and sustainable agriculture.

The first stage of the project is now underway, and we are working closely with the modellers to make sure all outputs and models are stored on DAFNI in a way that supports future reuse.

The most recent paper published by one of the partners can be found here: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jfr3.70151

DAFNI Platform features and updates

We are pleased to announce that since the release of basic user accounts onto the platform, we have received over 80 registrations for this new account type. As of this month, users with a basic user account can also access our workflows catalogue alongside the previously accessible data and models catalogues. As we continue to upgrade the DAFNI platform web application, users with basic user accounts will be able to access more of the site.

This month we also held our latest Technical User Group meeting, a quarterly meeting between the platform technical team and a group of technical users, sharing platform updates and ideas for future development. There were some very useful discussions and suggestions, including reviewing our plans around how users will access workflow logs through the web application in the near future, and a look at our visualisation tools and which possible changes could bring the most benefit to the platform. The input we receive from the technical user group is extremely useful in ensuring that, as the platform develops, it continues to meet the needs of our users.

DAFNI researchers’ speaking engagements

Get involved with Professor Qiuchen Lu and put forward a book chapter for “Digital Twins in the Built Environment”, aiming to document the latest theories, best practices, and technological advancements in leveraging DTs to advance the SDGs globally. Qiuchen and co editors are working with Emerald Publishing and ICE Publishing on this edition, aiming to document the latest theories, best practices, and technological advancements in leveraging DTs to advance the SDGs globally.

Submit a chapter title and abstract by the 15th December 2025 (Dr. Jiayi Yan, University of Cambridge, jy547@cam.ac.uk)

We are pleased to work with Qiuchen and Professor Tao Cheng on the IMPACT project (Improving flood disruPted road networks with a dynamic people-Centric digital Twins), find out more here.

Congratulations Dr Fabian Steinmann on showcasing the MARS (Modelling Aviation Resilience Scenarios) work and wider research on addressing long-term resilience for civil aviation during a trip to New Zealand in November!  

The event was organised by the ITF (International Transport Forum at the OECD) in partnership with the New Zealand Ministry of Transport.

It brought together representatives from industry, government, and academia to explore how civil aviation resilience challenges can be addressed at the national and international governance levels.

Click to read more about the MARS project.

DAFNI Technical training

A great opportunity to get up to speed quickly on DAFNI and to ask our technical experts your burning questions. Especially recommended for those developing a research proposal and are thinking of including DAFNI as the platform of choice for the research.
Our technical training events (Wednesdays, 1:30pm-4:30pm) are available to book via Eventbrite (see weblink below).
Next training date: 4 February 2026

To attend the event you will need experience of entering code through a command line interface, for more information and to book, please visit: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/dafni-31793198351

Access our help

Please contact us directly for any assistance on info@dafni.ac.uk

Project ACCORD (A Community for Contract Regulation for Data) are currently building their communityThis is an initiative from the National Federated Compute Services – NetworkPlus which seeks to bring together communities from across the UK and across disciplines, working together on a federated approach to a Digital Research Infrastructure (DRI).

If you are interested in finding out more, visit: https://nfcs-networkplus.ac.uk/

If you’d like to join the community and be kept up to date, sign up here.

In partnership with the Built Environment Connective, UKCRIC Services (formally UKCRIC Limited) has launched the first listing of UK courses that apply systems thinking to the built environment to improve and create buildings, infrastructure, and human-made constructions.

Read the prospectus on courses including BA and MA degrees at: https://www.ukcric.com/media/g4alnckn/stbe-prospectus_september-2025_final.pdf

In September 2025, the Computational Science Centre for Research Communities (CoSeC) ran a workshop. The sessions revolved around four key themes: Qualitative Algorithms, Community, Hardware, and Quantitative Practice and was designed to share knowledge and start conversations around making energy-efficient choices.

CoSeC enables and supports collaborative computational research communities that are funded across UKRI. It has a mission to deliver research software as an infrastructure in order to enable world-class UK research and innovation.

A multi-disciplinary approach to embedding energy-efficient computing practices: Outcomes from our Energy Efficient Computing Workshop