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DAFNI Newsletter – June 2022

London connected city

We are delighted to invite you to our 2022 conference on the 5th July at the University of Manchester.

This one day conference highlights work on environmental research which involves DAFNI and showcases our involvement in digital twins. This is an excellent opportunity to hear from speakers as well as hear from our research community on the value that DAFNI is providing.

Brian Matthews
We are pleased to announce that the speakers for our event include:
  • Professor Jim Hall, new Commissioner for the National Infrastructure Commission
  • Jonny Wilson, The Environment Agency
  • Mark Enzer, OBE, Centre for Digital Built Britain
  • Professor Robert Nicholls, Director of the Tyndall Centre.
  • Professor Richard Kingston, PI for NERC’s Digital Infrastructure Hub

Our speakers will also include representatives from UKCRIC, OpenCLIM, UCL, the Pyramid Project, University of Cambridge, Scientific Computing Department, STFC, and will cover digital-twin research themed projects such as CReDO climate resilience, energy modelling, and shipping digital twins.

We welcome participation from people in industry, government and research who have an interest in climate analysis, digital twin modelling, simulation, visualisation and data analytics.

The event will showcase the capabilities that DAFNI’s Platform has to offer, and inspire you to use it to revolutionise your infrastructure research and modelling.

Find out more and book your place below. In-person tickets are £50pp and students can book for a special rate of £20pp.
Read on to discover our other news and case studies on the CReDo Climate Resilience Demonstrator and University of Southampton.
 Dr Brian Matthews, DAFNI Project Lead

Contents

  • Book now for the DAFNI Conference 2022: Environmental Impacts 
  • Present a poster at the DAFNI Conference
  • Exhibit at the DAFNI Conference
  • News from our central team:
    > Include DAFNI in your research proposal
    > The CReDo Digital Twin Climate Resilience Demonstrator
    > University of Southampton immersive virtual reality with the DAFNI hardware fund 
  • DAFNI technical training dates
  • Apply for a DAFNI account
  • UKCRIC conference
  • ISNGI conference
  • Constructing a Digital Environment conference
  • Opportunities in the infrastructure community
Book now!
DAFNI Conference,
Tuesday 5 July 2022
Join us for DAFNI’s 2022 Conference, with the theme “Environmental Impacts”.
Manchester
DAFNI has a pivotal role to play in a number of environment projects, including OpenClim and CGFI. We also want to share with you progress we are making in shaping digital twins and how the platform has provided a place for sharing data, modelling and visualisation as part of CDBB’s CReDo project.
 
Book your place as soon as possible to ensure you secure your seat at the conference!
 
In the afternoon, hear from the various research groups using DAFNI.
This is a hybrid conference; attend in person or online. There is a small charge to attend in person, to cover conference costs. 
 
Attend in person to experience:
· Networking during breakfast and coffee breaks
· Deeper conversations with colleagues old and new during lunch
· Opportunity to meet the DAFNI team and the Executive
· See the DAFNI platform in action at our Exhibition stand
· Find out about the latest research projects that DAFNI is involved in
· Engage with our exhibitors during the break times.
 

Present at the DAFNI Conference

Researchers developing their research on the DAFNI Platform are invited to apply to give a Poster Presentation.

If you’re interested in presenting a poster, email info@dafni.ac.uk to find out more.

Woman thinking

Exhibit at the DAFNI Conference

We have a small number of exhibition spaces.

If you would like to find out more and request a space, please contact Marion Samler, DAFNI Partnership Manager.

people brainstorming

News from our central team

Calling all researchers who are submitting a proposal to Research Councils

Joint Electronic Submissions (Je-S)

DAFNI has been added to the Joint Electronic Submission (Je-S) grant submission system and you will see us listed as a new facility which can be added to your grant proposal.

If your grant application requires novel workflows or you have particular requirements we would advise a conversation prior to submission. This is so we can advise accordingly. Look forward to joining your proposals.

Contact: marion.samler@stfc.ac.uk

The CReDO Digital Twin Climate Resilience Demonstrator

In this case study, read how DAFNI is central to the Climate Resilience Demonstrator (CReDo), a groundbreaking digital twin project funded by BEIS through CDBB.

 

The project relies on highly sensitive data from a variety of infrastructure operators, shared safely and securely, in a platform where they can collaborate and work on that data.
CReDo visualisation
DAFNI, the Data & Analytics Platform for National Infrastructure, was selected as the critical platform which allows the likes of BT, Anglian Water, and national power networks to share their sensitive datasets.
CReDo is connecting digital twins across infrastructure and services (a systems-based approach) to demonstrate how connected data and greater access to the right information can improve climate adaptation and resilience. The systems based approach is necessary because of cascade effects: flooding could cause loss of power which in turn can impact communications infrastructure.

The University of Southampton: immersive virtual reality

This case study highlights how the University of Southampton is using equipment purchased with the DAFNI hardware funds in a “VR cave” to try out scenarios and model human behaviour in a way that simply would not be safe to do in real-world situations.
 
The VR cave is being used to research the impact of drone use on provision of health services in the UK; to model and visualise very detailed aspects of driving behaviour; and to model a more friendly road infrastructure for pedestrians and cyclists.
Uni Southampton virtual reality equipment

Simon Blainey explains, “Displaying those scenarios in the VR cave allows people to interact with those simulations, to try and navigate the specific awkward situations, and gauge how people would respond in various scenarios.”

Ben Waterson adds, “Our next project is focused on pure visualisation and will use a large touch-sensitive table with multi-point control, also funded by the DAFNI hardware monies. Rather than having a keyboard or mouse we will have a giant map on the table for people to interact with it and the information will appear on the walls of the VR cave”.

DAFNI technical training

A great opportunity to get up to speed quickly on DAFNI and to ask our technical experts your burning questions.  Our regular technical training events on DAFNI are available to book via Eventbrite.

DAFNI training graphic
  • 20th July 2022
  • 7th September 2022
  • 2nd November 2022
    For more information and to book, please visit: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/dafni-31793198351.
    Questionnaire

    Apply for a DAFNI account

    To request your account, please go to the DAFNI website and complete the short questionnaire

    Apply now

    UKCRIC is ‘open for business’ 

    UKCRIC held a one-day conference on 17th May to highlight how its network of facilities across the UK is helping researchers in academia and industry to further their R&D.
    We were delighted that DAFNI’s partnership manager, Marion Samler, was invited to talk about DAFNI and how it is supporting industry.
    people at conference
    Marion also highlighted DAFNI’s work at the heart of the Climate Resilience Demonstrator, known as CReDo. This is a pioneering project to develop, for the first time in the UK, a digital twin across key services networks to provide a practical example of how connected-data and greater access to the right information can improve climate adaptation and resilience.
    Marion Samler at UKCRIC conference
    ISNGI 2022 image
    🗓️ 7th-9th September 2022
    📍Rotterdam
    🎟️ http://isngi.org
    Join the International Symposium for Next Generation Infrastructure (ISNGI) in the Netherlands.  
    UKCRIC is a founder partner of the event

    ISNGI 2022 provides a platform for infrastructure systems research and practice, especially for transdisciplinary research which seeks to conceptualize, enact and model an integrative approach and make a system-of-systems view to infrastructure operational. ISNGI 2022 invites contributions from leading academics, industry leaders and government representatives. 

    “Constructing a Digital Environment” Conference

    🗓️ 11th and 12th July 2022
    📍University of Birmingham
    🎟️ Free Registration and abstract submission at: https://digitalenvironment.org/conference-2022
    **Why attend? **
    Constructing a Digital Environment leaflet

    This event brings together the UKRI & NERC research community in highlighting the increasing role of digital technologies in environmental research, spotlighting outcomes from the Digital Environment Demonstrators, exploring methods and tools for assessing, analysing, monitoring and forecasting the state of the natural environment at higher spatial and temporal resolutions than previously possible, as well as the activities of the Digital Environment Expert Network.

    Keynote speakers include Dr. David Green, Program manager for NASA’s Earth Science Applied Sciences Wildfires program area.

     

    The conference seeks to:
    💡Spark new collaborations, new ideas and innovative approaches in utilising technology and digital resources in environmental research

    It will spotlight activities, interlinking technologies and advances in environmental understanding across the following themes:
    💡Analytical tools & data management for environmental science
    💡Data digitisation, rescue, & re-purposing for environmental decision making;
    💡Sensing the Environment
    💡Law and Ethics in the Digital Environment

    14th June 2022