ARC LIEF Linked Semantic Platforms kick-off meeting

APO got started on the Linked Semantic Platforms for Policy and Practice (LSP) project on the 6 March, with a kick-off meeting at the Hawthorn Arts Centre in Melbourne.

Funded by an Australian Research Council (ARC) Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities (LIEF) grant, the LSP project is significant because it aims to revolutionise the way researchers are able to access, and analyse policy documents and data. The main objective of the two-year LSP Project is to develop the next generation of decision-support tools for interdisciplinary research on critical public policy issues.

By applying linked open data, knowledge graphs and collaborations across existing research infrastructure projects, the project will improve interoperability across major social science databases. The ultimate outcome of this project will be the creation of new analytical tools that will transform the research capabilities for evidence-based policy making. The LSP project also aligns closely with the Research Graph pilot project that APO is currently involved with an launching at Research Data Alliance Plenary in Berlin in March. 

The first session brought together most of the CI team including:

• Swinburne University: Professor Jane Farmer, Professor Peter Graham and Professor Timos Sellis
• RMIT University: Professor Julian Thomas and Professor Mark Sanderson
• UniSA: Professor Ian Olver, Professor Maureen Dollard and Professor Susan Luckman
• AURIN: Professor Richard Sinnott
• ADA: Dr Steven McEachern
• UNSW: Associate Professor Catherine Bridge
• and members of the APO team

Other participants were members of the APO project team and Prof Lisa Given from Swinburne University in an advisory capacity. Those unable to make it to this first session from the CI team were: Professor Dr Peter Newton (Swinburne University), Professor Penelope Schofield (Swinburne University), Professor Jago Dodson (RMIT University) and Professor Kerry London (Western Sydney University).

Next steps include an overall project roadmap as well as setting up workplans for various individual elements of the project. We will keep you posted here on the APO blog and via the APO Updates newsletter. A workshop and some events will also be scheduled over the next year.