APO Research: Linked Semantic Platforms project

Helping researchers explore the policy space

The digital world is growing at an exponential pace from two billion objects in 2006 to a projected 200 billion by 2020. What is often overlooked in discussions of Big Data is that an estimated 80-90% of the data in any organisation is to be found in ‘unstructured data’, text files, PDFs, presentations, webpages etc, and that this is growing faster than structured data. With a deluge of unstructured documents and diverse data to sift through and analyse, researchers working on multidisciplinary public policy issues urgently need new digital research methods and integrated data solutions if they are to provide the evidence needed to have an impact on policy decisions and practices.

Read the project announcement: APO project brings $2m boost to connected platforms for public policy

From documents to data

To maximise the benefits of textual materials, a comprehensive, multidisciplinary knowledge base is needed, along with intelligent online analytic infrastructure and cutting-edge semantic knowledge systems. This will enable university researchers, as well those in government industry and civil society to analyse the wealth of information and explore the relationships and connections between diverse entities in a way that is not currently possible. 

‘This research project is an opportunity to leverage the latest in technology, to deliver research infrastructure that will help our researchers collect, connect and discover the research world at a whole new level.’

Lead Chief Investigator, Professor Jane Farmer, Swinburne University of Technology

Expected outcomes

The Linked Semantic Platforms Research project aims to develop the next generation of decision-support tools for interdisciplinary research on critical public policy issues and to find new understanding through collecting, connecting and discovering. The project will use linked open data, knowledge graphs and collaborations across existing research infrastructure projects.

Expected outcomes include interoperability across major social science databases and new analytical tools that will transform the research capabilities for
evidence-based policy making. Outcomes are expected on sustainable built environments and transport in urban and regional communities, social care and health in the community, work and wellbeing, digital inclusion and digital health. This APO Research project will run from 2018-2019 and is supported by the Australian Research Council (ARC).

Expert researchers 

Western Sydney University

Professor Kerry London

Support and funding

This project is supported by a grant from the Australian Research Council (ARC) Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities (LIEF) program, together with contributions from partner organisations including Swinburne University of Technology, Australia and New Zealand School of Government (ANZSOG), University of South Australia (UniSA), RMIT University, Australian National University (ANU), the University of Melbourne, University of New South Wales (UNSW) and Western Sydney University.