Twelve of the World’s Leading National R&E Networks Open Doors for International Research

BERKELEY, Calif. (April 28, 2015) – Today, twelve leading national research and education networks (NRENs) representing the Americas, Asia-Pacific and Europe announced the official launch of the second “Enlighten Your Research Global” (EYR-Global) program. This program, which helps accelerate international research collaborations by providing selected proposals with improved networking, data transfers, and/or engineering, is now accepting proposals.

The EYR-Global program reflects two growing trends in research: it is increasingly international in scope, and increasingly reliant on high-speed networks to provide critical resources for managing, sharing and analyzing the data driving that research.

Major experimental collaborations such as the Large Hadron Collider integrate advanced networking capabilities as components for managing and sharing data internationally. At the same time, network-intensive research techniques are rapidly emerging across disciplines from genomics to climate research, materials discovery, humanities and the social sciences.

“Research and education networks have spent the past few years performing upgrades and improving end-to-end network performance” said ESnet Director Greg Bell. “Our next frontier is direct engagement with scientific collaborations. It’s very exciting to see a dozen of the most advanced networks in the world coming together to collaborate in this way.”

The EYR-Global program was patterned after SURFnet’s successful national Enlighten Your Research competition in the Netherlands, and represents an important step forward in helping researchers in all fields to incorporate advanced global research networks to significantly improve discoveries and collaboration processes. In 2013, the first inaugural EYR-Global program resulted in four research projects in climate research, life sciences, and computer science receiving awards in the form of network resources and/or engineering consultations to improve the research workflows in each project.

For 2015, EYR-Global is seeking to support even more projects. The two-step proposal process includes review by a panel of judges representing each of the sponsoring organizations. Final EYR-Global proposal projects may have access to:

• High performance network infrastructures operated by participating NRENs and their partners.
• Support and consultation with expert network engineers to devise the best end-to-end network connectivity plan to support the proposed research.
• Commitment from each participating NREN for an agreed level of network resource provisioning and ongoing support during the program period.

The selected proposals will receive resources and/or support from some of the world’s leading NRENs which are sponsoring EYR-Global:

• AARNet, Australia’s Academic and Research Network
• ACOnet, the Austrian academic computer network
• DFN, the German national research and education network
• ESnet, the U.S. Department of Energy’s high-speed network managed by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
• GÉANT Association, the pan-European research and education network that interconnects Europe’s National Research and Education Networks
• Internet2, a member-owned advanced technology community in the United States founded by the nation's leading higher education institutions
• Janet, the UK’s research and education network
• PSNC, the Poznań Supercomputing and Networking Center in Poland
• REANNZ, New Zealand’s Research and Education Advanced Network New Zealand Ltd.
• RNP, the Brazilian national research and education network
• RedIRIS, the Spanish national research and education network
• SURFnet, the Dutch national research and education network
• SURFsara, the national HPC and e-Science support center for Dutch higher education and research

For further information about EYR-Global, visit www.enlightenyourresearch.net.