2023 was a milestone year at AURIN, marking the beginning of a new era of growth and innovation as we become more responsive to national priorities and identified research gaps. For our 2023-2028 Strategic Plan we developed our vision of delivering cutting-edge digital infrastructure that will be the bedrock for decision-makers to build a smarter, more sustainable urban landscape. We are more dedicated than ever to fostering collaboration between industry, government and academia so that together, we can address some of the greatest challenges Australian communities will face in coming years.
A major highlight of the year was securing $25 million in NCRIS funding. This funding will be crucial in helping achieve our vision for AURIN over the next five years, and represents an unprecedented level of commitment from the Australian government. It is further proof of AURIN’s industry-recognised position as a leader in providing the digital infrastructure that will lead Australian communities towards a brighter future. We are so thankful for NCRIS’s continued support.
We are dedicated to fostering collaboration between industry, government and academic and with this in mind we launched our Australian Urban Digital Twin Community in 2023. The potential Urban Digital Twins have to transform urban landscapes is extraordinary and we’re excited to continue building a collaborative foundation for UDTs that will change the lives of Australian urban populations for the better.
Providing datasets that inform high impact research is at the core of AURIN’s vision and 2023 was a year that saw us deliver significantly on this, curating and sharing over 5,000 datasets that informed the work of researchers in Australia and internationally. In 2023, we logged approximately 2,200 AURIN Data Provider users while 32 scientific publications acknowledged AURIN’s critical support to their work.
The data was used by researchers across Australia and internationally to inform analysis on topics including the use of drones for flood monitoring, the impacts of heavy rail transport infrastructure on house prices, health and heat vulnerability, cool roofs and energy use, walkability, public transport service quality, heat risk in cities, worldwide urban observatory systems and more.
We are also very proud of the Australian Urban Health Indicators (AusUrb-HI) project, an important collaboration between NCRIS facilities, AURIN, the Australian Research Data Commons (ARDC) and the Population Health Research Network (PHRN), and researchers. The main objective of the project—which is also focused on developing cancer determinants, urban liveability and urban health indicators—is to facilitate access to restricted linked population health data and generate a new high value data asset: the Heat Health Vulnerability Indicator.
The Heat Vulnerability Indicator will illustrate which urban areas are at risk from extreme heat and the impact of this on human health. This will be achieved by combining data on population demographics, socioeconomic characteristics, health and environmental conditions in order to understand where the most vulnerable populations to extreme heat events are located.
In 2023, AURIN achieved a major milestone in the project’s development with the acquisition of individual linked health data at SA1 level. This achievement was hard-won, with over 20 months of hard work from the AURIN team, but its impact will be far-reaching—not only for AURIN but for the entire research community.
Another priority in 2023 was community engagement. In April 2023 we participated in MPavillion’s community events program, hosting a panel discussion about the potential of green spaces to combat loneliness and foster community connections.
We also continued our Nimble Chats series with an episode featuring Adam Beck, Head of Digital Urbanism at ENE.HUB, discussing the importance of Digital Twins in urban planning and the role research plays in advancing this technology.
And we significantly expanded our presence at conferences, presenting at eight major events across Australia and reaching over 5,600 audience members. Presenting at conferences allows AURIN to showcase our projects and infrastructure and fosters connections with researchers, policymakers and our NCRIS community.
We are dedicated to building partnerships, sharing expertise and driving innovation in urban research. As the connecting piece between a range of diverse stakeholders AURIN continues to supporting evidence-based decision-making to create more liveable, sustainable, equitable and resilient Australian urban environments for everyone.
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