The UNSW Node is part of AURIN’s Node Network, a new model designed to bring together leading research institutions to co-develop digital research infrastructure, share expertise, and address some of Australia’s most pressing urban challenges. Through these partnerships, AURIN and its Nodes pool resources, align research strengths, and support the development of solutions that are scalable, reusable, and applicable nationwide.
Led by UNSW Sydney, and Professor Chris Pettit, Director of the City Futures Research Centre, the UNSW Node is home to the Housing Analytics Lab (HAL), located in Sydney’s TechCentral district. HAL focuses on addressing complex housing challenges, such as housing capacity, apartment developments, social housing and distribution, and turnover of short-term and long-term rentals. It is designed to facilitate collaborations across the sector and make housing data easier to access, analyse and use.
As one of the first activities in the UNSW Node, HAL will develop key research infrastructure by:
- developing AI-based tools to improve urban planning by tracking housing supply and infrastructure needs
- hosting regular events and workshops for researchers, government, industry and not-for-profit organisations to share ideas, explore data, and test new tools
- facilitating collaboration across the sector to unlock new insights into critical housing and homelessness issues and solutions
- enabling access to large-scale data assets, software and tools.
These activities will lay the foundations for future work in the Node, which will focus on developing solutions to key challenges faced by decision-makers.
With other AURIN Nodes across the country, the launch of the UNSW Node marks an important step in AURIN’s growing national network. As more Nodes come online, this collaborative model will continue to expand access to critical data, tools and expertise that leads to better decision making to help Australia mitigate the impacts of climate change, manage population changes and energy transition.
What is a Node?
The AURIN Node Network is a collaboration of leading research institutions across Australia, working together to solve critical urban and regional challenges.
Nodes focus on priority areas such as housing, transport, urban health, environmental health, climate action, and land-use planning, developing research solutions that meet real-world needs.
Through the Node Network, AURIN improves access to expertise and research infrastructure by pooling resources, enabling the creation of fit-for-purpose and scalable solutions.
Researchers in the Node Network are recognised as partners in innovation, working alongside government and industry to co-design tools and insights that have national relevance and application.
Stay connected
For further information or to express interest in collaborating, please contact our UNSW Node Leader: Professor Chris Pettit (c.pettit@unsw.edu.au)
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