USyd builds virtual research lab with Indonesia

The University of Sydney is building a virtual research laboratory to collaborate on economic and development research in partnership with the Indonesian Ministry of Finance.

The $250,000 project will see the establishment of a virtual lab that consist of "a collaborative online environment in which they can share their data, tools and results."

Indonesia's Ministry of Finance will then be responsible for applying the insights gleaned from the research.

"The virtual lab will initially be set up on a server at the University of Sydney, with users logging on via NoMachine," lead researcher professor Manfred Lenzen told iTnews.

It is later expected to transition to a similar model as the Australian Industrial Ecology Lab, which backs onto a research cloud and is accessible to researchers via a web-based login.

Researchers that participate in the project will be able to use the lab to share input-output databases, labour surveys, household expenditure surveys, national accounts, environmental accounts and social accounts.

The research will focus on issues around "supply chains and industrial interdependence", such as the impact changes in one vertical sector could have on country-wide employment.

The Ministry of Finance is set to use the outputs to meet sustainable development goals set down by the United Nations.

Lenzen said he hopes the project leads to wider uptake of virtual lab technology in multidisciplinary research.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade contributed $25,000 towards the project.