Candidates Advance to the Second Round!

Bridging global research communities

JULY 29 -- Seven proposals will proceed to the second and final round of the EYR program. In their draft proposals the applicants requested connectivity to eight countries: The Netherlands, United States, United Kingdom, Finland, Brazil, Germany, Australia and Russia. The following academic disciplines are represented in the selected proposals: Life Sciences (5x), Climate and Earth Sciences (3x) and Computational Sciences (3x).

Competition facts:

Number of institutions involved	27
Number of countries involved	8
Average number of institutions per proposal	4
Number of institutions represented in two proposals	3
Academic disciplines covered by the proposals	Life Sciences Climate and Earth Sciences Computational Sciences

As the proposals advance to the second round, researchers will have the opportunity to collaborate with local and regional organizations and the National Research and Education Networks (NRENs) to write a final proposal that is technically viable and practically workable. During this consultation process, collaborators will also discuss expanded international efforts in connecting to institutions outside of the USA, UK, NL and FI.

The consultation part of the second round starts July 30 and will finish September 30, 2013. The applicants have to submit their final proposals on October 14, 2013. The winners of the competition will be announced in November during the Supercomputing Conference (SC13) hosted in Denver, Colorado.

About the program: Enlighten Your Research Global is a competition organized by five National Research and Education Networks (NRENs): ESnet (USA), Funet (FI), Internet2 (USA), Janet (UK) and SURFnet (NL). As NRENs we aim to foster international collaborations to accelerate the research and discovery process. To further promote the benefits of international-scale networking to researchers, the five NRENs are working together to create an exciting opportunity for the research communities we collectively serve. In this international competition, we are challenging researchers to stretch the boundaries of their science and collaborate with other countries to perform experiments enabled by the NREN’s world-class network infrastructure. The competition was open to any academic discipline and to researchers at any level of expertise. The deadline for the draft proposals was 1 July 2013.

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Got a Heavy Load of Big Data? ESnet Can Help Enlighten Your Research

MAY 2 -- ESnet is looking for researchers to participate in a new international program that helps scientists use high-performance, state-of-the-art networks to facilitate science. This new international program, called Enlighten Your Research Global (EYR-Global), will help researchers with data-intensive science needs take advantage of some of the world's National Research and Education Networks (NRENs). Lead by SURFnet in the Netherlands, the participating NRENs include ESnet in the US, FUnet in Finland, JANET in the UK, and Internet2 in the US.

After a light-weight, two-step proposal process is completed, the winners of the EYR-Global program will have access to:

1. High-performance network infrastructures;

2. Support and consultation with expert network engineers on devising the best end-to-end network connectivity plan;

3. Commitment from the NRENs for network resource provisioning and ongoing support during the competition period.

The winning proposals will receive resources from some of the world’s leading NRENs: ESnet, which provides high-speed networking to more than 40 Department of Energy research sites; Funet, the Finnish University and Research Network; Internet2, which connects 220 universities with corporations and government agencies in the U.S. as well as the K-12 community, Janet, the UK’s research and education network; and SURFnet, the Dutch National Research and Education Network.

Who Should Apply?

Researchers who are affiliated with at least one of the organizations connected to the EYR-Global participating NRENs can apply. For example, DOE researchers should apply through ESnet.

Researchers from any discipline and with any level of technical expertise are invited to submit a proposal. The program is open to a wide range of research teams—ranging from novice to expert in the use of information technology—to support their research projects to participate in the competition.

The deadline for submitting the draft proposals, which is only two paragraphs, is Monday, June 24, 2013 July 1, 2013. A jury will short-list a maximum of 10 first-round applications for further development. First-round winners will be notified by Friday, August 2, 2013.

How Can You Apply?

You can sign up for Enlighten Your Research Global by following these steps.

1. Read the Submission guidelines (pdf) and the Terms and conditions (pdf);

2. Fill out the Submission template (docx) with your abstract and a one paragraph motivation for submitting a proposal;

3. Send the template in pdf format to info@enlightenyourresearch.net with the subject titled "ESnet submission for EYR: [title of the submission]" by 24 June, 2013 1 July, 2013.

The main applicant must be affiliated with a research institution that is connected to the EYR-Global participating NRENs.

For more information and questions, please visit enlightenyourresearch.net or email info@enlightenyourresearch.net.

About the Participating NRENS

ESnet provides the high-bandwidth, reliable connections that link scientists at national laboratories, universities and other research institutions, enabling them to collaborate on some of the world's most important scientific challenges including energy, climate science, and the origins of the universe. Funded by the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Science and located within the Scientific Networking Division at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, ESnet provides scientists with access to unique DOE research facilities and computing resources. For more information, visit www.es.net.

FUnet is the Finnish Research and Education Network addressing the specialised needs of research and higher education. Funet links higher education institutions and research institutes and connects them to the global research network community and the public internet with superfast, reliable and secure connections. Funet’s extensive services and wide-based expertise are at the disposal of the entire Finnish scientific community and state government. In 2012, Funet had 372,000 users in 80 member organisations. Funet is one of the most advanced research networks in the world. For more information, visit www.csc.fi/english/institutions/funet.

Internet2 is a member-owned advanced technology community founded by the nation's leading higher education institutions in 1996. Internet2 consists of more than 220 U.S. universities, 60 leading corporations, 70 government agencies, 38 regional and state education networks and more than 100 national research and education networking partners representing more than 50 countries. Internet2 offices are located in Ann Arbor, Mich.; Emeryville, Calif.; and Washington, D.C. For more information, visit www.internet2.edu.

JANET is the network dedicated to the needs of research and education in the UK. It connects the UK’s research and education organisations to each other, as well as to the rest of the world through links to the global Internet. In addition, JANET includes a separate network that is available to the community for experimental activities in network development. For more information, visit www.ja.net.

SURFnet ensures that researchers, instructors, and students can work together simply and effectively with the aid of ICT. SURFnet links ICT services, scientific instruments, and people with reliable ICT infrastructures, made up of a network infrastructure and a collaboration infrastructure. SURFnet also demonstrates what is possible by developing and testing innovative ICT services. SURFnet is part of SURF, the Dutch higher education and research partnership for ICT. For more information, visit www.surfnet.nl/en.