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The Oxford e-Research Centre, interdisciplinary research for 10 years

Cambridge

Newcastle

Edinburgh

Oxford

Glasgow

Manchester

Cardiff

SouthamptonLondon

Belfast DL

RAL Hinxton

UK e-Science CentresOxford e-Science Centre• Distributed virtual research centre• Domain, Computer Science and IT services

Oxford Interdisciplinary e-Research Centre• Physical research centre with Vice Chancellor support

for start-up• Sited outside university structure to be truly

interdisciplinary

Oxford e-Research Centre• Physical research centre with new building• Part of the regular university• Research only – no student admissions i.e. teaching

Image courtesy Tony Hey

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Innovative digital methods transforming researchA collaborative

research hub for Digital Oxford

A full department in a world leading science division

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Oxford Centre for Tropical Forests

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Our MissionTo create a sustainable research platform across participating organisations and their collaborators by applying innovative computing technology to interdisciplinary problems of increasing scale and complexity

The consortium works individually and collectively in attracting new support for e‐Research activities. Driven by specific application areas and building on existing e-Infrastructure technologies e-Research South works to:

• enhance the ease of use, uptake and ‘accessibility’ of e-Research

• develop know-how & tools for dealing with research data

• provide development of and access to advanced visualisation

• create a regional community• provide opportunities for public engagement with

science

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Research Methodology

Research Problem

Application modelled

Create or adapt

technology

Disseminate and reuse

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The Astro-Accelerate project focuses on enabling real-time processing of time-domain radio astronomy data. This is achieved by exploiting the massive computational power of many-core processors such as NVIDIA GPUs or Intel Xeon Phi.

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HPC Engine and Storage

Next Generation Infrastructure

The Smart Grid

High Speed Communications System

Service Restorat

ion

Voltage

Control

Condition

Monitoring/Data Mining

Distribution

System State

Estimation

SCADA & Distribution Management System

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Advanced Dynamic Energy Pricing and Tariffs (ADEPT)

Normalised daily power demand profiles for all businesses by sector

An illustration of the differences between the tariffs used and the typical variation of the RT

W ICK ED

http://www.energy.ox.ac.uk/wicked/

May 15, 2015

The WICKED challenge: what new information and tools can help different segments of the retail sector develop proactive energy strategies?

Infrastructure Technical

OrganisationalLegal

Creationof

KnowledgeEnergystrategy

Development

Working with…

W ICK ED

http://www.energy.ox.ac.uk/wicked/W ICK ED

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Energy theft….• Costs £400m per year• Adds £7 to every single bill• Normally has other associated

illegality

• Data Insights against Energy Theft (DIET)

• 2 year Innovate UK• British Gas, G4S & EDMI• OFGEN TRAS system will

identify >1k suspects per month, breaks the business model of smart metering

INFORMInternational Forest Risk Model

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Wood Pulp & Paper Palm Oil Beef Soy Leather

How can a Risk Model be used?

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Municipalities

Export Port

Import Port

Processor

Customer

Farmer Le ACME Animal Feed

Sète

Paranaguá

Cocalinho

Novo São Joaquim

Rondonópolis

…

Santos

Araguaiana

Barra do Garças

Itiquira

…

São Francisco Do Sul …

Non tropical Countries ---

I buy my animal feed from Le ACME

Animal Feed in the South of

France

Supermarche wants to know

if my pork contribute to

deforestation?

Rondônia - Deforestation Trends

Rondônia is located almost entirely within the Legal Amazon and covers 243,044 km. The state is one of the most deforested in the Brazilian Amazon, with tree cover of 157,601 km 2 in 20132. Deforestation in Rondônia is largely a result of colonization projects and the expansion of beef and soya production. As global demand grew in the 1960’s, beef production in Rondônia expanded. Road-building enabled population growth and increased agricultural production. Consequently, state deforestation rates rocketed from the 1980s as land was cleared for pastures, croplands, and urban development. By 1991, Rondônia’s cattle herd was one of the largest in Brazil, producing almost twice as much beef as the state consumed 3. Rondônia’s beef industry continued to expand during subsequent decades, with cattle herds in the Brazilian Amazon growing by 23 to 33% between 1995-96 and 2006 4. Large-scale soy production began in Brazil in the 1990s. By the time the crop arrived in Rondônia, many areas suitable for soy production were already utilised as cattle pasture. Soy expansion in the state thus often occurred on pastures, displacing cattle production and indirectly causing deforestation. This trend became especially pronounced following the introduction of the Soy Moratorium in 2006, which saw Brazil’s largest soya companies commit to avoid sourcing soya from land deforested after 2006. 5 Deforestation rates in Rondônia remained high until 2005, when forest loss decreased rapidly due to a combination of policy initiatives, industrial action, and decreased consumer demand during the economic crisis6.

State Policy and Initiatives

The state government of Rondônia has supported the implementation of the Forest Code through creating a registry of rural properties and promoting environmental licensing to create compliance with land use regulations. The state is also a member of the Governors’ Climate and Forests Task Force (GCF), which seeks to reduce emissions from deforestation and establish governance frameworks through the collaboration of its 29 member states and provinces. However, most action on protecting Rondônia’s remaining forest is legislated through national policy.

Cabixi is a municipality in the Brazilian state of Rondônia in the North-West region of Brazil.

Unscaled Deforestation Ratio = 0.009

MEDIUM5% of your Animal Feed contributed to deforestation

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Why in the IEA?

• Technical–Rich history of analytic work in Environmental

Science–Linkage with relevant technology areas such as

Visual Analytics and Scientific Computing–Exploitation creates impact

• Organisational–Interdisciplinarity is key to OeRC Mission

• Educational–Vehicle to build teaching at the graduate and

support industrially focused professional development

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Thanks