1Building the Information
Society in Europe
Oxford Universitye-Science Centre
e-Science, the Grid and…
will they change research?!
Prof. Paul Jeffreys
Director Oxford e-Science Centrehttp://e-science.ox.ac.uk/
Professorial Fellow, Keble College
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Oxford Universitye-Science Centre
Introduction
• There is an activity which:-
– Tony Blair (and many other leaders!) has (have) enthused about
– The UK Office of Science and Technology has invested £0.25b
– The investment of public funds is estimated to be at least € 2b
– Has resulted in world-leading new research
– Addresses issues in the Lambert Review of Business-University Collaboration
• (http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/consultations_and_legislation /lambert/consult_lambert_index.cfm)
– and .. if you believe the previous Director General of the Research Councils..
• “will change the dynamic of the way science is undertaken"
3Building the Information
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Oxford Universitye-Science Centre
Talk Outline
• Preliminaries and definitions– Example
• UK e-Science and the Grid– International developments
• Overview of e-Science in Oxford
• Future vision for e-Research– Change way research is done
– Component of Information Society
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Oxford Universitye-Science Centre
Preliminaries
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Front page FT, 7th Mar 2000
“‘The Grid’, as it is provisionally known, will work far more quickly and reliably than today’s internet. It should eventually enable computer users to receive exactly the information they want from anywhere in the world within seconds – and without having to go through a tortuous search process.”
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Blair’s speech on British Science• http://politics.guardian.co.uk/speeches/story/0,11126,721029,00.html
“It's significant that the UK is the first country to develop a national e-Science grid, which intends to make access to computing power, scientific data repositories and experimental facilities as easy as the web makes access to information. One of the pilot e-science projects is to develop a digital mammographic archive, together with an intelligent medical decision support system for breast cancer diagnosis and treatment. An individual hospital will not have supercomputing facilities, but through the grid it could buy the time it needs.”
PM Tony Blair, July 2002
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What is the Grid?• “… a software infrastructure that enables
flexible, secure, coordinated resource sharing among dynamic collections of individuals, institutions and resources”
[The Grid, eds. Foster & Kesselman]
• “an emergent infrastructure capable of delivering dependable, pervasive and uniform access to a set of globally distributed, dynamic and heterogeneous resources. It brings challenges of scalability, interoperability, fault tolerance, resource management and security”
[Tony Hey]
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e-Science
• John Taylor, previous Director General of the Research Councils, OST
– is about research increasingly done through distributed global collaborations enabled by the Internet (e.g. human genome program, LHC/CERN)
– uses very large data collections, terascale computing resources, high performance visualisation
– and col-laboratories – support for trusting teams
e-Science will change the dynamics of how research is done
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A Definition of e-Research
‘e-Research is about global collaboration in key research areas, and the next generation of infrastructure that will
enable it.’
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“Behind the Wall”, “In Front of the Wall”, “Through the Wall”
“Behind the wall” “In front of the wall”
Information Users
Utility - people
- resources - devices
- compute
- data
- comms
“Through the Wall” Col-laboration & interaction between people
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“Behind The Wall”: today - many “bits of walls”, ad hoc Client-Server
HPC
HPCAnalysis
Storage
Storage
Analysis
Experiment
Experiment
HPC
ScientistComputing
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“Behind The Wall”: next generation -Information Utilities and col-laboratories
MIDLEWARE
Experiment
Experiment
Computing
Computing
Computing
Storage
Storage
Storage
Analysis
Analysis
ScientistGRID
Scientist
Scientist
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An example to catch the imagination
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Breast cancer facts
• 10% of Western women develop breast cancer • 19% cancer deaths, 24% cancer cases• 500,000 cases annually in EC and USA• early diagnosis massively improves prognosis
– screening programs, eg in UK 3 million mammograms per year– 55 million mammograms per year world wide
• 20% cancers are missed by radiologists at screening• 70-80% biopsies turn out to be benign• 30% inter- and intra-radiologist variability• 22% of films are “lost” between visits• 5% of images need to be re-taken• a 1cm tumor has typically been in the body for 6-8 years
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UK Breast Screening –
Today
Began in 1988
Women 50-64ScreenedEvery 3 Years1 View/Breast
Scotland,Wales,Northern IrelandEngland(8 Regions)
92 BreastScreeningCentres
Each centre sees5K-20K images/yr
1.5M - Screened in 2001-0265,000 - Recalled for Assessment8,545 – Cancers detected300 - Lives per year Saved
230 – Radiologists “Double Reading”
Film
Paper
Statistics from NHS Cancer Screening web site
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UK Breast Screening – Challenges
230 - Radiologists “double Reading”50% - Workload Increase
2,000,000 - Screened every Year120,000 - Recalled for Assessment10,000 - Cancers1,250 - Lives Saved
Women 50-70ScreenedEvery 3 Years2 Views/Breast+ DemographicIncrease
Scotland,Wales,Northern IrelandEngland(8 Regions)
92 BreastScreeningProgrammes
Up to 50K/yr percentre
Digital
Digital
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eDiamond aims
• construct a federated database of mammograms
• contribute to Grid middleware development
• contribute to HealthGrid development in UK, Europe
• aims to support the UK Breast Screening Program
Novel image analysis, federation of large data sets owned by hospitals, and levels of access to that data
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• Teaching tool for radiologists, radiographers St George’s Hospital
• Tele-diagnosis Edinburgh Breast Screening Unit, W. of Scotland
• Algorithm development: data mining Oxford Radcliffe Breast Care Unit
• Epidemiology Guy’s Hospital, London
• Quality control Oxford Medical Vision Laboratory
end-user project goals
Clinicians want to use the Grid & they profoundly wish to remain ignorant about how it works
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Why is the Grid needed?
• mammograms are typical of medical images
many parameters (potentially) of interest
relatively few images gathered at each individual centre
• insufficient statistical power in the database garnered from a small number of centres
• The Grid provides the statistical power at acceptable bandwidth and with guarantees on secure image/data transmission
For several years, I had wanted to find a way to gain the statistical power I needed for medical image analysis – the Grid offers the potential to provide it!
And, not just for medical image analysis …
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The Grid is for all of scholarship
• Specialised image corpora & knowledge are widely dispersed through the world
• The humanities have much to teach science about curation of large datasets, ontology development, and development of metadata
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UK e-Science Programme &
International Developments
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£80m Collaborative projects
E-ScienceSteering
Committee
DG Research Councils
Director Director’s
Management RoleDirector’s
Awareness and Co-ordination Role
Generic Challenges EPSRC (£15m), DTI (£15m)
Industrial Collaboration (£40m)
Academic Application SupportProgramme
Research Councils (£74m), DTI (£5m)
PPARC (£26m) BBSRC (£8m) MRC (£8m) NERC (£7m) ESRC (£3m) EPSRC (£17m) CLRC (£5m)
Grid TAG
SR2000 e-Science Allocation
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SR2000+SR2002 e-Science Funding
Total for e-Science from Spending Reviews
£M 2001/2 2002/3 2003/4 2004/5 2005/6 TOTAL
MRC 1.0 2.0 5.0 6.9 6.2 21.1
BBSRC 1.0 2.0 5.0 5.0 5.0 18.0
NERC 1.0 2.0 4.0 4.0 4.0 15.0
EPSRC 6.0 13.0 22.0 17.2 19.5 77.7
Of which:-
HPC 0.0 3.0 6.0 0.0 2.5 11.5
Core Prog 3.0 6.0 6.0 8.2 8.0 31.2
PPARC 3.0 8.0 15.0 16.4 15.2 57.6
ESRC 0.0 1.0 2.0 5.5 5.1 13.6
CCLRC 1.0 1.5 2.5 2.5 2.5 10.0
TOTAL 13.0 29.5 55.5 57.5 57.5 213.0
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Cambridge
Newcastle
Edinburgh
Oxford
Glasgow
Manchester
Cardiff
Southampton
London
Belfast
DL
RAL Hinxton
UK e-Science Grid
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Oxford Universitye-Science Centre
e-Science Centres of Excellence
• Birmingham/Warwick – Modelling
• Bristol – Media
• UCL – Networking
• White Rose Grid – Leeds, York, Sheffield
• Lancaster – Social Science
• Leicester – Astronomy
• Reading - Environment
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Cambridge
Newcastle
Edinburgh
Oxford
Glasgow
Manchester
Cardiff
Soton
London
Belfast
DL
RL Hinxton
UK e-Science Grid – phase 2
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UK e-Science Timeframes
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
SR2000 * * *
SR2002 * * *
SR2004 * * *
SJ5/AAA Service * *
LHC/LCG *
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Particle Physics Grid
• Growing links with Particle Physics Grid– Crucially important for next generation of experiments at CERN
– Huge investment (UK £100+m in capital equipment alone)
– Oxford - integral part of ‘Southern Tier 2’ in UK particle physics Grid
• Important factor in development towards national ‘persistent Grid’– EGEE instrumental
• International compatibility– PP Grid has to be connected internationally!
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Recent International Developments
• Enterprise Grid Alliance:– “Leading technology companies today launched the Enterprise Grid Alliance
(EGA), a consortium formed to develop enterprise grid solutions and accelerate the deployment of grid computing in enterprises.
– http://xml.coverpages.org/ni2004-04-20-a.html
– The EGA consortium has been formed to "encourage and accelerate movement to an open grid environment through interoperability solutions."
– Companies having representatives on the EGA Board of Directors include EMC, Fujitsu-Siemens, HP, Intel, NEC, Network Appliance, Oracle, and Sun.”
• “Microsoft, IBM, and BEA Systems have released a trio of proposed Web Services standards to address several unmet requirements to realise the promises of the services-oriented application model.”– Will underpin “Grid Services”
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Information-based society..• e-Research and the Grid are contributors to the Information-based society
– e-Research/Grid part of the ‘forces driving change’:-• UK Grid• e-Science projects are stretching the underpinning IT infrastructure
– e-Research/Grid also part of process of migration to Information Society:-• On-Demand resources• Integration (especially of databases)• Inter-connection or col-laboratories (eg Oxford and Auckland)
– Irving Wladawsky-Berger:• “We see a world where more integration is needed, better management of
information, and greater flexibility”
– Vision applies directly to e-Research; • Information Society operating within academic framework…
– NB e-Research is closely coupled to industry as will be demonstrated!!
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Oxford e-Science
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Oxford e-Science Centre
• Summary:– In 2.5 years - grown to significant activity
– Supports and expands knowledge in, and use of, e-Science/Grid
• e-Science activities in at least 15 departments
– Portfolio of exciting research projects
– Strong contribution to UK e-Science Core Programme
• Creating persistent, robust and reliable national infrastructure
• Part of UK national Grid (one of 4 nodes)
– £20m flowed into and through University
– Offers e-Science support for region
– Close relationships with IBM and CCLRC (UK national laboratory)
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Society in Europe
Oxford Universitye-Science Centre
OeSC ‘Objectives’
• Establish Oxford as regional centre on UK national Grid– Thereby establish Grid connections for our researchers
– Make our resources available on the Grid
• Support groups throughout University undertaking national and international e-Science projects (and other Grid activities), and link with companies– Provide support infrastructure:- registration, certificate authorisation, training,
documentation, security, services
– Share development, coordinate and optimise across projects
– Disseminate
• Commission ‘intranet Grid’– Share resources across university
– 3000 cpus !
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Oxford Universitye-Science Centre
Collaborating OU Departments• Biochemistry
• Atmospheric, Oceanic and Planetary Physics
• Engineering
• Materials
• Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics
• Zoology
• Physics
• Oxford Internet Institute
• Said Business School
• Begbroke Business Park
• University Library Services
• Clinical Trials Unit
• Pharmacology and NTRAC
• Departments in Humanities
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2 Crucial e-Science Components
• Software Engineering Programme Team
http://www.softeng.ox.ac.uk/– Essential contribution to OeSC
– Contribute five academic staff, plus a number of dedicated researchers, to the e-Science team
– Expertise in design, requirements, and security
• Doctoral Training Centre
http://www.stats.ox.ac.uk/~mcvean/DTC.htm– Providing training in general research and communication skills is crucial to the
future development of interdisciplinary research
– Opportunity to share much of the training needed for e-Science
Oxford e-Science Centre
2 Globus Gatekeepers - Linux Cluster (Condor)
- Supercomputer
OeSCOeSChttp://e-science.ox.ac.ukhttp://e-science.ox.ac.uk
Access Grid nodes Access Grid nodes JISC testbed clusterJISC testbed clusterNetwork Monitoring Network Monitoring
L2G/ETF/STF/TAG/GOC/ATFL2G/ETF/STF/TAG/GOC/ATF
Video Works
e-DiaMoND +Resource Man.
Remote Microscopy
Climate Prediction
Integrative Biology
NCRITissue Bank
BioSimGrid
DCOCE
Collaborative Visualisation
National Cosmos Grid + Rem. Vis.
High ThroughputStructural Biology
Reality Grid
Security + Data Man. EDG
Dynamic brain Atlas
MIAS-Grid
Grid PPTier 2
Geodise
Dame
IBM, Virage, Boxer System Ltd, Square Box Systems, Int DOI
CLRCOxford Brookes
IBM, Mirada
CLRCOpen University
IBM
CLRC Nottingham
LeedsUCL
BirminghamAuckland
IBM
Others..Cambridge
NTRACUCL
Univ. WalesManchester(Singapore)
SouthamptonBirkbeck, LRC,
Birmingham, Nottingham,York
All Universities in UK PP
EDG
CERN JEOL
St. Georges, Guy's,
Churchill, St. Thomas' NHS
Trust Hospitals; Breast
Screening Centres in Edinburgh, Glasgow,
Aberdeen Univ.
JISC
CERN
MIMAS, Eduserve
CLRC
CLRC
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Oxford Universitye-Science Centre
Strategic Partnership with IBM• Relationship built over many years – now reached new levels• Strategic alliance in e-Science with emphasis on Life Sciences• Partnership framework signed on 21 January by VC and Director of Hursley
– “A partnership between IBM and the University of Oxford will create a framework for recognising, consolidating, and sustaining the collaboration that already exists. It will take advantage of emerging opportunities for collaboration across the disciplines, and promote the exchange of ideas, resources, and talent between the two organisations.”
• University: – academic research and scientific vision
• IBM: – expertise in industrial research and development– options for deployment and exploitation
• Built on excellent collaboration forged in e-DiaMoND
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e-Science/e-Research Vision
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e-Research – a new paradigm
• The invention and exploitation of advanced IT – to generate, curate and analyse research data
• From experiments, observations and simulations
• Quality management, preservation and reliable evidence
– to develop and explore models and simulations
• Computation and data at extreme scales
• Trustworthy, economic, timely and relevant results
– to enable dynamic distributed virtual organisations
• Facilitating collaboration with information and resource sharing
• Security, reliability, accountability, manageability and agility
• Training and teaching crucially important
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e-Research
• Developing e-Research– Represents a new academic paradigm
– Requires a combination of expertise and resources
– Facilitates world leading research, new opportunities for deployment, exciting partnerships
• In Oxford – driven as application-led e-Research– Embracing computer science and computer services
– Includes Humanities
• Blended within University: OeSC, OSC, SEP and DTC
• Set of skills completed - through partnership with IBM– Expertise and resources for the realisation and deployment of designs, on a
national, industrial scale
• e-Research -- an approach which goes beyond existing University structures and discipline boundaries
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Research – has it changed?
• e-Science has already changed research in Universities– e-DiaMoND, Integrative Biology, …
– New capabilities to form col-laboratories (eg Oxford-Auckland)
• But .. e-Science is a path to development of interdisciplinary research– Very exciting opportunities
• Vision for future:-– e-Science/e-Research acting as a catalyst for interdisciplinary advancement -
underpinned by a new IT infrastructure - facilitating new kinds of research
• e-Research recognised as an academic pursuit (not just infrastructure)
– Component of the new Information Society
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Conclusions
• e-Science activity has grown rapidly
• e-Research and Grid will continue to grow in importance
• Flagship projects..– e-DiaMoND and many others
• … demonstrate that research has already changed
• e-Research is a new paradigm which enriches academia and changes research– catalyst for interdisciplinary activities offering new possibilities
• Relationship with IBM strategic for Oxford University
• e-Research component of the new Information Society