CHPC National Meeting and BELIEF Symposium

The CSIR invites participation in its Centre for High Performance Computing (CHPC) National Meeting 2009 and the 5th BELIEF-II (Bringing Europes eLectronic Infrastructure to Expanding Frontiers - Phase II) Symposium to be held on 7-9 December 2009 at the Sandton International Convention Centre. The event is hosted by the CHPC and BELIEF. View more information and registration.

As one of the three pillars within the national cyberinfrastructure initiative of the Department of Science and Technology (DST), the core mission of the CHPC is to increase the competitiveness of South Africa through promoting the adoption of high performance computing (HPC), data technologies and tools across all sectors. CHPC Director, Dr Happy Sithole, says, "To contribute to the DST's vision in this regard, the CHPC attempts to foster a multi-array of vibrant and productive computational research communities alongside experimentalists. The CHPC aims to leverage its computational platforms, expertise and funding to facilitate the advancement of South Africa in both the public and private sectors. Research areas for pursuit includes from bioinformatics, engineering and astronomy to humanities, finance and the arts."

The event will showcase some of the recent progress in South African cyberinfrastructure, its role in South Africa and developments in Africa. Keynote research and application results utilising the cyberinfrastructure will be illustrated and the latest international developments discussed.

The BELIEF-II project is funded by the European Commission through the Framework Programme 7 (FP7) initiative. Its aim is to support the goals of e-infrastructure projects to maximise synergies in specific application areas between research, scientific and industrial communities. The project's strategic objective is to coordinate the efficient and effective communication of results, networking and knowledge between e-infrastructure projects and their users to promote worldwide development and exploitation.

Sithole says, "The event is aimed at advancing research collaboration and competitiveness through an integrated South African national cyberinfrastructure. The joint events intend to explore the contributions and expectations from policy-makers, research communities, ICT vendors, industries, academia and EU-funded projects. Through a series of presentations and open discussion forums, both local and international stakeholders and key players will have the opportunity to jointly harness synergies, in an attempt to promote existing cyberinfrastructure activities."

He adds, "Researchers are encouraged to participate in this meeting, share their knowledge, voice opinions and provide support in pursuit of harnessing a vibrant ecosystem in the context of the DST's cyberinfrastructure intervention. It is hoped that through the three-day interactive workshop, participants can fully explore how the research communities can take maximum advantage of this sizeable investment."

Contributions and sharing of expertise are encouraged in different areas of specialisation from delegates.

Interested presenters can download a PDF abstract guideline or email Tracy Cadle for abstract templates in MSWord or OpenWriter. Each presenter will be allocated 20 minutes per presentation.