SES celebrates the DAFNI champions
Six researchers from SES institutions are among the first dozen users of the £8m DAFNI infrastructure modelling and visualisation platform.
The DAFNI platform is designed to get answers to questions around the effectiveness of infrastructure through its modelling service, visualisation suite and a national infrastructure database, potentially helping to influence future decision-making on investment.
One of the first initiatives of DAFNI was to provide access to the platform for early adopters. These “DAFNI champions” are researchers who would try out the platform to provide feedback and help to explore the potential that DAFNI can bring.
Of the 12 champions selected, six represent SES member institutions. They are:
- Adrian Hickford, University of Southampton
- Lauren McMillan, University College London (UCL)
- Andrey Postnikov, UCL
- Tom Russell, University of Oxford
- Juste Raimbault, UCL
- Liz Varga, UCL
Research to be carried out by the champions include exploring the potential for DAFNI to support richer transport models, working with urban observatories to test how DAFNI can work with sensors regularly updating data in the environment and developing how DAFNI can support Digital Twins of our urban spaces.
The champions will also be an advocate for the platform within their university including developing events with DAFNI’s immediate and extended community.
The £8m platform developed by the Scientific Computing Department based at UKRI’s Science and Technology Facilities Council is designed to support academic research that is aiming to provide the UK with a world leading infrastructure system that is more efficient, reliable, resilient and affordable. It will achieve this by enabling the research community to conduct research that is able to generate insights at a higher level of detail and accuracy than ever before.
DAFNI was established as an element of the wider UK Collaboration for Research in Infrastructure and Cities (UKCRIC) with Imperial College, UCL, the University of Cambridge, Oxford and Southampton all founding partners.
Universities around the country have also been hosting DAFNI virtual roadshows to allow researchers to find out more about the platform. You can watch presentations from the recent UCL roadshow on the DAFNI website.