This is the new indico site. Data from 2019 to 10th September 2024 has been migrated here. Any queries to spcs-computing AT qmul.ac.uk.

2023 IRIS Collaboration Meeting

UTC
Royal Observatory Edinburgh

Royal Observatory Edinburgh

Blackford Hill Edinburgh EH9 3HJ
Andrew Sansum (STFC, Scientific Computing Department), Bob Mann, David Crooks (Science and Technology Facilities Council), George Beckett, John Kewley (STFC Daresbury Laboratory, Scientific Computing), Jonathan Hays (Queen Mary), Mark Holliman
Description
The IRIS Collaboration Meeting will be taking place at the Royal Observatory Edinburgh (ROE), which is located on Blackford Hill, a couple of miles south of the centre of the city. Accommodation is available within walking distance of the ROE as well as within the city centre, but note that those arriving for the meeting by any means other than taxi or car will conclude their journey with a bracing walk up Blackford Hill.

The January IRIS Security Workshop will take place on the day before the  Collaboration Meeting. This full-day workshop (provisionally starting around 10am) will focus on security fundamentals including security architecture, risk management and vulnerability management. It will include both lectures and in-person exercises so participation in person is recommended to get the most from the event. Please consider this workshop when making your travel plans.

ACCESS to ROE: On arriving at ROE please use the buzzer to the left of the main gate to gain access and then sign in at the Lodge, collect your name badge and follow directions to the Higgs Building.

TRANSPORT
Edinburgh is well served by the Lothian Buses network, which covers all areas of the city likely to be of interest to workshop attendees, including the airport. Tickets can be paid for in a variety of ways, with contactless payment being the simplest; change is not given for cash payments.

City Cabs (0131-228-1211) and Central Taxis (0131-229-2468) are the two main black cab firms in Edinburgh, although there are a number of private hire companies, such as Capital Cars (0131-777-7777); for metered journeys around the city they all use the same fare tariff.

Arrival by Air
Edinburgh Airport is located a few miles to the west of the city. Travel into the city centre is possible by bus, tram and taxi, while travel straight from the airport to ROE is really only feasible by taxi (at a cost of ~£30). Licensing complications means that there are separate queues for black cabs (provided by City Cabs) and private hire vehicles.

Arrival by Train
Edinburgh Waverley, located right in the city centre, is Edinburgh’s main train station, although some services also stop at Haymarket to the west of the city centre. The taxi rank at Waverley is now just outside the station, on Market Street, with most buses running from Princes Street (although airport buses stop on Waverley Bridge). Lothian Buses 3, 29, 31 and 37 run from Princes Street to Cameron Toll, which is 1.1 mile from ROE (but note that work on North Bridge means that northbound return journeys follow a slightly different route).  Lothian Bus 41 runs from The Mound (just up Market Street from Waverley), to King’s Buildings, which is about 0.5 mile from ROE.

Arrival by Car
The postcode “EH9 3HJ” should be used for GPS navigation to ROE and there is usually ample parking just outside the Observatory

ACCOMODATION
Accomodation near ROE

There are a large number of B&Bs and hotels on Mayfield Road and Mayfield Gardens/Craigmillar Park, which are two of the main roads southbound from the city centre. The following are all within 1-1.5 mile of ROE:
N.B. Lothian Bus route 12 runs down Mayfield Road to King’s Buildings and routes 3, 7, 8, 29, 31, 37, 47 and 49 down Mayfield Gardens/Craigmillar Park to Cameron Toll

Accomodation in the city centre
University visitor accommodation can be booked through www.uoecollection.com and use of the promotion code ENJOY will yield a 15% discount on the basic rates. The Scott and Scholar Hotels are on the Pollock Halls campus, while the KM Hotel and Apartments is close by. All three are about 2 miles from ROE, but close to the bus routes that run down to Cameron Toll.
Other hotels close to those bus routes include:
MapToWorkshopDinner
Workshop Dinner Menu
  • Thursday 12 January
    • 09:30
      Registration and Coffee
    • IRIS Overview
      Convener: Bob Mann
      • 1
        Welcome and Logistics
        Speaker: Bob Mann
        WelcomeAndLogistics
      • 2
        Introduction to Computing at Edinburgh
        Speaker: Mark Parsons
        EdinburghComputing
      • 3
        IRIS Status
        Speaker: Prof. Jonathan Hays (Queen Mary)
        Slides: IRIS Overview and Update
      • 4
        RSAP Status
        Speaker: Dr Daniela Bauer (Faculty of Natural Sciences, Department of Physics, Imperial College London)
        Slides: RSAP Update
      • 5
        DRI Status Update
        Speaker: Tom Griffin
        DRI
      • 6
        Security Update
        Speaker: Dr David Crooks (Science and Technology Facilities Council)
        SecurityUpdate
    • 12:00
      Lunch
    • Tour: (limited numbers, booking required)
      Convener: Mark Holliman
      • 7
        The Crawford Collection
        Historic books on Astronomy and Physics – 1st ed Copernicus, Newton’s death mask, etc: the librarian is offering tours to groups of six, with their standard highlights tour being 20-30 mins long (note: tours might be earlier in the day).
    • Activity Reports

      Report back from some of the IRIS Science Activities

      Convener: Dr Andrew Sansum (STFC, Scientific Computing Department)
      • 8
        Gaia Service Platform
        Speaker: Nigel Hambly
        Gaia
      • 9
        Large-Scale​ Medchem Computations ​ at a Click
        (tying the IRIS Cloud to Fragalysis)
        Speakers: Frank von Delft, Matteo Ferla (DLS), Rubén Sanchez (DLS)
        Medchem
      • 10
        LSST Update
        Speaker: George Beckett
        LSST
      • 11
        SKAO Update
        Speakers: Piers Harding (SKAO), Rohini Joshi, Ugur Yilmaz
        SKAO
      • 12
        The SKA-SRC
        Speaker: Dr Jeremy Yates (Department of Physics & Astronomy)
        SKA-SRC
    • 14:40
      Coffee Break
    • Activity Reports

      Report back from some of the IRIS Science Activities

      Convener: Mr Ian Collier (Science and Technology Facilities Council)
      • 13
        Analysis as a Service
        Speaker: Fan Yang-Turner
        AnalysisasaService
    • Federated IRIS
      Convener: Mr Ian Collier (Science and Technology Facilities Council)
      • 14
        DiRAC Federation and IRIS
        Speaker: Mark Wilkinson
        DiRAC
      • 15
        IAM Update
        Speaker: Tom Dack
        IAM
      • 16
        Introduction to AAI Discussion Session
        Speaker: Jens Jensen
        AAI
      • 17
        AAI Discussion
        Speaker: Jens Jensen
    • IRIS Delivery Board: (note different time to usual)

      IRIS DB members only - please see email for Zoom coords
      https://indico.ph.qmul.ac.uk/indico/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=1642 (usual password)

      Convener: Prof. Jonathan Hays (Queen Mary)
    • Tour: (limited numbers, booking required)
      Convener: Mark Holliman
      • 18
        UKATC Labs
        One of the engineers is offering tours of the labs, where there are currently a couple of large instruments – one for the VLT and one for the ELT – being built. Tours are a maximum of 10 people.
    • 19:00
      Workshop Dinner Amber Restaurant, Royal Mile

      Amber Restaurant, Royal Mile

      354 Castlehill
      The Royal Mile
      Edinburgh
      EH1 2NE
      https://www.scotchwhiskyexperience.co.uk/amber-restaurant/

  • Friday 13 January
    • Activity Reports

      Report back from some of the IRIS Science Activities

      Convener: Prof. Jonathan Hays (Queen Mary)
      • 19
        Euclid Update
        Speaker: Mark Holliman
        Euclid
      • 20
        Cambridge & CASU Activities
        Speaker: Dominic Ford
        CASU
      • 21
        Using IRIS infrastructure for macromolecular crystallography data processing at Diamond Light Source
        Speaker: Irakli Sikharulidze
        Diamond
      • 22
        A platform for generic simulation tracking and monitoring
        Speaker: Andrew Lahiff
        Simvue
    • Infrastructure Updates
      Convener: Prof. Jonathan Hays (Queen Mary)
      • 23
        STFC Cloud and Storage
        Speaker: Jacob Ward
        STFC Cloud
    • 10:30
      Coffee Break
    • Infrastructure Updates
      Convener: Tom Griffin
      • 24
        JISC Network Update
        Speakers: Chris Walker, David Richardson
        Janet update
        JISC Update
      • 25
        Scientific OpenStack Update
        Speaker: John Garbutt
        OpenStack update
      • 26
        IRISCAST
        Speaker: Prof. Jonathan Hays (Queen Mary)
        Slides
      • 27
        Data Curation and Storage at DiRAC
        Speaker: Alastair Basden
        DataCuration
      • 28
        Closing Remarks
        Speaker: Prof. Jonathan Hays (Queen Mary)
    • 12:30
      Light Lunch