What is Digital Research Infrastructure (DRI)?
Overview
The Digital Research Alliance of Canada (the Alliance) empowers researchers at Canadian institutions, with the ultimate goal of positioning Canada as a leader in the global knowledge economy.
By funding and advancing Canada’s Digital Research Infrastructure (DRI), the Alliance provides a centralized and streamlined platform for the Canadian research community.
Canada’s DRI integrates advanced research computing (ARC), research data management (RDM), and research software (RS), and enables impactful research at scale. The DRI ecosystem ensures that Canadian researchers have access to the infrastructure and support they need to advance their work and contribute to innovation, regardless of their discipline or geographical location.
Advanced Research Computing
Advanced Research Computing (ARC) is a cornerstone of Canada’s digital research infrastructure and supports innovation across public and private sectors. It encompasses the tools and technologies reuqires for conducting computational- and data-intenstive research.
ARC integrates cloud computing, high-speed networks, and robust cybersecurity measures that enable researchers to tackle complex challenges. More than 200 experts at 38 partner insitutions acorss Canada provide essential expertise and keep ARC accesible to everyone.
ARC enables research across a variety of fields, such as:
- Health Sciences: advancing disease treatments and discovery
- Astronomy: exploring distant planets
- Ecology: studying weather patterns
- Engineering and AI: creating models to study protein-drug interactions
Research Data Management
Research Data Management (RDM) involves organizing, storing, sharing, and preserving research data throughout a project’s lifecycle. Since it ensures data is accessible, reusable, and properly maintained, RDM plays a curical role in Canada’s DRI.
The Alliance provides and supports RDM services such as:
🗃️ Federated Research Data Repository (FRDR): A platform for storing and sharing large datasets
🔍 Lunaris: A tool for discovering research data
📝 DMP Assistant: Helps researchers create data management plans
🌌 Borealis: A national research data repository
🤝 Network of Experts: Connects researchers with RDM specialists
📚 Learning & Training: Provides educational resources on RDM best practices
Research Software
Research software plays a pivotal role in helping researchers make discoveries, collaborate, and share their outputs. These platforms provide tools that support every stage of the research lifecycle, including data acquisition, management, processing, visualization, sharing, and preservation. By encouraging collaboration and open science practices, research software drives innovation across various fields.
As part of Canada’s DRI, the Alliance supports a variety of research software platforms and services designed to meet the needs of researchers at every stage of their work. These platforms play an important role in facilitating efficient data management and collaboration within Canada’s research community.
The Alliance is dedicated to supporting research software as a core component of Canada’s DRI, through funding initiatives, strategic partnerships, and capacity-building efforts.