The Australian Imaging Service (AIS) is a national project led by Dr Ryan Sullivan at the University of Sydney, with key operational and development support provided by Sydney Imaging staff such as Dr Thomas Close, who leads the AIS integrated analysis pipelines team. AIS was established in collaboration with the Australian Research Data Commons (ARDC), the National Imaging Facility (NIF), and partner universities and research organisations. AIS aims to standardise and integrate the XNAT platform for imaging research in a distributed federation.
The federated access system of AIS caters to the requirements of Australian researchers and imaging experts, especially those involved in clinical, preclinical, veterinary, and archaeological imaging, addressing significant data challenges. AIS streamlines user authentication, integrates instruments, defines data ontologies, and provides sophisticated software tools, all aimed at bolstering research reproducibility.
AIS operates as a federation with a central set of software repositories. Partner institutions maintain their nodes, integrating local governance and infrastructure. The platform follows a hub-and-spoke model, connecting nodes with imaging devices, and facilitating multi-site studies.
AIS encompasses four integrated capability areas to optimise functionality.
For access enquiries, please contact ais.admin@sydney.edu.au
AIS has supported hundreds of users across more than 200 projects. Examples include:
The AIS has also worked with other ARDC-supported projects, including the: