The MeG team build upon an extensive track record in delivery of highly successful research-oriented IT projects across a variety of disciplines. Wherever possible we build directly upon the results of these projects from a software perspective, but more importantly from a software engineering perspective to support the development and rollout of software solutions. We summarise the current portfolio of projects here and some of the previously completed projects involving the MeG staff to give an idea of the depth and breadth of research-oriented IT that we build upon. Many of these projects are for University of Melbourne researchers. This is made possible through an internal grant scheme funded through the Melbourne Collaborative Research Infrastructure Program (MCRIP) program to support a research software-oriented platform: Platform for Research Software Systems (PRESS). Where funding allows, the MeG team work across and support PRESS projects.
Australian Digital Observatory (ADO)
The ADO project funded by ARDC (https://ardc.edu.au) had a focus on collecting and analysing social media data at scale. This included data from Twitter, Foursquare, FlickR, Reddit and YouTube comments. The ADO platform supported topic modelling and sentiment analysis across a large corpus of social media posts. The platform was used by hundreds of researchers and students at the University of Melbourne.
EDGE
The EDGE platform (https://edge.eresearch.unimelb.edu.au) supports an evaluation of the Victorian 3-year-old kindergarten roll out. Participants include Early Childhood Education services, educators, parents and their children, with multiple types of data (i.e., face-to-face assessments, online surveys and qualitative interviews) and multiple time points for data collection.
Drugs4Dent
Supports evaluation of drugs and medications used in dentistry, e.g. for pain management, and the potential side-effects that can arise with drug combinations. The Drugs4Dent platform has since been commercialised (https://www.mimsdrugs4dent.com/).
SpeechAtax
The SpeechAtax platform (https://speechatax.eresearch.unimelb.edu.au/) focuses on a home-based speech therapy program based on the principles of neuroplasticity and motor learning. It is designed to improve breath support, vocal control and overall intelligibility of speech.
mindLAMP
The mindLAMP platform is a collaboration with Orygen Youth Mental Health (https://www.orygen.org.au/). It supports research into behaviour research and care. It deals with vast quantities of highly diverse data sets involving cohorts of thousands of patients. More information on mindLAMP is available at: https://docs.lamp.digital/.
Climate change analytics (MECCE) dashboard
The MECCE Project (https://mecce.ca/) is an international research partnership of over 100 leading scholars and agencies. The goal is to advance global climate literacy and action through improving the quality and quantity of climate change education, training, and public awareness.
ConnectUp: Citizen Science informed online platform to increase social connection, physical health, and mental wellbeing in people with disability and their carers
The ConnectUp (https://connectup.org.au/) platform has been co-designed with people with a disability and their carers. It helps users connect with others in their local area, find inclusive physical activities near them, share feedback on places and activities and contribute to a growing map and calendar of inclusive opportunities
PRECURSOR: Detecting and Preventing Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (COPD) in Young Middle-Aged Adults
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is the collective term for several lung diseases that can limit your breathing. While cigarette smoking is the most significant risk factor, other common contributors include asthma, hazardous exposures in the workplace and air pollution. There is no cure for COPD, but the earlier it is detected, the earlier that proactive management could lessen the chance of major lung damage and severe disease. The PRECURSOR platform (https://precursor.org.au/) has been developed for patients and health professionals to assess the risk of COPD in young and middle-aged adults.
Reducing alcohol intake and harm through personalised feedback
This platform involves a collaboration with researchers in the School of Psychology (https://psychologicalsciences.unimelb.edu.au/) at the University of Melbourne. Through a mobile application and associated web application, the project allowed individuals to track their consumption of alcohol and obtain targeted information to support their alcohol reducing goals.
BEST
BEST is a collaboration with Defence Science and Technology Group (www.dst.defence.gov.au). It focuses on understanding and analysing the impact of new and improved technologies for providing an appropriate level of survivability and lethality against a range of threats that arise in the defence domain. This is achieved through applying user-oriented Bayesian Neural Networks delivered as a user-oriented web application.