ARDC — Australian Research Data Commons
Overview
ARDC is the Australian national digital research infrastructure facility, established in 2018 by merging three predecessor organisations: the Australian National Data Service (ANDS), Nectar, and Research Data Services. Funded through the Australian Government’s National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS), ARDC provides Australian researchers with data infrastructure, platforms, and skills.
Key Services and Programmes
Research Data Australia
ARDC manages Research Data Australia (RDA), a web portal enabling access to data from 100+ Australian research organisations, cultural institutions, and government agencies. Metadata is described using standardised schemas aligned with DCAT and Dublin Core, enabling discoverability and EOSC interoperability.
Nectar Research Cloud
A national, freely available cloud computing infrastructure for Australian researchers, with 50,000+ core capacity. It provides virtual laboratories and analytical platforms for data-intensive research.
FAIR Data Infrastructure
ARDC is Australia’s primary FAIR implementation body. FAIR Data 101 is an open training course on FAIR principles. The FAIR Data Self-Assessment Tool provides interactive FAIRness evaluation. The Australian National PID Strategy (2024) coordinates persistent identifier adoption (DOI, ORCID, ROR) across the Australian research sector. The ARDC RVA service supports domain-specific vocabulary publishing and management.
Domain Data Commons
ARDC supports discipline-specific data commons. The Biological Psychiatry Data Commons (2025) is a FAIR-aligned psychiatric omics platform using the Gen3 platform, led by Bioplatforms Australia and Australian BioCommons.
International Alignment
ARDC actively engages with international open science initiatives. It is an RDA member and participant in RDA plenaries.
Connections
- International framework: RDA