Ireland Chosen to Lead New European Supercomputing Consortium

Ireland has been selected to lead a new consortium looking at the future of supercomputing in Europe. Ireland will lead the new E-Cam centre of excellence for supercomputing on behalf of the CECAM network of computational science institutes, with Ireland’s CECAM node located in University College Dublin.  E-CAM stands for “An e-infrastructure for software, training and consultancy in simulation and modelling” and has received its funding (€4.8 M) under the EU’s Horizon 2020 programme.

E-CAM will create a European infrastructure for computational science applied to simulation and modelling of materials and of biological processes of industrial and societal importance. Building on the already significant network of 15 CECAM (Centre Européen de Calcul Atomique et Moleculaire) centres across Europe and the PRACE initiative, it will create a distributed, sustainable centre for simulation and modelling at and across the atomic, molecular and continuum scales. The project will also train over 300 researchers in computational sciences applied to their domain expertise. E-CAM aims to raise awareness of the importance and value of computational scientists and programmers, and to challenge stereotypes of gender and status in this regard.

With Ireland now leading the charge the aim is for Ireland to be the leading European centre for computational simulations in the areas associated with CECAM (at the moment mostly atomic and molecular modelling). Looking ahead, the remit of CECAM contains a strategy to incorporate other fields of physics in the future with simulations in astrophysics/cosmology (which share a significant overlap in algorithmic techniques with Molecular Dynamics) and Quantum Chromo Dynamics (QCD) top of the queue.

The consortium will be chaired by Prof. Luke Drury of the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies. NUI Galway will also play a part, as host to the Irish Centre for High-End Computing, based there.

ICHEC is the home of Fionn, currently the top machine on the Irish Supercomputer List.

Full story in the Irish Times here and a link to some further information can be found in the launch E-Cam Flyer.

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