Note: The National Federated Compute Services NetworkPlus involves staff from the ARCHER2 team but it is not an ARCHER2 project. ARCHER2 have agreed to host the webpages while we develop the project's website.
The National Federated Compute Services NetworkPlus aims to build collaboration and knowledge exchange for federating across the stakeholder communities that use and provide computational services. A key objective is to produce a roadmap for the future of federated compute services in the UK.
An important component of the NetworkPlus is the distribution of funding to support the building of community and contributing to the development of the roadmap. Approximately £2m of total funding is available for short term projects built around the three pillars of the NetworkPlus: Governance, Technology, and Community.
The project lead team are: Jon Hays (PI, Queen Mary University London), Sadaf Alum (University of Bristol), Josephine Beech-Brandt (EPCC, University of Edinburgh), Adrian Hines (JASMIN, STFC) and Aassil Alexandrov (Hartree, STFC). The team is supported by John Masih (Project Manager), Rui Apóstolo (Community Enagement), David Meredith (Industry Engagement) and will be joined by a project administrator and a technical coordinator.
National Federated Compute Services Flexible Funding Call
We invite applications for the flexible funding call. The Flexible Funding call is designed to support projects that: (a) collect relevant evidence and documentation to contribute to the development of the federation roadmaps; (b) contribute to building the community around NFCS.
The flexible nature of the call will enable the selection of projects on various scales that span the three pillars of the NetworkPlus: Community, Technology, and Governance. The selection of projects will seek to achieve a balance across these pillars and between large and small projects. The Flexible Funding call is the principal mechanism through which the community can contribute to developing the insights needed for the roadmaps, and the project selection will look to ensure that a range of communities of different sizes and maturities with respect to large-scale computing and data services are engaged.
Flexible Funding Call Process
Applicants are strongly recommended to engage with the NetworkPlus lead team, as early as possible, prior to final submission for feedback to ensure good alignment with the scope of the call. We will endeavour to respond to all enquiries made before 22nd April.
Further details are available within the full Flexible Funding Call document: Flexible Funding Call
Guidance document for the call.
To ensure prompt delivery of funds, please spend time reviewing the Draft collaboration agreement and share with the relevant team at your institution: Draft Collaboration Agreement
Register for Mailing List
If you would like to be kept informed of the work of the NFCS Network+, please register for the National Federated Compute Services Network+ mailing list
Launch Event : London 5th and 6th March 2025
The launch event for the UKRI NetworkPlus on National Federated Compute Services (NFCS+) was a two-day event and took place on 5th and 6th March 2025.
Slides and videos from the event can be accessed at the event page: UKRI Federated National Compute Services NetworkPlus London