Sustainable Big Data Conversations - Tackling the hidden costs of computing: GREENER principles for sustainable computational science

The goal of the Sustainable Big Data Conversations is to engage the Big Data Institute  (BDI) and Oxford Population Health (OxPop) research community with the topic of the environmental sustainability of their research.

Agenda

The event will start at 13:30 with an introductory remark by Dr Federica Lucivero (Ethox Centre) on the Sustainable Big Data Conversation Series, followed by a talk by Michael Inouye and Loïc Lannelongue on 'Tackling the hidden costs of computing: GREENER principles for sustainable computational science' based on their Green Algorithms project. BDI Director, Cecilia Lindgren, will respond reflecting on what this means for the research conducted in the BDI and OXPop health before opening up the discussion to members of the audience.

Abstract

Tackling the hidden costs of computing: GREENER principles for sustainable computational science

Scientific computing has enabled amazing discoveries and there is no doubt it will continue to do so. However, the corresponding environmental impact is a growing concern in light of the urgency of the climate crisis, and there is widespread interest in the research community; so what can we all do about it? Tackling this issue and making it easier for scientists to engage with sustainable computing is what motivated the Green Algorithms project and the GREENER framework for sustainable computing. Through the prism of the GREENER principles, we will discuss what we learned along the way, how to estimate the impact of our work and what levers scientists and institutions have to make their research more sustainable. We will also debate what hurdles exist and what is still needed moving forward.

BIOS

• Prof Michael Inouye is Professor of Systems Genomics and Population Health in the Dept of Public Health and Primary Care at the University of Cambridge and Director of Data Science at the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute in Melbourne. He is also Director of the Cambridge Baker Systems Genomics Initiative.
• Dr Loïc Lannelongue is a Research Associate in biomedical data science in the Department of Public Health and Primary Care at the University of Cambridge. He is also a Software Sustainability Institute Fellow and a Postdoctoral Associate at Jesus College, Cambridge.

To read more about this conversation and browse the slides, check out our blog post.

For any questions, please contact Dr Federica Lucivero.