APAN59

The initiatives concerning ‘Commonality’ will serve as a primary objective. To achieve the standardization of rules and governance, it is essential to foster a shared understanding and application of concepts like ‘Interoperability’ within the Asia Pacific region. Successful cross-border collaborations, exemplified by fields such as Space and Life Sciences, have already been established, making it vital to identify the elements contributing to the success of such ‘Standardization’ efforts. Discussions will highlight the necessity of adopting ‘a more nuanced approach to each country and region,’ recognizing that a universal standard for Research Data Management (RDM) practices is not feasible.  Disseminating practices from regional initiatives that take into account the cultural contexts of each nation would offer valuable case studies for participants to explore this methodology. The concept of ‘Cultural Change’ serves as a fundamental component for collective progress. Furthermore, the ‘Methodology’ outlines the processes through which theoretical knowledge can be transformed into practical systems that researchers can effectively utilize. It is crucial to evaluate the types of technology that can facilitate the transition from concept to tangible outcomes.
1. International Initiatives on rules, recommendations, and standardizations, and Cross-border research initiatives
2. Regional Initiatives
3. Technical Initiatives on Engineering

Session3
Session Title: Technical Initiatives on Engineering
Session Chair: Jyoti Bhogal, RSE
Talk (15min/speaker)

1. Jyoti Bhogal 
Co-founder and Lead, Research Software Engineering Asia Association, India;
Title: Building Bridges: Advancing Research Software Engineering and Open Science in Asia, Research Software Engineers (RSEs) are crucial to advancing computational research and enabling Open Science.
Abstract: In Asia, however, formal recognition of RSE roles and structured career pathways remains limited. Since 2022, the RSEng community in Asia has seen significant progress, marked by three annual online unconferences held from 2022 to 2024. These events fostered collaboration and knowledge exchange between RSEng communities across Asia and Australia. An ongoing study is exploring the RSEng landscape in Asia by engaging Early, Mid-Career, and Senior Researchers. Inspired by the Software Sustainability Institute’s community surveys (https://softwaresaved.github.io/international-survey-2022/), this study adapts methodologies to the Asian context, aiming to uncover the unique challenges, opportunities, and aspirations of researchers who code. Insights from this study are expected to inform policy-making by organisations like the Asia Pacific Advanced Network. Furthermore, currently a collaborative six-month series with RSE Asia Association and RSSE Africa is spotlighting diverse aspects of enabling Open Science through research code. This initiative is strengthening global ties, fostering capacity building, and promoting best practices. This talk will showcase the growth and potential of the RSEng community in Asia, aiming to inspire collaboration, share actionable ideas, and encourage sustainable RSEng communities across the region and beyond.

2. Chris Janson
Senior market advisor, Nokia, United States;
Title: Protecting REN data in the quantum age
Abstract: Research and Education networks should be concerned about threats to data integrity resulting from quantum computing development. In the coming years, commonly used asymmetric ciphers will be vulnerable to compromise by cryptographically-relevant quantum computers (CRQC). The Global Risk Institute puts the likelihood of CRQC existence at over 30% within the next nine years. Even sooner, threat actors could be storing encrypted data for later deciphering. Operators need to act now. New directives have emerged aimed at protective measures such as symmetric ciphers, and quantum key distribution (QKD). The US NIST recently standardized post-quantum cryptography (PQC), to replace asymmetric, public-key frameworks. Together these technologies offer quantum age protection. How do we define a quantum-safe network? What roles do AES, QKD and PQC play? How should keys be distributed? What does this mean for those planning network investments over the next few years? In this presentation, we offer an outline of the quantum-computing threat, a definition of a quantum-safe network, and provide an architecture for immediate protection, capable of evolution. We will provide and overview of an evolutive quantum-safe network deployment, showing how it is a strong example of a quantum-safe network for any application.

3. Ai Sugiura
Programme Specialist for Natural Sciences at UNESCO's East Asia Regional Office
Title: Introduction to the International Congress of Engineer in 2024
Advancing Open Science in East Asia: Fostering Collaboration through Open Hydrology, Engineering, and Interoperability UNESCO Beijing is advancing Open Science (OS) through initiatives like Open Hydrology (IHP), promoting transparent water data sharing, and fostering inclusivity within MAB and UGGp. Efforts in Open Engineering enhance research reproducibility and South-South cooperation. An upcoming regional survey on Open Science Infrastructures (OSI) and interoperability aims to identify shared platforms, explore multilingual metadata practices, and provide insights to improve cross-border collaboration and accessibility in East Asia​

4. ZHU Xiaojie
Senior Engineer, Computer Network Information Center of Chinese Academy of Sciences, China
Title: Supporting open and sharing data practices with end-to-end workflow framework for cross-center data analysis
Abstract: The rapid development of big data and artificial intelligence technologies has led to the transformation of research paradigms. The convergence research paradigm emphasizes collaborative analysis of scientific data from different domains to achieve scientific discoveries, where analysis task types are diverse and analysis processes span across different scientific data centers. Existing process-based analysis frameworks are difficult to support end-to-end cross-center scientific data analysis requirements due to the lack of analysis process expression capabilities, heterogeneous computing framework integration capabilities, and cross-center job scheduling capabilities. This paper proposes a software framework for performing end-to-end cross-center analysis of scientific data, supporting the construction of heterogeneous workflows across centers, transparent data transfer across frameworks, optimized scheduling of cross-center jobs, and data ownership and traceability. This framework effectively addresses the challenges of cross-center scientific data analysis, providing researchers in different scientific fields with powerful tools for comprehensive and collaborative analysis. Finally, we validate the advancement and feasibility of this framework by combining it with real-world scenarios.
Keywords: scientific research paradigm, analysis workflow, scientific data center, cross-center computing.

5. Discussion: Open floor discussion