The Labshare Institute

The Labshare Institute is a not-for-profit organisation established to provide service to a national network of shared remote laboratories. Labshare provides a range of services, including: brokering access to a broad-based catalogue of laboratories and associated educational resources; consulting services for rig development and software installation; negotiation of sharing agreements; handling of access management; support for ongoing technical development; and a range of other services. Labshare is funded through a combination of grants, partner and member fees, donations and philanthropic support.

History

The origins of Labshare date back to the 1990s with the emergence of research into the use of the internet to support distributed access to physical laboratory apparatus. Initially driven by an interest in providing additional flexibility and access for students, over time there was a growing awareness of the possibility for enhanced learning outcomes and increased laboratory richness, as well as the enablement of shared facilities and cost sharing.

An initial collaboration in the mid 2000s between the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) and Curtin University (Curtin), with support from the Australian Learning and Teaching Council began to strengthen the exploration of both the educational framework for remote labs, and the ways in which they could be shared between institutions. This led to the establishment in late 2008 of a broader consortium involving UTS and Curtin, as well as Queensland University of Technology, RMIT University, and University of South Australia. With funding from the Australian Federal Government's Diversity and Structural Adjustment Fund (managed by the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations), the consortium established the Labshare project: National Support for Laboratory Resource Sharing. This project aimed to develop a sustainable approach to the national sharing of remotely accessible laboratories - and led directly to the formation of the Labshare Institute in 2011.

Purpose

The Labshare Institute was established to ensure sustainability in the leveraging of remotely accessible laboratory technologies within the education sector. The formal objects of Labshare, as laid down in its constitution, are:

  • to be a not-for-profit entity to promote the sharing of laboratory and experimental resources for teaching, training and research, in both tertiary and secondary education sectors;
  • to arrange for the education and training of scientific and engineering students and workers using shared laboratory resources; and
  • to do all such other things as may be incidental to or conducive to the attainment of the objects of the Company.

    • Structure

    Labshare is a not-for-profit public company limited by guarantee established by key stakeholders within the educational sector for the broader public good. It is formally owned by Member institutions and is governed by a Board of Directors elected by the Members.