About - National Imaging Facility

Human Tooth CT scan – courtesy of Diana Patalwala, UWA

Exploring Inner Space

The Australian National Imaging Facility (NIF) is a $300 million project providing state-of-the-art imaging capability of humans, animals, plants, and materials for the Australian research community. NIF’s grid of imaging facilities spreads across Australia, offering a range of leading-edge imaging instrumentation and expertise in the optimal use of imaging technology to the Australian research community.

NIF is an Unincorporated Joint Venture (UJV), established in 2007, with eleven participants. It has received substantial funding through the Australian Government’s National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS) with co-funding from Australian and state government agencies and partners to provide imaging capabilities.

Through the facilities and knowledge supported by NIF, researchers are exploring inner space for human health, agriculture, food security, crops, livestock, materials, specimens, composites, ecology and biosciences applications.

NIF Governance

NIF Nodes

NIF Partnerships

Message from the CEO

Whether it is industrial processes, understanding human neural responses, or visualising anatomy structure and function in laboratory or native animals, imaging is an important tool. Our Facility and Informatics Fellows are key to the success of NIF, and are working to build engagement with our national and international partners and to improve the processes within our facilities. These are activities that turn a hardware facility into an infrastructure capability.

Australia’s research community is increasingly reporting the impact they have on economy, society, and environment. Explore some of our example projects highlighting the collaborative efforts of NIF scientists and users, and be inspired.

– Professor Graham Galloway, NIF CEO

NIF established with $7.5M funding as one of four initiative projects implemented by the Australian Government under the Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (CRIS) Characterization capabilities

NIF further expanded through the Education Investment Fund (EIF) with an additional $40.2M funding

NIF funding continued as part of CRIS and then NCRIS with an additional $4.3M (2013), $2.9M (2015), and $2.9M (2016). Imaging identified as a critical component in the 2016 Roadmap. NIF supported by the National Innovation and Science Agenda (NISA) with an additional $3.2M funding from 2016.

Increased funding provided via NCRIS ($53M over five years) and NISA ($16M over five years) to enable capital renewal and continued growth of prioritized national research infrastructure in imaging with an additional

2007

NIF established as one of four initiative projects implemented by the Australian Government under the Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (CRIS) Characterization capabilities with $17M funding

2009

NIF further expanded through the Education Investment Fund (EIF) with an additional $40.2M funding

2013-2016

NIF funding continued as part of CRIS and then NCRIS with an additional $4.3M (2013), $2.9M (2015), and $2.9M (2016). Imaging identified as a critical component in the 2016 Roadmap.

2017

NIF supported by the National Innovation and Science Agenda (NISA) with an additional $3.2M funding

2018-2023

Increased funding provided via NCRIS ($53M over five years) and NISA ($16M over five years) to enable capital renewal and continued growth of prioritised national research infrastructure in imaging.

NIF Vision

NIF's vision is to provide a national research infrastructure capability in advanced imaging that enables discovery and innovation

NIF Mission

NIF's mission is to:
Identify iconic investments in nationally and globally significant areas
Provide Australian researchers with reliable and state-of-the-art technology, highly specialised expertise, and a world-leading capacity for creating and accessing high quality, reproducible data
Ensure that Australia remains at the forefront of international developments and is able to contribute solutions to global challenges

NIF Headquarters

NIF is a national capability with facilities in SA, WA, NSW, VIC, and QLD, with the central office located in Brisbane.