Eligibility and acceptable use
BioShell is a national resource funded through NCRIS. Access is governed by the ABLeS programme (Australian BioCommons Leadership Share).
Every access request must satisfy the five core ABLeS principles:
- Your project must be life-science related and produce data, research, training, or software outcomes.
- Your team must have sufficient expertise to responsibly use bioinformatics infrastructure.
- Your resource usage must be planned and proportional — national infrastructure is finite.
- Your project should support collaboration and sharing of outputs where appropriate.
- You must comply with all relevant facility policies.
For full eligibility criteria, see the ABLeS eligibility page.
Who can apply?
| User type | Description |
|---|---|
| Research projects | Academic, government, or industry life-science research with defined outcomes |
| Development projects | Bioinformatics tool or workflow development intended for community use |
| Self-paced learning | Independent exploration and learning; no training event required |
| Training projects | Nationally delivered or institutional life-science training activities |
Your access pathway
Choose the pathway that matches your use case.
Research, development, and self-paced learning
Apply through ABLeS. Your application should describe your purpose, expected duration, scale of compute needed, and any data considerations.
[AUTHOR TO SUPPLY — link to BioShell-specific access request form once available]
Training events
If you are planning a workshop or training event using BioShell, contact the BioCommons Training Team or email comms@biocommons.org.au.
BioShell training events must meet Australian BioCommons Co-hosted Event standards, including:
- Open to all suitable Australian life science researchers
- Affiliated with an Australian research organisation or university
- Publicly advertised at least one month before the event
- Delivered by an expert practitioner with clear learning outcomes
- Content reviewed by the Australian BioCommons Training and Communications team
- Adherence to the Australian BioCommons Code of Conduct
Tip: Visit the Event support page to see the full range of events Australian BioCommons can support.
Access duration and renewal
Research and development project access is granted for 3 months and is renewable. Renewal requires demonstrated usage and continued progress against the aims stated in your original application.
Note: Training access duration is determined on a case-by-case basis and is coordinated by the BioCommons Training Team. Contact comms@biocommons.org.au for details.
Connecting to BioShell
Once your environment is provisioned you will receive connection details by email. For step-by-step SSH connection instructions and information about your first login, see the Connecting to BioShell page.