CSIRO Research Application Portal

Overview

A web application built for CSIRO to streamline the management of research position applications in Machine Learning and Data Science, with a focus on COVID-19 vaccination causality research in Australia.

Features

For Applicants

• User registration and profile management
• Application submission for research positions
• Educational background and experience documentation
• Document upload capability (CV, cover letter)
• Real-time application status tracking
• Automated email notifications

For Administrators

• Comprehensive application review dashboard
• Advanced sorting and filtering capabilities
• Automated candidate shortlisting
• Interview scheduling management
• Email communication system
• Application status management

Technical Stack

• Backend: ASP.NET Core MVC (.NET 8.0)
• Database: PostgreSQL
• Authentication: ASP.NET Core Identity
• Frontend: Bootstrap 5, jQuery
• Email: Development simulation with production SMTP support

Getting Started

Prerequisites

• .NET 8.0 SDK
• PostgreSQL 15 or higher
• Visual Studio 2022 or VS Code

Installation

1. Clone the repository

git clone [repository-url]
cd csiro_mvc

2. Update database connection string in appsettings.json

{
  "ConnectionStrings": {
    "DefaultConnection": "Host=localhost;Database=csiro_mvc;Username=your_username;Password=your_password"
  }
}

3. Apply database migrations

dotnet ef database update

Running the Application

1. Start the application:

dotnet run --launch-profile http

2. Access the application at:

• http://localhost:5002

Email Testing in Development

During development, the application simulates email sending by saving email content as HTML files:

1. All emails are saved in the EmailSimulation directory
2. Files are named with timestamps (e.g., email_20240101_120000.html)
3. Each file contains:
   • Email metadata (recipient, subject, timestamp)
   • Formatted email content
   • Styling for visualization

Production Deployment

For production deployment:

1. Update email configuration in appsettings.Production.json
2. Set environment variable: ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENT=Production
3. Configure your SMTP server details

Security Features

• Role-based authorization
• Secure password hashing
• Input validation and sanitization
• CSRF protection
• XSS prevention
• SQL injection protection