9 December 2025
Canberra, ACT — The Australian Access Federation (AAF) is proud to highlight the outcome of a collaborative partnership with Australia’s climate simulator (ACCESS-NRI) that introduced federated access to the ACCESS-Hive Forum earlier this year — a dynamic, open-source collaborative portal developed by and for the Australian Community Climate and Earth System Simulator (ACCESS) framework.
ACCESS-Hive has become a central hub for documentation, discussion, and coordination within the ACCESS community. It features the ACCESS-Hive Forum, a dedicated space where users and developers come together to exchange ideas, share resources, and plan collaborative activities. Through this partnership, AAF has delivered seamless and secure federated login to ACCESS-Hive, enabling researchers and community members across institutions to connect effortlessly with the ACCESS ecosystem. This integration has enabled ACCESS-NRI to manage user identities across platforms, such as the National Computational Infrastructure (NCI) and the ACCESS-Hive Forum, with AAF as an underpinning the trusted identify framework. This strengthens collaboration and supports the growing needs of Australia’s climate research community, as well as helping ACCESS-NRI to identify user affiliation for reporting to funders.
Another clear example of the impact of this partnership, is ACCESS-NRI’s use of an authorisation portal for the UK Meteorological Office (UKMO) licensing, which provides access to the atmosphere model used by the ACCESS framework. ACCESS-NRI is leveraging the AAF authentication on the forum to link that license to a Forum identity, which again helps with reporting and communication with those users.
Professor Andy Hogg, Director of ACCESS-NRI, said “The introduction of federated access lays an important foundation for the ACCESS-Hive. More researchers are now able to log in effortlessly and participate in discussions, access documentation, and contribute to the community. It’s a vital step forward in making the ACCESS modelling system more accessible and inclusive.”
Heath Marks, CEO of AAF, further says “Federated access to platforms like ACCESS-Hive is a game-changer for research collaboration. It removes barriers to entry, allowing researchers to use their institutional credentials to securely and easily connect with national infrastructure. This kind of streamlined access is essential for enabling scalable collaboration across the Australian research landscape.”
Dr Aidan Heerdegen, Team Leader of ACCESS Model Release Management, reflected on the platform’s growth “ACCESS-Hive has already proven to be a valuable space for collaboration and knowledge sharing. With federated access now in place, we’re expanding its reach and usability. Our vision remains the same — that ACCESS-Hive continues to be a vibrant, community-driven portal where researchers co-create, contribute, and improve the powerful tools that underpin the ACCESS framework.”
This initiative is made possible through the support of the Australian Government via the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS).
