GUARDIANS Project Kick Off

Implementing best practice identity and access management solutions for responsible human omics research data sharing

As experts in trust and identity, the Australian Access Federation (AAF) have partnered with the Australia BioCommons’ GUARDIANS project to implement best practice identity and access management solutions to improve Australia’s capacity to share human omics research data securely and responsibly.

The GUARDIANS (human Genomics Uplift for Australia through Research Data Infrastructure At National Scale) project is accelerating human genomics and related omics research in Australia, through the development of world-class digital infrastructure. The GUARDIANS project will empower Australian researchers to easily and securely discover, access, analyse and use human genomics data across national infrastructure, using the latest tools and resources.

AAF’s Head of Trust and Identity Strategy and Futures John Scullen, Project Manager Poornima Mani, and Business Analyst Ryan Paytes, recently attended the February 2025 GUARDIANS meeting hosted by BioCommons in Sydney.

John Scullen says, “It was informative to hear from our project partners, and deepen our understanding of how AAF can support the authentication and authorisation requirements to support secure research data sharing.

“The exploration of the policies, processes, and technologies needed for the project was shaped by open idea sharing and collaborative discussions aimed at finding solutions to potential challenges.

“We look forward to collaborating with our GUARDIANS partners to bolster researchers’ capacity to easily and securely discover, access, analyse and use human genomics data across national infrastructure.”

The AAF are now regularly collaborating with GUARDIANS partners to discuss and discover processes and policies required to implemented shared identity and access management for streamlined, secure researcher access.

The GUARDIANS project builds on the lessons learnt in BioCommons’ Human Genomes Platform Project (HGPP).

The AAF played a crucial role in HGPP by implementing best practice identity and access management solutions, to improve Australia’s capacity to access and share human omics research data. The HGPP investigated and prototyped a suite of services aimed at bolstering Australia’s capacity to share human omics research data securely and responsibly.

The GUARDIANS partners include: