Projects & Case Studies
The AAF partners with the Australian research sector through national research infrastructures (NRIs), medical research institutes and universities to provide a seamless and secure research ecosystem. We’ve explored and built solutions for the community and with the community.
AURIN - Australian Urban Research Infrastructure Network
AURIN and the Australian Access Federation (AAF) enable access to data that underpins research to support a healthy society and addresses inequities in urban planning. Through integration with the AAF’s Federation, AURIN enables users from all sectors to seamlessly access critical datasets and analytical tools, driving forward research into Australia’s urban and regional development.
GUARDIANS - Human Genomics Uplift for Australia through Research Data Infrastructure At National Scale
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 Australian 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.
The importance of persistent identifiers in the Age of AI
As AI continues to evolve rapidly, knowing and trusting the source of information is more important than ever. Persistent Identifiers (PIDs) play a critical role in modern research by ensuring the provenance, discoverability, and traceability of scientific outputs. From researchers and datasets to software and institutions, PIDs provide clear, reliable identification across the research ecosystem.
APPN - Australian Plant Phenomics Network
APPN’s connection to the Federation enables national and international researchers with open access to their state-of-the-art phenotyping.
The APPN is a national research infrastructure that accelerates the development of new and improved crops and sustainable agricultural practices. Their facilities provide automated image analysis and plant phenomics that address complex challenges for food production and environmental science. Federation scientists from around the globe can access their data and explore innovations for drought resistant crops.
Australian Research Data Commons (ARDC)
AAF has partnered with the Australian Research Data Commons (ARDC) to develop a trust and identity reference architecture. The incubator project will enable consistent application of the technology and policy components of the Trust and Identity (T&I) Framework for research collaborations.
This incubator will test the entirety of the Framework and uplift the interoperability of ARDC’s Nectar Research Cloud. The incubator will ensure the trust and identity policies and technologies are reusable across ARDC’s Thematic Research Data Commons, to support researchers across distributed infrastructures and research communities.
Microscopy Australia
AAF has partnered with Microscopy Australia exploring impact tracking through persistent identifiers (PIDs).
Microscopy Australia are a consortium of university-based microscopy facilities that more than 3,500 researchers across Australia use each year. They aim to empower Australian science and innovation by making advanced microscopes accessible to all researchers.
One of the greatest challenges in research is to connect and report on distributed services and this incubator explores how richer reporting, impact tracking and usage data can be provided through ORCID iDs and PIDs across national research infrastructure.
Pawsey Supercomputing Research Centre
AAF has partnered with the Pawsey Supercomputing Research Centre exploring options to provide seamless and secure access to their supercomputing service using federated identities.
The Pawsey Supercomputing Research Centre is one of two Tier-1 high-performance computing facilities in Australia. Its primary function is to accelerate scientific research for the benefit of the nation. Pawsey’s service and expertise in supercomputing, data, cloud services and visualisation enables research across a variety of fields including astronomy, life sciences, medicine, energy, resources and artificial intelligence.
Pawsey’s supercomputing systems play a critical role, for a wide range of research disciplines and features as an important part of many researchers’ workflows. This Incubator will raise the security profile of Pawsey and provide a single user account across their ecosystem. The Pawsey Incubator is a foundational building block in trust and identity for national research infrastructure and plays a critical role in the implementation of trust and identity across the sector.
National Imaging Facility
AAF has partnered with the National Imaging Facility (NIF) exploring improved access and collaboration for complex multi-site human imaging projects and medical trials using sensitive data.
NIF is Australia’s advanced imaging network, and provides open access to flagship imaging equipment, tools, data and analysis. NIF aims to maintain Australia’s world leading role in advanced imaging technology and make its capabilities accessible to all Australian medical researchers to solve challenges across research and industry. They enable research in areas such as mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), epilepsy and melanoma. NIF are critical to research translation, clinical trials and the commercialisation of medical products.
As one of AAF’s Trust and Identity Pathfinder Incubators, we have been working with NIF on enhancing their access — providing NIF partners, institutional researchers and external users with the opportunity for improved access and collaboration when undertaking complex, multi-site human imaging projects such as national clinical trials that use sensitive data.
Image credit: National Imaging Facility Advanced Human MRI capabilities at SAHMRI
ACCESS-NRI
AAF has partnered with ACCESS-NRI exploring options to provide consistent user tracking and reporting.
Australia’s climate simulator (ACCESS-NRI) is a national research Infrastructure that supports the research and development of the Australian Community Climate and Earth System Simulator (ACCESS) modelling system framework. ACCESS-NRI provides this service in collaboration with National Computational Infrastructure (NCI).
The AAF is currently in the discovery stage of an incubator with ACCESS-NRI, with the objective to develop a solution that can improve the current usage tracking approaches across all ACCESS-NRI resources.
Human Genomes Platform Project
Advancing human genomic research through federated identity and access management.
The Australian Access Federation (AAF) partnered with Australian BioCommons on their Human Genomes Platform Project (HGPP).
The HGPP investigated and prototyped a suite of services aimed at bolstering Australia’s capacity to share human omics research data securely and responsibly. Affordable DNA sequencing technology has revolutionised genomic research, allowing for the analysis of hundreds of thousands of genomes worldwide. This advancement has significantly improved the understanding of complex diseases, facilitated early detection and diagnosis, and expanded treatment options tailored to individuals.
As experts in trust and identity, the AAF played a crucial role in implementing best practice identity and access management solutions, to improve Australia’s capacity to access and share human omics research data.
Language Data Commons of Australia (LDaCA)
The LDaCA project’s purpose is to share significant language data collections using appropriate authorisation from dataset custodians. AAF has leveraged experience from other projects to implement policy and tools to manage access to a wide range of language datasets. The AAF’s role included interviewing stakeholders to understand and document dataset access rules, and deliver infrastructure to streamline and support the implementation of these rules.
Australian National PID Strategy and Roadmap
Persistent identifiers (PIDs) are crucial for impact tracking, as they are globally unique machine-readable codes assigned to objects such as scholarly articles, people, datasets, instruments, or online resources. They serve as unalterable markers for locating and identifying specific resources amidst the dynamic landscape of the internet.
Murchison Widefield Array (MWA)
The AAF connected the MWA to eduGAIN and not only enhanced and accelerated innovation in astrophysics, it enabled borderless research. A global initiative and a world leading data advantage, Australia’s role in eduGAIN is becoming solidified as more national research and infrastructure is shared globally.
Enhancing authentication for trusted access to high performance compute
For researchers, government and industry
The AAF has partnered with the National Computational Infrastructure (NCI)
to explore improved trust and identity solutions across their high-performance computing, data, and virtual environments — supporting secure access for researchers, government, and industry users.
Bridging Innovation: AAF and SAHMRI Connect South Australian Researchers for Better, More Equitable Healthcare
In a major step forward for South Australian research infrastructure, the Australian Access Federation (AAF) and the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI) have deepened their collaboration, now supporting more than 700 researchers annually. The partnership is being hailed as a model for how secure digital access can drive innovation and equity in healthcare.
Trust & Identity for national research infrastructure
We are Australia's Trust and Identity capability for the national research infrastructure system.