GUARDIANS
AAF partnered with the Australia BioCommons’ GUARDIANS project to improve Australia’s capacity to share human omics research data securely and responsibly.
National Sovereign Trust & Identity Australia Capability
The foundations of trusted research in Australia
Every time a researcher logs into a data platform, runs an analysis on a national supercomputer or shares results with a collaborator overseas, trust and identity infrastructure is doing the work in the background. It’s mostly invisible, but Australian research can’t run without it.
The National Sovereign Trust & Identity Australia Capability (T&I Australia) is the program strengthening Australia’s national research infrastructure.
Funded by the Australian Government’s National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS), we’re giving researchers in universities, government, industry, medical research, cultural institutions and community organisations secure access to the world-class data, tools and infrastructure they need.
Why Australia needs its own Trust and Identity capability
Without strong, nationally coordinated trust and identity systems for national research infrastructure:
- Researchers hit barriers getting into critical research infrastructure
- Organisations run costly, fragmented access systems
- Weak or inconsistent identity controls increase cybersecurity risk
- Collaborating across sectors gets harder
- Australia risks falling behind its international research partners
A sovereign, nationally coordinated capability keeps critical trust infrastructure under Australian control while staying aligned with international standards.
It means researchers can securely reach what they need, whether they’re in a university, government agency, industry, medical research institute, cultural institution or community research organisation.
What T&I Australia will deliver
Seven connected focus areas, each strengthening a different part of Australia's research ecosystem.
Research doesn’t only happen at universities anymore. The program extends national-scale trusted access to research, data, high-performance computing (HPC), quantum and digital platforms across:
- Government agencies
- Industry and commercial partners
- Medical research organisations
- Environmental and meteorological partners
- Indigenous research communities
- Galleries, libraries, archives and museums (GLAM)
- Community and citizen science groups
That means fewer barriers to collaboration, and more researchers able to securely take part in nationally significant research.
As cyber threats get more sophisticated, stronger identity assurance becomes critical. The program will enhance Australia’s current Federation and national T&I Framework through:
- Higher identity assurance models
- Multi-factor authentication and emerging authentication technologies
- Verification capabilities
- Integration with trusted identity providers
- Advanced policy and governance frameworks
So research infrastructure providers can confidently verify who’s accessing their systems and sensitive information.
Research is global. Australia’s trust and identity ecosystem needs to stay compatible with international research infrastructures and emerging standards. The program strengthens alignment with:
- International trust frameworks
- Global identity and access management standards
- Research collaboration initiatives
- Evolving privacy and digital identity ecosystems
This keeps Australia connected to global research networks, with local solutions that stay fit for purpose and sovereign.
Researchers rely on a wide mix of data repositories, software platforms, compute environments and instruments. The program supports:
- Simpler integration with national identity services
- Federated access across research platforms
- Better user experiences
- Less duplication of identity systems
- Stronger security controls
With trust and identity built into the tools they use every day, researchers can move between systems more easily.
Showing the impact of research infrastructure matters more than ever. The program advances the use of Persistent Identifiers (PIDs) to improve:
- Research attribution
- Infrastructure usage tracking
- Research reproducibility
- Impact measurement
- Research provenance
This helps infrastructure providers, government funders and research organisations understand and demonstrate the value of Australia’s national research investment.
Modern research often involves sensitive, valuable or culturally significant information. The program strengthens capability that supports:
- FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable)
- CARE principles (Collective Benefit, Authority to Control, Responsibility, Ethics)
- Sensitive data access
- Indigenous data sovereignty
- Ethical data governance
Trust and identity infrastructure is what makes sure the right people get the right access to the right data, under the right conditions.
Technology alone isn’t enough. The program builds Australia’s Trust and Identity expertise through:
- Training and skills development
- Community workshops
- Knowledge sharing
- National roundtables
- International engagement
- Specialist advisory support
So Australia has the people to design, run and sustain trusted digital research environments well into the future.
Built for and by the sector
Working in partnership with research infrastructure providers, researchers, government, industry and community stakeholders, T&I Australia is helping strengthen the secure, connected environment that underpins world-class research and collaboration.
To ensure T&I Australia reflects the needs and priorities of the sector, the AAF is hosting a series of Town Halls and Reference Groups. We invite you to join and help shape the future of trust and identity for Australian research.
T&I Australia Pathfinder Incubator Projects
See the foundational work explored through the T&I Pathfinder projects.
- Implementing best practice identity and access management solutions for responsible human omics research data sharing
Microscopy Australia T&I Incubator
Microscopy Australia – Strengthening the Evidence Behind Research ImpactMicroscopy Australia and AAF are exploring how persistent identifiers can connect researchers, instruments, facilities and research outputs. The goal is to help research infrastructure providers reduce manual reporting, improve attribution and build stronger evidence of the impact their facilities create.
National Imaging Facility (NIF) T&I Incubator
National Imaging Facility – Advancing federated access for imaging researchThrough the AAF–NIF Trust & Identity incubator, the National Imaging Facility (NIF) is exploring how trusted identity can reduce the time and complexity involved in connecting people, data and services. The aim is to help researchers collaborate more effectively and speed up the translation of research into better outcomes for patients and communities.
Astronomy Australia T&I Incubator
AAF’s new incubator to expand Australia’s position as a global leader in astronomyAstronomy Australia and the AAF have partnered to build the trusted foundations for the future of Australian astronomy. The project will create a roadmap for secure, seamless access to research infrastructure and data, enabling greater collaboration, researcher mobility, and the development of a future Astronomy Data Commons.
National Computational Infrastructure (NCI) T&I Incubator
Enhancing authentication for trusted access to high performance compute for researchers, government and industryAAF has partnered with the National Computational Infrastructure (NCI) to explore improved trust and identity for their researcher, government and industry users.
Phenomics Australia T&I Incubator
Opening Doors for Discovery: How AAF and Phenomics Australia Are Building the Future of Life Sciences researchImagine a world where medical science researchers can unlock Australia’s vital phenomics data with a single click — no barriers, no delays, just seamless collaboration across institutions. That’s the vision driving an exciting new partnership between the AAF and Phenomics Australia.
Pawsey Supercomputing Research Centre T&I Incubator
Unlocking the power of Australia’s Tier 1 supercomputerAAF has partnered with the Pawsey Supercomputing Research Centre exploring options to provide seamless and secure access to their supercomputing service using federated identities
Australian Research Data Commons (ARDC) T&I Incubator
Thematic transformation to meet Australia’s long-term research needsAAF has partnered with ARDC to ensure the trust and identity policies and technologies support researchersacross distributed infrastructures and research communities.
ACCESS-NRI T&I Incubator
ACCESS-NRI -Enabling research into climate changeClimate research depends on understanding how critical national research infrastructure is being used. Through the AAF and ACCESS-NRI Trust & Identity incubator, ACCESS-NRI is exploring how trusted identity can provide better insight into the use and impact of climate research software, data and services.
