Virtual Home
A recognised identity, even outside the org chart.
Virtual Home is an identity service operated by AAF on behalf of subscriber organisations. It enables organisations to issue trusted digital identities to external collaborators, providing them with a single login to access eligible services across the Federation.
By making it easier to securely manage users, groups and access permissions, Virtual Home helps organisations extend the benefits of federated access to a broader community. This supports trusted collaboration across organisational boundaries while maintaining the security and control needed for research, education and innovation.
A trusted way in, even without an institutional login.
Research and collaboration increasingly cross organisational lines.
Researchers work alongside government agencies shaping policy, Indigenous communities partnering on research, industry collaborators on commercial and R&D projects, and citizen scientists contributing to discovery. Many of these people don’t have a university staff or student login, but they still need secure access to the same data and platforms.
That’s where Virtual Home comes in. It’s used by NCRIS facilities and other research infrastructure providers to give these collaborators a trusted identity, so they can take part fully in research beyond the education sector.
Virtual Home makes this possible.
Who is Virtual Home for?
Virtual Home is designed for anyone with a genuine relationship to your organisation, but no login of their own to prove it. Each person can only ever hold one Virtual Home account, and it's the sponsoring organisation (not the individual) who creates and manages it. That could include:
Everyone gets the right level of control.
Once your organisation is set up, Virtual Home gives administrators and account holders exactly what they need to keep things running.
Administrators
- Create and manage users
- Groups
- Access levels and shared tokens
- Update contact and affiliation details;
- Reset passwords
- Other Virtual Home administrators
Users
- Change or reset password
- Update mobile number
- Set up two-factor authentication
- Manage their own Virtual Home account.
You manage the people. We’ll look after the login.
AAF operates the Virtual Home Identity Provider, while the subscriber organisation manages the people they choose to sponsor.
When a Virtual Home user goes to log in to an eligible service through the AAF Federation, they simply select “AAF Virtual Home” as their organisation, and their Virtual Home credentials do the rest.
This solution is best suited to people who don’t already have an account through your organisation’s own Identity Provider. For those who do, Federation is the simpler option.
Keeping accounts secure.
A Virtual Home account is only as secure as the organisation that vouches for it.
The sponsoring organisation is responsible for properly identifying the people it registers, and for making sure that relationship stays current.
Ownership sits with the organisation’s Authorising Officer, with administrators handling the day-to-day management of accounts and access.
Every Virtual Home user agrees to the Federation Rules when they accept their invitation. This is the same trust framework behind the whole AAF network.
Reviewing Virtual Home accounts regularly, and removing access when someone’s relationship with the organisation changes, is what keeps that trust intact.
Creating an account.
Virtual Home accounts cannot be set up by an individual. The request must come through an AAF-subscriber organisation. If you’re looking to create an account for yourself, here's how:
Get in touch
Contact the organisation you’re collaborating with directly.
Find the right person
Ask to be connected with its Virtual Home administrator –an IT help desk may be able to point you in the right direction.
Wait for eligibility to be confirmed
The organisation will check you’re eligible and, if so, create your account.
Stuck? AAF can help.
contactIf you can’t track down the right administrator, contact AAF Support directly.