Researchers and e-science communities

Trust & Identity for researchers and e-science communities

For researchers working in research and education institutions or in international collaborations such as projects, virtual organisations or e-science communities, integrated identity services support:

  • international mobility with the eduroam global roaming service;
  • secure access to national and international online resources such as
    • services available via your home institution, using your institution-provided digital identity;
    • services that are specific to your work within an international project, e-science community or virtual organisation;
  • safety for your personal data
    • usernames, passwords and other details are never shared.

Meeting collaborative research needs

Based in different organisations and countries, researchers in international projects or virtual organisations are driven by common goals and grants and often need to access services, data, tools or software that are specific to their work within the research collaboration.

Access to these resources requires information about the researcher’s role in the collaboration, in addition to their digital identity provided by their institution. Trust and Identity services address these needs so that members of research collaboration communities and virtual organisations can securely access the resources they need.

Benefits to research communities

By working across the research and education community, GÉANT is helping to develop AAI solutions, best practices, policies and tools that enable research collaborations and e-infrastructures to create solutions that work together.

With this support, international research communities:

  • avoid ‘reinventing the wheel’ with their AAI solutions
    • spend less time and money on technical support for their collaboration;
  • get better connected more quickly;
  • have safer and more reliable access to more services, data, tools and software;
  • can focus on research!

A cooperative approach

Working together in the AARC project, GÉANT and partner organisations delivered a Blueprint Architecture that supports research collaboration communities in building Authentication and Authorisation Infrastructures (AAIs) in way that allows them to interoperate. This architecture is built into the eduTEAMS service.

eduTEAMS uses federated identities from trusted identity providers and from the eduGAIN interfederation service to enable members of research and education communities to create and manage virtual teams and securely access and share common resources and services. Offered in different ‘flavours’, the eduTEAMS service can be used as the basis for more tailored authentication and authorisation services for research communities.

The AARC project brought together a group of representatives from research- and e-infrastructures, operators of AAI services and Trust & Identity experts from the GÉANT community, the Research and Education Federations group REFEDS and the Federated Identity Management for Research collective FIM4R. Following this project, the AEGIS group continues to consult participants' needs and expertise regarding AAI for research infrastructure communities.

Working together for the European Open Science Cloud

GÉANT supports and engages with researchers in the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC). GÉANT is a member of the EOSC Association and participates in the EOSC Future project. GÉANT also supports development of Trust and Identity solutions for EOSC.

Find your Trust & Identity solution

Get online with eduroam, wherever you are

Available in tens of thousands of locations around the world, the eduroam global WiFi roaming service uses secure encryption to authenticate students, researchers and staff while they travel across campus or internationally for study, work or leisure. Used over 4 billion times per year, users easily get online using only their institution-provided digital identity, without the need for additional passwords.

Access online services, wherever they are

Your home institution may provide online services as well as digital identities. If your institution is connected to your national research and education identity federation, a wider range of services may be available to you. Contact your institution IT manager to enquire.

Get started: AAI for research collaborations

Explore the AARC in Action case studies and explainer videos. Maybe the Policy Development Kit or the AARC Blueprint Architecture will help you. Or perhaps you are eligible to join the AEGIS community group for support.

A tailored AAI for your research community

If you are looking for authentication and authorisation services for your research community, eduTEAMS can offer you either a solution for creating and managing virtual teams, or be used as the basis for more tailored approach.

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