Federated Identity Management for Research Collaborations

Federated identity management (FIM) is an arrangement that can be made among multiple organisations that lets subscribers use the same identification data to obtain access to the secured resources of all organisations in the group. Identity federation offers economic advantages, as well as convenience, to organisations and their users. For example, multiple institutions can share a single application, with resultant cost savings and consolidation of resources. In order for FIM to be effective, the partners must have a sense of mutual trust. A number of laboratories including national and regional research organizations are facing the challenge of a deluge of scientific data that needs to be accessed by expanding user bases in dynamic collaborations that cross organisational and national boundaries. Driven by these needs, representatives from a variety of research communities, including photon/neutron facilities, social science & humanities, high-energy physics, atmospheric science, bioinformatics and fusion energy, have come together to discuss how to address these issues with the objective to define a common policy and trust framework for Identity Management based on existing structures, federations and technologies. This paper will describe the needs of the research communities, the status of the activities in the FIM domain and highlight specific use cases. The common vision for FIM across these communities will be presented as well the key stages of the roadmap and a set of recommendations intended to ensure its implementation.