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REFEDS Updates Summer 2022

Heather Flanagan and Nicole Harris

REFEDS @TNC22

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REFEDS Coordinators

Nicole Harris,

Head of Trust and Identity Operations, GÉANT

Heather Flanagan,

**REFEDS Coordinator

** Role opening for new bids this summer!!! **

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REFEDS Mission

Our mission is to provide an open collaboration hub for stakeholders in the Research and Education identity federation ecosystem to learn, educate, and build standards and best common practices for federations internationally.

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REFEDS Sponsors

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REFEDS Steering Committee

The REFEDS Steering Committee current members are:

Thomas Bärecke (SWiTCH) (2022-2024)
Pål Axelsson (SUNET) (2018 - 2021)
Maarten Kremers (SURFnet) (2016-2021)
Heath Marks (AAF) (2015-2022)
Alex Stuart (JISC, sitting in for the remainder of Rhys Smith's term) (2022)
Albert Wu (Internet2) (2020 - 2022)

Excerpt from the Participant’s Agreement:

The REFEDS Steering Committee oversees the execution of the annual workplan and proposes agenda items for the semi-annual general REFEDS meetings. It also provides input to the REFEDS secretariat when the workplan for the next year is drafted. The Steering Committee may produce an evaluation of the work carried out in the past year and its results, which is then sent to the REFEDS Sponsors and published on the REFEDS website together with the annual report.

The REFEDS Steering Committee monitors the execution of the annual workplan; if it is of the opinion that insufficient progress is made in a particular (sub-)work-item, it may decide to freeze the execution of that (sub-)work-item until the next semi-annual general REFEDS meeting, where it then proposes to delete that (sub-)work-item from the workplan.

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REFEDS Participants

Participation in REFEDs is

open to anyone, without payment
includes all stakeholders involved in academic identity federation

Global federation operators and their stakeholders
Local, regional, and international research infrastructure providers
Libraries and providers of scholarly resources
Software engineers in trust and identity
Trust and identity policymakers
Identity providers

Excerpt from the Participant’s Agreement:

The REFEDS Steering Committee oversees the execution of the annual workplan and proposes agenda items for the semi-annual general REFEDS meetings. It also provides input to the REFEDS secretariat when the workplan for the next year is drafted. The Steering Committee may produce an evaluation of the work carried out in the past year and its results, which is then sent to the REFEDS Sponsors and published on the REFEDS website together with the annual report.

The REFEDS Steering Committee monitors the execution of the annual workplan; if it is of the opinion that insufficient progress is made in a particular (sub-)work-item, it may decide to freeze the execution of that (sub-)work-item until the next semi-annual general REFEDS meeting, where it then proposes to delete that (sub-)work-item from the workplan.

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REFEDS is about Community

Excerpt from the Participant’s Agreement:

The REFEDS Steering Committee oversees the execution of the annual workplan and proposes agenda items for the semi-annual general REFEDS meetings. It also provides input to the REFEDS secretariat when the workplan for the next year is drafted. The Steering Committee may produce an evaluation of the work carried out in the past year and its results, which is then sent to the REFEDS Sponsors and published on the REFEDS website together with the annual report.

The REFEDS Steering Committee monitors the execution of the annual workplan; if it is of the opinion that insufficient progress is made in a particular (sub-)work-item, it may decide to freeze the execution of that (sub-)work-item until the next semi-annual general REFEDS meeting, where it then proposes to delete that (sub-)work-item from the workplan.

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Rhys Smith

Miroslav Milinović

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REFEDS Resources

Resources to know

Excerpt from the Participant’s Agreement:

The REFEDS Steering Committee oversees the execution of the annual workplan and proposes agenda items for the semi-annual general REFEDS meetings. It also provides input to the REFEDS secretariat when the workplan for the next year is drafted. The Steering Committee may produce an evaluation of the work carried out in the past year and its results, which is then sent to the REFEDS Sponsors and published on the REFEDS website together with the annual report.

The REFEDS Steering Committee monitors the execution of the annual workplan; if it is of the opinion that insufficient progress is made in a particular (sub-)work-item, it may decide to freeze the execution of that (sub-)work-item until the next semi-annual general REFEDS meeting, where it then proposes to delete that (sub-)work-item from the workplan.

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REFEDS Annual Survey 2021

Excerpt from the Participant’s Agreement:

The REFEDS Steering Committee oversees the execution of the annual workplan and proposes agenda items for the semi-annual general REFEDS meetings. It also provides input to the REFEDS secretariat when the workplan for the next year is drafted. The Steering Committee may produce an evaluation of the work carried out in the past year and its results, which is then sent to the REFEDS Sponsors and published on the REFEDS website together with the annual report.

The REFEDS Steering Committee monitors the execution of the annual workplan; if it is of the opinion that insufficient progress is made in a particular (sub-)work-item, it may decide to freeze the execution of that (sub-)work-item until the next semi-annual general REFEDS meeting, where it then proposes to delete that (sub-)work-item from the workplan.

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REFEDS Consultation Process

REFEDS has a very high standard for consensus. �
The REFEDS Steering Committee is not a “rubber stamping” Committee but elected to represent the community. �
How does it work? https://refeds.org/a/2749

Consultation Outcome options:

�1. The group resolves all comments to its satisfaction and passes the material to the REFEDS SC for approval.

2. There are outstanding contentious issues, a second consultation is launched.

3. There is too much disagreement, the work is put aside (e.g Academia EC).

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Federation 2.0 Report

The REFEDS Steering Committee felt: �

There was not a strong enough bar for consensus:

Participation / representation in the Working Group was low / US centric.
Not all the concerns in the consultation were addressed. �

The report set out an excellent overview of the challenges faced by Identity Federation. �
There was a disconnect between the identified problems and the recommendation that a new body was required to resolve them.�
There was a disconnect between the recommendations and the reality of the environment in terms of external factors (e.g. funding bodies / processes). �
RECOMMENDS additional consultation (which begins today!)�

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