Invitation for collaboration on the REFEDS Assurance Framework

Posted on Wednesday, 25 February 2026

We invite organisations, particularly those involved in research-intensive institutions but not limited to them, that may have an interest in the REFEDS Assurance Framework to get in touch with us for further discussion. If you are unsure about how this framework applies to your organisation or need to explore its relevance more thoroughly, we encourage you to investigate internally. Your insights are invaluable as we work together to enhance assurance practices in our communities.

Guidance

It may not be possible for a central IdP operator to be aware of all the use-cases that their IdP supports – particularly regarding some emerging scenarios around access to sensitive research systems.

One way to get a hint as to whether your users may require the use of this framework in the future is to check your authentication logs for interactions with a given set of services which we’ve identified as likely to need such changes soon. The list is below.

Shibboleth Identity Provider

If you’re using the Shibboleth Identity Provider then you may be able to check your logs by interrogating the idp-audit log.

Data review

You should check for the prevalence of these Service Provider entityIDs:

If you notice use of these services then you should investigate further. If possible, interrogate your logs further to ascertain which users are making use of these services and enquire as to their use-cases. You can also make contact with us (via service@ukfederation.org.uk) to assist. Edited by MatthewSlowe on 25 February 2026, at 09:53 AM