Trusted Research Environments Framework

Read our framework for establishing and maintaining trusted research environments (TREs) within the Australian research data ecosystem.

  • Early-/mid- career researchers (EMCRs)
  • Senior researchers
  • Infrastructure providers (including research facilities)
  • Data custodians/managers
  • Government
  • Industry

By the end of reading this resource, you should:

  • be familiar with principles, standards and best practices for establishing and maintaining TREs within the Australian research data ecosystem
  • have access to a common set of terminology, expectations and business process descriptions to facilitate cross-sector dialogue, collaboration and interoperability among TRE users, service providers and data custodians
  • understand, plan, support and deploy TRE infrastructure effectively with the help of the reference model provided by the framework, which identifies the key functions of TREs.

Advances in health, social policies, environmental management and industry depend heavily on research that utilises diverse data sources, including environmental data, industry data and health data. It is imperative that the use of these diverse data occurs within secure and safe environments that protect privacy.

Developed through the Trusted Research Environments activity of the ARDC’s People Research Data Commons for health research and translation, this document proposes a national framework that shifts towards the adoption of trusted research environments (TREs) for accessing and analysing sensitive health, social services and industry data for research purposes. TREs are highly secure computing environments that provide remote access to sensitive data for analysis and research. They ensure data security and privacy while enabling analysts and researchers to conduct valuable studies on sensitive datasets without compromising confidentiality.

Our framework serves as a guide for establishing and maintaining TREs within the Australian research data ecosystem. It provides principles and standards for governance, infrastructure and practices to ensure the ethical handling of sensitive data. Covering authentication, authorisation, data encryption and legal compliance, it aims to set a standard for Australian research, offering guidance to researchers, institutions and data custodians. It fosters a trustworthy research ecosystem in Australia, emphasising security and collaboration.

Notes on Terminology

In this document, we employ the term “trusted research environments”. The terms “secure access environments”, “secure enclaves” and “data safe havens” are used elsewhere to describe similar concepts.

Cover of the A R D C T R E Framework

Trusted Research Environments Framework

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Key concepts
  3. Risk management
  4. Governance
  5. Specifications
  6. Overview of security controls
  7. Discussion
  8. Summary
  9. References
  10. Appendices

Citation

Ward, R. (2024). Trusted Research Environments Framework. ARDC Ltd. DOI: 10.26188/26975521

Next Steps

As a companion to this framework, our Trusted Research Environments activity will establish demonstrator trusted research environments (TREs). These demonstrator TREs will serve as a testbed to explore the feasibility and viability of federating TREs, enabling collaborative research across multiple environments while maintaining data security and governance.

Aligned with the framework, we’re establishing networks of secure access services that will:

  • provide TRE coverage for secondary use of data in strategic academic research areas, such as clinical trials and cohorts
  • be consistent, appropriate, interoperable and comprehensive across government, NCRIS and the broader research sector for the data researchers need.

We’re also looking to establish a community of practice to support data custodians and the users and providers of TREs.

Learn more about our Trusted Research Environments activity and register your interest in our People Research Data Commons for health and medical research.