Much of the collaboration across tertiary education and research in Australasia depends on systems that are rarely seen, but critically important. CAUDIT has played a central role in shaping this invisible infrastructure that allows institutions, researchers and students to move seamlessly between organisations, networks and tools.
Stewarding the rollout of eduroam in Australia
A key early example is eduroam, launched in Australia in 2004. As national policy holder, CAUDIT helped guide its adoption, making Australia the first country outside Europe to implement the service. In partnership with AARNet, national eduroam infrastructure was launched in 2007. CAUDIT continues to support a model that allows users to securely connect to networks worldwide using their home institution credentials.
What seems simple, automatic Wi-Fi access on arrival at any campus, relies on a coordinated federation of authentication systems across institutional, national and regional levels. CAUDIT’s stewardship of the eduroam policy framework ensures this ecosystem remains secure, interoperable and aligned with global standards.
Enabling seamless access for the Australian research and higher education sector
The same principle underpins CAUDIT’s role in the creation of the Australian Access Federation (AAF). Originating from a CAUDIT program of work and formally established as an organisation in 2009, the AAF was designed to solve a growing challenge: how to provide trusted, efficient access to an expanding ecosystem of digital research services. What began as a sector-led initiative has matured into a self-sustaining national capability and part of a global network of more than 80 identity federations.
In 2025, the AAF enables seamless access for over 100 organisations and connects hundreds of national and international research services, supporting 13 million authentications. Through its integration with eduGAIN, it allows Australian researchers to collaborate globally, using a single, trusted identity to access tools and platforms across 40 similar federations around the world.
“The Australian Access Federation is a powerful example of what can be achieved when the sector comes together around a shared challenge. What started as a CAUDIT-led initiative has grown into a national trust and identity service that enables millions of secure authentications each year and connects Australian researchers, students and educators to a global network of collaboration.” said Heath Marks, CEO, AAF.
Together, initiatives like eduroam and the AAF demonstrate how coordinated, sector-led approaches can remove barriers to collaboration at scale. CAUDIT’s role has consistently been to convene expertise and enable alignment and collaboration across institutions, to provide the foundation and pathways for initiatives like these to succeed and support enhanced outcomes for the sector.
By investing in shared, trusted systems, CAUDIT and its partners continue to enable a more connected, efficient and globally engaged research and education community.
