UK higher education request for projects

P.J. Ponder ponder at freenet.tlh.fl.us
Sun Jun 16 19:43:55 EDT 2002


I don't know if this sort of shilling is taboo on this list or not, but
this looks like something that could inure to the common good, and would
certainly be interesting to work on.  Interested parties need to be, or
partner with, a UK higher or further education institution, or consortia
of such institutions.

from http://www.jisc.ac.uk/ :
The Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) promotes the innovative
application and use of information systems and information technology in
further and higher education across the UK.

http://www.jisc.ac.uk/pub02/c06_02.html :
JISC Circular 06/02
Call for Projects in Authentication and Authorisation
6th June 2002

(Circular also available as an RTF file)

To:
 Heads of Further and Higher Education Institutions funded by the English,
Scottish and Welsh HEFCs and FEFCs and by DEL, Northern Ireland

Copies:
 Directors of Information Services
Learning Resource Managers
JISC Committee Members
JISC Executive
JISC Regional Support Centres
JISC Services
e-Science Regional Centres


Summary
1. This Circular invites FE and HE institutions to bid to undertake a
number of projects designed to give the UK experience of the emerging
technologies in the authentication and authorisation area, based on open,
vendor-independent standards. Further information about the scope of the
call is contained in paragraph 16 below. Institutions have a period of six
weeks to respond. The deadline for full proposals is 12 noon on Thursday
18th July 2002. Paragraphs 37-42 provide further details of the bidding
process.

Background
2. Key to the development of a secure environment for the UK education
community are robust authentication and authorisation services for staff
and students accessing datasets and other sources of electronic
information. With this in mind, the Joint Information Systems Committee
(JISC) has, for several years, funded the Athens national service to
provide a single username/single password access management system for the
UK academic community. Athens is now being used by substantial numbers of
students, staff and researchers in the education and health sectors of the
UK and Ireland.

3. The JISC is currently investigating next-generation authentication and
authorisation tools aimed at meeting the needs of the community for at
least the next five years.

4. The JISC is committed to the adoption and promotion of open,
vendor-independent standards particularly where infrastructural services
are concerned. It is also committed to working with partner organisations
in the UK and in other countries to ensure that, so far as possible,
common standards are adopted internationally for the infrastructure
underpinning education and research.

5. Athens, although it continues to provide a valuable service, is at
present wholly proprietary and is only deployed to any significant extent
in the UK and Ireland. So long as this situation persists, the JISC
considers it unlikely that Athens will constitute the long-term strategic
direction for the UK HE/FE and research communities. Alternative solutions
based on open standards are developing rapidly, and it is these which can
be expected to gain support in other communities which have not as yet
adopted any particular access management system.

6. The JISC is actively involved in these new developments and the present
call for proposals is, in large part, designed to give the UK experience
of the emerging technologies in this area.

7. It is of course recognised that institutions require time to migrate
from any established service to its successor. If or when a decision to
terminate the Athens service is taken, the JISC will endeavour to give the
maximum possible notice and, so far as resources permit, to assist in
managing the transition so as to minimise the inconvenience to the
community.

8. Against this background the JISC, through its Committees for the
Information Environment (JCIE) and for the Support of Research (JCSR),
intends to fund a number of proposals to advance its programmes of work in
the areas of authentication, authorisation and related applications. These
will for the most part be short (i.e. one-year), practically focused
projects designed to explore technical and management issues in a number
of areas detailed below, but some more substantial projects may be
considered for longer-term funding where these address issues of greater
complexity.

9. The programme is intended to address both the particular needs of the
e-Science research community, and the wider needs of the JISC's work in
developing the Information Environment. More information about the
e-Science programme is available at http://www.escience-grid.org.uk/,
while the draft strategy for the Information Environment is available at
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/dner/development/IEstrategy.html

10. Proposals are invited from FE and HE institutions funded via the UK
funding bodies. These may be from single institutions or consortia.
Partnership arrangements may be developed outside the sector (for example
with research council sites, commercial suppliers of IT products and
services or publishers), though the lead body must be part of the FE or HE
community and funds can only be allocated through the lead site.

11. JISC funded services are also invited to submit proposals in
partnership with colleges and universities, in particular to explore the
issues of authentication and authorisation for JISC services on a national
scale. Services are reminded that it will be important not to duplicate
work currently funded under any other JISC programmes.

Definitions and scope of the call
12. In the remainder of this paper the term authentication
( . . . . &c)




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