AARC TREE Project Launches the Updated Blueprint Architecture during the final event – AARC I Authentication and Authorisation for Research and Collaboration

AARC TREE Project Launches the Updated Blueprint Architecture during the final event

February 11, 2026

The AARC TREE project held its final event on 10 February 2026, marking the completion of its work ahead of the project’s conclusion at the end of February 2026.

Over the past two years, the project has revised and enhanced the AARC Blueprint Architecture (BPA) released in 2019 and its interoperability framework (policy and technical guidelines) to reflect evolving technical practices and community needs. The AARC BPA 2025 introduces clearer terminology and takes important steps toward future-proofing the architecture. The most significant change is the shift towards Identity Management and Collaboration Management capabilities, which decouples user identification from dynamic collaboration membership entitlements and structurally aligns the architecture with the issuer roles required by emerging wallet-based paradigms (such as the EUDI Wallet). Christos and Nicolas say that the aim is to bring the users more in the centre, whilst remaining backward compatible. There are 10 main changes, can you spot them? You can check the final event slide deck for more details and very soon the final version of the AARC BPA document.

The AARC BPA to date underpins the Authentication and Authorisation Infrastructures (AAIs) used in the research and education sector.

The revision encompassed also the associated Policy Development Kit released in 2019, which was subject to updates over time, but was deemed still too complex. The PDK offers a clear framework for federated security policies, particularly aimed at small communities that may not have sufficient in-house expertise. The AARC policy team has now compressed all the work in a clear sequence of steps and related policy documents.

AARC TREE has also published, in line with its objectives, a compendium of AAI practices within the R&E community, providing practical recommendations to support the sustainable deployment of the AARC BPA and of AARC BPA compliant AAIs. The compendium aims to reduce start-up time for research collaboration and facilitate interoperability in the coming years by providing concise information and recipes to follow.

The final event has highlighted these achievements, reflected on lessons learned, and discussed how the updated AARC outputs can continue to support interoperable and sustainable AAI solutions beyond the lifetime of the project.