From Plan to Reality: Giving Thanks for the Researcher Passport
ANN ARBOR–In May 2018, an ICPSR report introduced the Researcher Passport and its mission to improve data access and confidentiality protection in response to concerns raised by the Cambridge Analytica scandal. “The Researcher Passport: Improving Data Access and Confidentiality Protection,” outlined a credentialing system that aimed to increase data sharing while minimizing privacy risks by providing trusted researchers with digital credentials. A pilot of the credentialing system was set to launch in the fall of 2018. The white paper discussed recommendations for secure, ethical, and transparent data use and calls for community participation and input to refine the Researcher Passport system.
The goal in 2018 was for the Researcher Passport to be like a travel passport — a digital identity, or profile, that captures and verifies the things about researchers that data stewards need to know to share their data with them, similar to the way foreign countries need to know certain things about people to allow them into their country.
Six years later, in 2024, enhancements brought by the Researcher Passport project are among the reasons ICPSR looks a little different. In early 2024, ICPSR updated its user authentication process, transitioning from MyData to Researcher Passport.
Now part of the Research Data Ecosystem (RDE), work on the Researcher Passport is now supported by funding from the U.S. National Science Foundation as a Mid-scale RI-2 Infrastructure Award (#1946932). This work has benefitted from previous support from the National Science Foundation ("CICI: RDP: Open Badge Researcher Credentials for Secure Access to Restricted and Sensitive Data," 1839868), and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. For the latest on the Researcher Passport and the Research Data Ecosystem, visit our RDE landing page.
Contact: Dory Knight-Ingram
Nov 14, 2024