Simons N1, Liffers M1, McCafferty S1, Klump J2, Levett K1, Martin J1, Winton L1
1Australian Research Data Commons (ARDC), , , 2CSIRO, Perth, Australia
Biography:
Natasha Simons is Director, National Coordination, for the Australian Research Data Commons (ARDC) and plays a leading role in the persistent identifiers landscape internationally. Natasha is part of The National PID Strategic Advisory Group, the peak governance body for the National PID Strategy. In 2024 and 2025 she was co-chair of eResearch Australasia, and co-chair of the PIDFest international conference in 2024.
Jens Klump is a geochemist by training and Group Leader, Exploration Through Cover in CSIRO Mineral Resources, based in Perth, Western Australia. Jens' work focuses on how information technology can be used to solve geoscience challenges. This includes data in minerals exploration, data capture, and data analysis, automated data and metadata capture, sensor data integration, both in the field and in the laboratory, data processing workflows, and data provenance, but also data analysis by statistical methods, machine learning and artificial intelligence.
Kerry Levett is the Solutions Architect for the Planet Research Data Commons at the Australian Research Data Commons (ARDC). Kerry was an environmental science researcher before moving into data management and research infrastructure. She works to bridge the gap between users and builders of digital research infrastructure to create platforms that will transform research.
Abstract:
Persistent identifiers (PIDs) are foundational to the global research information ecosystem, enabling qualified links between researchers, organisations, grants, datasets, and publications. The Research Activity Identifier (RAiD; ISO 23527:2022), developed by the Australian Research Data Commons (ARDC), fills a critical gap in this ecosystem by providing a persistent, machine-readable identifier for research projects themselves. And RAiDs is one of the top priorities PIDs in the Australian National PID Strategy.
Since its launch as a national service in 2023, RAiD has grown significantly both domestically and internationally. This presentation provides an update on the current status of the ARDC RAiD Service for Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand, including adoption across universities, research institutions, and government-funded programs. It introduces RIIGr, the active implementation community for ARDC RAiD Service customers, and describes how organisations are supported through onboarding, training, and peer knowledge-sharing as they embed RAiD into their research management workflows.
Internationally, RAiD is scaling as a federated global standard. This presentation introduces the RAiD Operating Alliance, the emerging global governance body for RAiD, and outlines progress toward Registration Agencies in the Netherlands (SURF), North America (San Diego Supercomputer Center and Lyrasis), and Canada (Digital Research Alliance of Canada), with communities forming across Europe and the UK.
This presentation also includes two Australian use cases that illustrate RAiD in practice. AuScope's implementation demonstrates how RAiD can connect research infrastructure, teams, and outputs across a distributed national program. The Planet Research Data Commons shows how RAiD supports project tracking and reporting across a thematic, multi-institutional research data commons environment.
Taken together, these developments demonstrate that RAiD is maturing from a promising national service into a global research infrastructure, with real-world adoption delivering measurable benefits for research visibility, reporting, and interoperability.
