Related Experiment Videos
Five safes task execution service: a standards-based architecture and reference implementation for secure federated
Tim Beck1,2, Hazel Lockhart-Jones3, Vasiliki Panagi4
1Centre for Health Informatics, School of Medicine, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, NG7 2RD, United Kingdom.
Objective:
Design, implement, and evaluate a standards-based architecture for secure federated analytics across heterogeneous Trusted Research Environments (TREs) that aligns with the Five Safes Framework, without requiring TREs to modify their internal governance, infrastructure, or operational practices.
Materials And Methods:
The Five Safes task execution service (TES) architecture standardizes the format of analysis requests and handles analysis execution and release of outputs consistent with the Five Safes Framework. The Global Alliance for Genomics and Health TES standard is used for submitting analyses to TREs. Three logical layers support federated analytics: a Submission and Orchestration Layer outside the TRE accepts analyses and holds outputs for collection; a Controller Layer inside the TRE enforces local governance policies and manages disclosure control; and an Analysis Execution Layer governs the technical execution of approved analytics against sensitive data. An open-source reference implementation was developed and deployed in 2 real-world case studies.
Results:
Five Safes TES was deployed to enable federated analytics within the Dementias Platform UK national research infrastructure. In a transcontinental deployment, federated analytics across 2 TREs hosted in Singapore was enabled by Submission and Orchestration Layers hosted in the United Kingdom, demonstrating multi-jurisdictional federated analytics without centralizing control or moving sensitive data.
Discussion:
By aligning open technical standards with established governance frameworks, the architecture supports heterogeneous TREs participating in federated analyses while preserving data sovereignty, institutional autonomy, and compliance with local governance requirements.
Conclusion:
Five Safes TES demonstrates how TRE federated analytics can be deployed as a routine research capability, rather than requiring bespoke technical development.