Five safes task execution service: a standards-based architecture and reference implementation for secure federated analytics across trusted research environments.

Authors

Tim Beck, Hazel Lockhart-Jones, Vasiliki Panagi, Justin Biddle, Mervin Chan, Jonathan Couldridge, Jonaa Eva, Grazziela Figueredo, Anwar Gaungoo, Judy Hong, Neerja Karnani, Mingshi Koh, Russell Kua, Mukkesh Kumar, Alex Lee, James Mitchell-White, Alvin Ng, Win Pin Ng, Lee Ning Ng, Tri Thien Nguyen, Chris Orton, Benjamin Partridge, Pin Yan Low, Andy Rae, Thomas Rowlands, Karthikeyan Sivakumar, Stian Soiland-Reyes, Emma Squires, Erwin Tantoso, Haopeng Tong, Wing Cheong Wong, Xing Yi Woo, Carole Goble, Simon Thompson, Philip Quinlan

Published in

Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association : JAMIA. Oct 08, 2026. Epub Oct 08, 2026.

Abstract

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.
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.
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.
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.
Five Safes TES demonstrates how TRE federated analytics can be deployed as a routine research capability, rather than requiring bespoke technical development.

PMID:
42848458
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 09 Oct 2026.

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