h2. Overview of the R&S Category

{div:style=float:right;margin-left:1em;margin-bottom:1ex}{note}Browse a list of [all current R&S IdPs and SPs|https://incommon.org/federation/info/all-entity-categories.html]{note}{div}

Research and scholarship activities extend beyond the boundaries of the campus and increasingly so do the applications that support collaboration. Your campus can leverage your federated identity management system to allow faculty and researchers to instantly access participating research collaboration services.

*Benefits*

* Convenience for faculty and researchers: they instantly access participating services using campus credentials without administrator involvement
* Enable collaboration: When a research project adds a service to the category, collaboration across participating campuses is immediate
* Vetted services: InCommon reviews each service application for adherence to the category definition and requirements
* Save time and resources: once enabled, there is no additional involvement of IT staff to provision new R&S services

*How to participate*

# Make a one-time change to your Identity Provider attribute release policy
# Release basic information about each faculty member or researcher: name, email address, affiliation (student, employee, faculty, staff, etc.), and a user identifier that allows for seamless access across various collaboration services hosted at different locations
# Let InCommon know that you are participating

Federation Site Administrators should consult the wiki for [IdP deployment requirements and options|Research and Scholarship for IdPs].

Visit the [Research & Scholarship Category|Research and Scholarship Category] wiki page for more detailed information.