Secure Research Environments for Higher Education Trust

1. A foundation researchers can trust:

SREs provide a stable, governed environment where sensitive data is handled correctly and expectations are already built in. Trust has become essential for complex, multi-partner research.

2. An environment that removes friction:

With the right tools, compute power and data available in one coherent space, researchers can focus on discovery rather than navigating fragmented systems or repeated checks.

3. Assurance for partners and regulators:

SREs allow universities to demonstrate how research is governed and protected. Clear evidence of good practice builds confidence and enables more ambitious collaboration.

Security and agility can coexist

In partnership with Fujitsu, The University of Bristol demonstrates how secure infrastructure can support fast-moving, interdisciplinary research. Its immersive facility, built on a multi-tenant SRE, allows teams to model complex systems, test ideas and collaborate without compromising governance. It shows how modern research environments can support sensitive, multi-stakeholder programmes at pace.

The cost of standing still

A clear divide is emerging across UK higher education. Institutions relying on legacy or improvised digital foundations are increasingly limited in the research they can support. Sensitive, data-intensive projects take longer to launch, governance is harder to evidence, and advanced approaches – such as AI-driven analysis, modelling and simulation – remain constrained by platforms never designed for them.

By contrast, universities with secure, scalable research environments are better positioned to lead complex collaborations, attract researchers who depend on high-performance infrastructure, and work with partners who require clear assurance. These digital foundations now underpin the UK’s ability to compete and collaborate in priority research areas.

The cost of delay is already visible. Fragmented, bespoke systems drive repeated investment and restrict reuse of capability across programmes, increasingly defining not just what institutions can deliver – but what they cannot.

The strategic question is no longer whether universities can afford to invest in secure research environments, but whether they can afford the opportunities they will forgo without them.

1. Treat SREs as strategic infrastructure:

They sit at the heart of research capability and need visible sponsorship beyond IT alone.

2. Move with purpose, not haste:

Establishing a secure core platform early – and improving it over time – enables research to progress while the environment scales.

3. Reduce duplication across the sector:

Shared standards and collaborative approaches can lower costs and accelerate capability across institutions. One step further is to consider sharing multi-tenant secure research environments to capitalise on the investments already made in funded research programmes.

How Fujitsu supports SRE adoption

Fujitsu works with universities across the UK to build SREs that give researchers the confidence and capability to work with sensitive data. We bring deep sector experience and modern digital platforms designed around how research happens today.

We help institutions establish secure, trusted foundations quickly and evolve them as requirements grow – enabling more ambitious projects, wider collaboration and clear assurance for partners and regulators.

For institutions exploring how modern research infrastructure could support their ambitions, Fujitsu offers a partnership shaped by an understanding of how research is changing – and what universities need to thrive in that landscape.