“It's almost like Frankenstein”: Investigating the Complexities of Scientific Collaboration and Privilege Management within Research Computing Infrastructures

Research Computing Infrastructures (RCIs) inte-grate high-performance computing, advanced data storage solutions, and sophisticated network protocols, connecting people, data, and computing resources to facilitate scientific collaboration in today's data-driven world. Access control is essential in such highly collaborative environments to prevent resource misutilization, safeguard data integrity, and allocate resources effectively, thereby enabling secure and trusted in-teractions among different users. However, unlocking the full potential of RCIs for collaborative research through effective access control requires more than technological exploration-it demands a deep, human-centered understanding of the stakeholders who operate and utilize these systems. In this paper, we present the first qualitative study that explores the human dimensions of RCI interactions, drawing insights from 24 key stakeholders, including researchers and system administrators, across 12 research institutions to ex-amine the collaborative practices, challenges, and needs with a focus on access control. Our findings reveal operational complexities and project-specific, trust-based resource-sharing dynamics, highlighting tensions between security and usability. Based on these insights, we provide stakeholder-driven rec-ommendations and requirements for adaptive, user-centered access control for RCIs, laying the groundwork for advancing human-centered security practices in RCIs.