University of Birmingham

aid: university-of-birmingham
name: University of Birmingham
x-type: university
x-category: Public Research University
description: 'The University of Birmingham is a public research university in Birmingham, United Kingdom, a founding member
  of the Russell Group and of the Universitas 21 network. It operates no central developer portal, publishes no API programme,
  issues no API keys, and a subdomain sweep of birmingham.ac.uk and bham.ac.uk found nothing at api., data., developer., opendata.,
  open., dev., portal. or git. The programmable footprint it does have is real but decentralised and departmental, and it
  sits on the institution''s second registrable domain, bham.ac.uk: three EPrints repositories (UBIRA eData, UBIRA eTheses
  and ePapers) each exposing an OAI-PMH 2.0 provider plus an EPrints REST interface; a Shibboleth SAML 2.0 identity provider
  registered in the UK Access Management Federation; a self-hosted GitLab on the BEAR research-computing estate whose /api/v4
  project listing answers keyless; and one small open research API from the English Constructicon construction-grammar project
  in the College of Arts and Law — the only surface here with an OpenAPI description, and that description is ours, not theirs.
  Three further surfaces that carry the University''s name are vendor platforms the institution is a tenant on, recorded as
  tenancies and not as Birmingham engineering: an Elsevier Pure research portal, an Ex Libris Primo library discovery layer,
  and an Instructure Canvas VLE.'
type: Index
deliveryModel:
  model: saas
  open_source: false
  commercial: false
  callable_host: true
  label: Hosted service · you call their endpoint
  confidence: high
  source:
  - openapi
  - probe
  generated: '2026-08-30'
  method: probed
accessModel:
  pricing: free
  onboarding: none
  trial: false
  try_now: true
  public: true
  label: Free · no registration
  confidence: high
  source:
  - probe
  generated: '2026-08-30'
  method: probed
position: Consuming
access: 3rd-Party
image: https://kinlane-images.s3.amazonaws.com/shared/apis-json/icons/university-of-birmingham.png
url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/university-of-birmingham/refs/heads/main/apis.yml
tags:
- Education
- Higher Education
- University
- United Kingdom
- Russell Group
- Research
- Research Data
- Open Access
- Repository
- OAI-PMH
- Identity Federation
- Library
- Research Computing
created: '2026-06-03'
modified: '2026-08-30'
specificationVersion: '0.23'
apis:
- aid: university-of-birmingham:edata
  name: UBIRA eData (EPrints OAI-PMH + REST)
  x-operator: institution
  description: UBIRA eData is the University of Birmingham's own EPrints research-data repository, running on Birmingham infrastructure
    (edata.bham.ac.uk resolves to 147.188.217.239, the University's own address space). It exposes an OAI-PMH 2.0 provider
    — Identify returns repositoryName "UBIRA eData" and adminEmail research-data@contacts.bham.ac.uk, ListMetadataFormats
    offers oai_dc, didl and rdf — plus the EPrints REST interface at /rest/ and an OpenSearch description document. Deposits
    are assigned DOIs under the University's own DataCite prefix 10.25500, registered to the DataCite client "University of
    Birmingham - eData". The repository software is EPrints (open source, not a hosted vendor tenancy) and the endpoint, the
    host and the records are the institution's.
  humanURL: https://edata.bham.ac.uk/
  baseURL: https://edata.bham.ac.uk/cgi/oai2
  tags:
  - Research Data
  - Repository
  - OAI-PMH
  - EPrints
  - Open Data
  - DataCite
  properties:
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://edata.bham.ac.uk/policies.html
  - type: APIReference
    url: https://edata.bham.ac.uk/rest/
- aid: university-of-birmingham:etheses
  name: UBIRA eTheses (EPrints OAI-PMH)
  x-operator: institution
  description: OAI-PMH 2.0 metadata harvesting interface for the University of Birmingham eTheses EPrints repository, holding
    full-text electronic theses produced by research postgraduates. Identify returns repositoryName "UBIRA ETheses", adminEmail
    ubira@lists.bham.ac.uk and an earliestDatestamp of 2019-01-17. No authentication required. An EPrints REST interface is
    also live at /rest/.
  humanURL: https://etheses.bham.ac.uk/
  baseURL: https://etheses.bham.ac.uk/cgi/oai2
  tags:
  - Theses
  - Repository
  - OAI-PMH
  - EPrints
  - Open Access
  properties:
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://etheses.bham.ac.uk/
  - type: APIReference
    url: https://etheses.bham.ac.uk/rest/
- aid: university-of-birmingham:epapers
  name: ePapers Repository (EPrints OAI-PMH)
  x-operator: institution
  description: OAI-PMH 2.0 metadata harvesting interface for the University of Birmingham ePapers EPrints repository, holding
    open-access working papers, technical reports and other grey literature. Identify returns repositoryName "ePapers Repository",
    adminEmail ubira@lists.bham.ac.uk and an earliestDatestamp of 2012-12-07. No authentication required.
  humanURL: https://epapers.bham.ac.uk/
  baseURL: https://epapers.bham.ac.uk/cgi/oai2
  tags:
  - Working Papers
  - Repository
  - OAI-PMH
  - EPrints
  - Open Access
  properties:
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://epapers.bham.ac.uk/
- aid: university-of-birmingham:identity-provider
  name: University of Birmingham Identity Provider (SAML 2.0 / Shibboleth)
  x-operator: institution
  description: The University's own Shibboleth SAML 2.0 Identity Provider. The entity descriptor is served directly by IT
    Services and carries their maintenance history in XML comments; it declares SingleSignOnService endpoints for HTTP-POST,
    HTTP-Redirect, POST-SimpleSign and the SAML 1.x Shibboleth AuthnRequest profile, SingleLogoutService and an AttributeService
    over SOAP. The entityID https://idp.bham.ac.uk/shibboleth is registered in the UK Access Management Federation aggregate
    with OrganizationName "University of Birmingham" and shibmd:Scope bham.ac.uk. This is federated institutional single sign-on,
    not a self-serve developer credential — there is no way for an unaffiliated caller to obtain access through it.
  humanURL: https://idp2.bham.ac.uk/idp/shibboleth
  baseURL: https://idp2.bham.ac.uk/idp
  tags:
  - Identity Federation
  - SAML
  - Shibboleth
  - Single Sign-On
  - UK Access Management Federation
  properties:
  - type: IdentityFederation
    url: https://idp2.bham.ac.uk/idp/shibboleth
- aid: university-of-birmingham:gitlab
  name: BEAR GitLab (self-hosted, /api/v4)
  x-operator: institution
  description: 'A GitLab instance the University runs itself on the BEAR (Birmingham Environment for Academic Research) estate
    — gitlab.bham.ac.uk resolves through proxy-vrrp-1.bear.bham.ac.uk to 147.188.x, Birmingham address space, not to gitlab.com
    or any hosted GitLab tenancy. The GitLab REST API is live at /api/v4 and GET /api/v4/projects answers keyless with real
    public research projects; /api/v4/version returns 401 as expected for an unauthenticated caller. The deployment is the
    institution''s; the API contract is GitLab''s product surface, so no OpenAPI is saved here. Worth recording precisely
    because it inverts the usual pattern: the web UI is entirely gated — /, /explore, /explore/projects and /help all 302
    to /users/sign_in — while GET /api/v4/projects answers an anonymous caller with real project records. The institution
    publishes no documentation for this surface; /help is behind the sign-in wall, so no Documentation pointer is claimed.'
  humanURL: https://gitlab.bham.ac.uk/
  baseURL: https://gitlab.bham.ac.uk/api/v4
  tags:
  - Research Computing
  - Source Control
  - GitLab
  - Self-Hosted
- aid: university-of-birmingham:english-constructicon
  name: English Constructicon API
  x-operator: institution
  description: 'An open research API from the English Constructicon project, a construction-grammar database built in the
    College of Arts and Law with the University''s Research Software Group and hosted on the institution''s own englishconstructicon.bham.ac.uk.
    Two read-only JSON operations: GET /constructions returns the full database (101 entries observed live on 2026-08-30)
    and GET /constructions/{id}/ returns one record. No authentication, no key, no rate-limit policy published. The OpenAPI
    in this repository was written by API Evangelist from the project''s own API documentation page and observed live responses
    — it is not published by the University.'
  humanURL: https://englishconstructicon.bham.ac.uk/
  baseURL: https://englishconstructicon.bham.ac.uk/database/api
  tags:
  - Constructions
  - Linguistics
  - Construction Grammar
  - Open Research
  properties:
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://englishconstructicon.bham.ac.uk/database/api/
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/university-of-birmingham-constructions-api-openapi.yml
  - type: x-openapi-original
    url: openapi/_original/university-of-birmingham-english-constructicon.yaml
  - type: JSONSchema
    url: json-schema/university-of-birmingham-construction-schema.json
  - type: JSONStructure
    url: json-structure/university-of-birmingham-construction-structure.json
  - type: Examples
    url: examples/university-of-birmingham-listConstructions-example.json
  - type: Examples
    url: examples/university-of-birmingham-getConstruction-example.json
  - type: Examples
    url: examples/university-of-birmingham-examples.yml
  - type: OpenCollection
    url: collections/university-of-birmingham-constructions-api.opencollection.json
  - type: PostmanCollection
    url: collections/university-of-birmingham-constructions-api.postman_collection.json
  - type: SpectralRules
    url: rules/university-of-birmingham-rules.yml
  - type: ErrorCatalog
    url: errors/university-of-birmingham-errors.yml
  - type: Lifecycle
    url: lifecycle/university-of-birmingham-lifecycle.yml
- aid: university-of-birmingham:pure-research-portal
  name: Elsevier Pure research portal (Birmingham tenancy)
  x-operator: tenant
  description: 'research.birmingham.ac.uk is the University''s research information portal. It is an Elsevier Pure tenancy
    — the hostname CNAMEs to birmingham-live.elsevierpure.com and on to eu.prod.elsevierpure.com, and the served pages carry
    Pure and Elsevier branding throughout. The research records, the profiles and the DOIs are Birmingham''s; the platform,
    the API contract and the engineering are Elsevier''s. Pure''s web-service endpoints are not open here: /ws/api and /ws/oai
    return 404 and 500 respectively to an unauthenticated caller. Recorded as a tenancy; no Pure contract is saved under this
    institution.'
  humanURL: https://research.birmingham.ac.uk/
  tags:
  - Research Information
  - Pure
  - Elsevier
  - Tenant
  properties:
  - type: ResearchRepository
    url: https://research.birmingham.ac.uk/
- aid: university-of-birmingham:findit-primo
  name: FindIt@Bham library discovery (Ex Libris Primo tenancy)
  x-operator: tenant
  description: FindIt@Bham is the University's library discovery layer, running on Ex Libris Primo — findit.bham.ac.uk CNAMEs
    to birmingham.primo.exlibrisgroup.com and on to eu00.primo.exlibrisgroup.com, and the served page is the Primo Explore
    Angular application. A second Birmingham Primo entity, https://bham-primo-stg.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/shib, appears as
    a service provider in the UK Access Management Federation metadata. The collection is Birmingham's; the discovery API
    is Ex Libris's. Recorded as a tenancy; no Ex Libris contract is saved under this institution.
  humanURL: https://findit.bham.ac.uk/
  tags:
  - Library
  - Discovery
  - Primo
  - Ex Libris
  - Tenant
  properties:
  - type: LibraryCatalog
    url: https://findit.bham.ac.uk/
- aid: university-of-birmingham:canvas-vle
  name: Canvas virtual learning environment (Instructure tenancy)
  x-operator: tenant
  description: canvas.bham.ac.uk is the University's virtual learning environment, an Instructure Canvas tenancy — the hostname
    CNAMEs to birmingham-vanity.instructure.com. Canvas ships an LTI platform and an LMS REST API, but both are Instructure's
    contract running under a Birmingham vanity hostname, and access is gated behind institutional login. Recorded as a tenancy;
    no Instructure contract is saved under this institution and no LTI conformance is claimed on Birmingham's behalf.
  humanURL: https://canvas.bham.ac.uk/
  tags:
  - Learning Management
  - Canvas
  - Instructure
  - LTI
  - Tenant
common:
- type: Website
  url: https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/
- type: Documentation
  url: https://englishconstructicon.bham.ac.uk/database/api/
- type: APIReference
  url: https://edata.bham.ac.uk/rest/
- type: GitHubOrganization
  url: https://github.com/University-of-Birmingham
- type: LinkedIn
  url: https://www.linkedin.com/school/university-of-birmingham/
- type: Twitter
  url: https://x.com/unibirmingham
- type: Blog
  url: https://blog.bham.ac.uk/
- type: PrivacyPolicy
  url: https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/privacy
- type: TermsOfService
  url: https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/legal
- type: IdentityFederation
  url: https://idp2.bham.ac.uk/idp/shibboleth
- type: ResearchRepository
  url: https://edata.bham.ac.uk/
- type: LibraryCatalog
  url: https://findit.bham.ac.uk/
- type: ResearchComputing
  url: https://bear-apps.bham.ac.uk/
- type: AIPolicy
  url: https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/libraries/education-excellence/gai
- type: Conformance
  url: conformance/university-of-birmingham-conformance.yml
- type: Authentication
  url: authentication/university-of-birmingham-authentication.yml
- type: Lifecycle
  url: lifecycle/university-of-birmingham-lifecycle.yml
- type: ErrorCatalog
  url: errors/university-of-birmingham-errors.yml
- type: Vocabulary
  url: vocabulary/university-of-birmingham-vocabulary.yml
- type: JSONLD
  url: json-ld/university-of-birmingham-context.jsonld
- type: SpectralRules
  url: rules/university-of-birmingham-jsonschema-spectral-rules.yml
- type: AgenticAccess
  url: agentic-access/university-of-birmingham-agentic-access.yml
- type: DomainSecurity
  url: security/university-of-birmingham-domain-security.yml
- type: Plans
  url: plans/university-of-birmingham-plans-pricing.yml
- type: RateLimits
  url: rate-limits/university-of-birmingham-rate-limits.yml
- type: FinOps
  url: finops/university-of-birmingham-finops.yml
- type: Review
  url: review.yml
x-coverage:
  state: covered
  reason: covered
  detail: 'The University of Birmingham operates no developer portal, no API programme and no API key issuance, and a subdomain
    sweep across both of its registrable domains (birmingham.ac.uk and bham.ac.uk) returned DNS for only one candidate — gitlab.bham.ac.uk
    — with api., data., developer., opendata., open., dev., portal., sandbox. and git. all failing to resolve. What it does
    operate was found by probing rather than by link presence: three EPrints repositories with live OAI-PMH 2.0 providers
    and EPrints REST interfaces, a Shibboleth SAML 2.0 identity provider registered in the UK Access Management Federation,
    a self-hosted GitLab on the BEAR estate whose /api/v4/projects answers keyless while its entire web UI sits behind /users/sign_in,
    and the English Constructicon open research API. Three vendor tenancies carrying the University''s name — Elsevier Pure
    at research.birmingham.ac.uk, Ex Libris Primo at findit.bham.ac.uk and Instructure Canvas at canvas.bham.ac.uk — were
    resolved by CNAME and are recorded as tenancies, not as Birmingham surfaces. No vendor contract is saved in this repository.
    The single OpenAPI here describes the Constructicon API and was written by API Evangelist from the project''s documentation
    and live responses; the University publishes no machine-readable API description of its own. Its GitHub organisation exists
    and is public but holds zero public repositories.'
  evidence:
  - url: https://edata.bham.ac.uk/cgi/oai2?verb=Identify
    status: 200
  - url: https://etheses.bham.ac.uk/cgi/oai2?verb=Identify
    status: 200
  - url: https://epapers.bham.ac.uk/cgi/oai2?verb=Identify
    status: 200
  - url: https://edata.bham.ac.uk/rest/
    status: 200
  - url: https://idp2.bham.ac.uk/idp/shibboleth
    status: 200
  - url: http://metadata.ukfederation.org.uk/ukfederation-metadata.xml
    status: 200
  - url: https://gitlab.bham.ac.uk/api/v4/projects?per_page=1
    status: 200
  - url: https://gitlab.bham.ac.uk/api/v4/version
    status: 401
  - url: https://englishconstructicon.bham.ac.uk/database/api/constructions
    status: 200
  - url: https://englishconstructicon.bham.ac.uk/database/api/constructions/999999/
    status: 404
  - url: https://api.datacite.org/prefixes/10.25500
    status: 200
  - url: https://research.birmingham.ac.uk/
    status: 200
  - url: https://research.birmingham.ac.uk/ws/api
    status: 404
  - url: https://research.birmingham.ac.uk/ws/oai?verb=Identify
    status: 500
  - url: https://findit.bham.ac.uk/
    status: 200
  - url: https://canvas.bham.ac.uk/
    status: 200
  - url: https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/llms.txt
    status: 404
  - url: https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/.well-known/security.txt
    status: 404
  - url: https://api.github.com/orgs/University-of-Birmingham/repos
    status: 200
  generated: '2026-08-30'
  method: probed
maintainers:
- FN: Kin Lane
  email: kin@apievangelist.com