diff --git a/dspace-api/src/main/java/org/dspace/authenticate/IPAuthentication.java b/dspace-api/src/main/java/org/dspace/authenticate/IPAuthentication.java
index 4c9a25acdb..99e19ef94a 100755
--- a/dspace-api/src/main/java/org/dspace/authenticate/IPAuthentication.java
+++ b/dspace-api/src/main/java/org/dspace/authenticate/IPAuthentication.java
@@ -195,6 +195,10 @@ public class IPAuthentication implements AuthenticationMethod
     public int[] getSpecialGroups(Context context, HttpServletRequest request)
             throws SQLException
     {
+        if (request == null)
+        {
+            return new int[0];
+        }
         List<Integer> groupIDs = new ArrayList<Integer>();
 
         String addr = request.getRemoteAddr();
diff --git a/dspace-api/src/main/java/org/dspace/authenticate/ShibAuthentication.java b/dspace-api/src/main/java/org/dspace/authenticate/ShibAuthentication.java
index fc069a8e77..a98f953079 100644
--- a/dspace-api/src/main/java/org/dspace/authenticate/ShibAuthentication.java
+++ b/dspace-api/src/main/java/org/dspace/authenticate/ShibAuthentication.java
@@ -71,6 +71,10 @@ public class ShibAuthentication implements AuthenticationMethod
     public int authenticate(Context context, String username, String password,
             String realm, HttpServletRequest request) throws SQLException
     {
+        if (request == null)
+        {
+            return BAD_ARGS;
+        }
         log.info("Shibboleth login started...");
 
         java.util.Enumeration names = request.getHeaderNames();
@@ -218,7 +222,7 @@ public class ShibAuthentication implements AuthenticationMethod
     public int[] getSpecialGroups(Context context, HttpServletRequest request)
     {
         // no user logged in or user not logged from shibboleth
-        if (context.getCurrentUser() == null
+        if (request == null || context.getCurrentUser() == null
                 || request.getSession().getAttribute("shib.authenticated") == null)
         {
             return new int[0];
diff --git a/dspace-api/src/main/java/org/dspace/authenticate/X509Authentication.java b/dspace-api/src/main/java/org/dspace/authenticate/X509Authentication.java
index d28b5d6612..bea219f65f 100755
--- a/dspace-api/src/main/java/org/dspace/authenticate/X509Authentication.java
+++ b/dspace-api/src/main/java/org/dspace/authenticate/X509Authentication.java
@@ -496,6 +496,10 @@ public class X509Authentication implements AuthenticationMethod
     public int[] getSpecialGroups(Context context, HttpServletRequest request)
             throws SQLException
     {
+        if (request == null)
+        {
+            return new int[0];
+        }
 
         Boolean authenticated = false;
         HttpSession session = request.getSession(false);
diff --git a/dspace-sword/dspace-sword-api/src/main/java/org/dspace/sword/SWORDAuthenticator.java b/dspace-sword/dspace-sword-api/src/main/java/org/dspace/sword/SWORDAuthenticator.java
index 92d0ed478e..f036cad318 100644
--- a/dspace-sword/dspace-sword-api/src/main/java/org/dspace/sword/SWORDAuthenticator.java
+++ b/dspace-sword/dspace-sword-api/src/main/java/org/dspace/sword/SWORDAuthenticator.java
@@ -262,6 +262,15 @@ public class SWORDAuthenticator
 				{
 					authenticated = true;
 					sc.setAuthenticated(ep);
+					 // Set any special groups - invoke the authentication mgr.
+		            int[] groupIDs = AuthenticationManager.getSpecialGroups(context, null);
+
+		            for (int i = 0; i < groupIDs.length; i++)
+		            {
+		                context.setSpecialGroup(groupIDs[i]);
+		                log.debug("Adding Special Group id="+String.valueOf(groupIDs[i]));
+		            }
+					
 					sc.setAuthenticatorContext(context);
 					sc.setContext(context);
 				}
@@ -283,6 +292,14 @@ public class SWORDAuthenticator
 						sc.setOnBehalfOf(epObo);
 						Context oboContext = this.constructContext(ip);
 						oboContext.setCurrentUser(epObo);
+		                // Set any special groups - invoke the authentication mgr.
+	                    int[] groupIDs = AuthenticationManager.getSpecialGroups(oboContext, null);
+
+	                    for (int i = 0; i < groupIDs.length; i++)
+	                    {
+	                        oboContext.setSpecialGroup(groupIDs[i]);
+	                        log.debug("Adding Special Group id="+String.valueOf(groupIDs[i]));
+	                    }
 						sc.setContext(oboContext);
 					}
 					else
diff --git a/dspace/CHANGES b/dspace/CHANGES
index 5b7661dbcd..6a78f82d35 100644
--- a/dspace/CHANGES
+++ b/dspace/CHANGES
@@ -113,6 +113,7 @@
  - [DS-260] Template item some times has owningCollection filled and some times not
  - [DS-309] Shiboleth default roles are applied also to anonymous user and user logged-in with other methods
  - [DS-270] Make delegate admin permissions configurable
+ - [DS-436] SWORD Authenticator doesn't support the special groups infrastructure
 
 (Tim Donohue)
  - [DS-218] Cannot add/remove email subscriptions from Profile page in XMLUI