Data federation platforms play a vital role in the integration and exchange of data across different domains, facilitating collaboration and enabling informed decisions. User-centric design is crucial in their development as it fosters user engagement throughout the entire development process, thus prioritizing the needs and requirements of users for creating a solution that is both easy to use and user-driven. For instance, end-users’ requirements may include assurances of privacy and the ability to maintain control over the primary and secondary use of their data, among others. Nevertheless, there seems to be a lack of attention to identifying User-centred requirements in the development of such systems following a holistic approach. This paper describes the user-centric design methodology, incorporating User Experience (UX) Research, which was followed to gather User-centred requirements for guiding the development of a privacy-aware data federation platform, and presents its results. The research primarily aims to establish clear definitions of Personas, User Stories, and User-centred requirements, through a thorough study including interviews, surveys, focus groups, technical implementation feedback, and use case scenario testing across Health, Education, Energy, Space, and Automotive data domains, to ensure that development is in line with user preferences. Key findings highlight the significant user demand for privacy-aware data federation platforms, with a focus on multidisciplinary data exchange and secondary use of data. This study underscores the significance of prioritizing user empowerment when creating data federation platforms that prioritize privacy and can serve the diverse requirements of users in various domains.