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North of 49: Research Security and Foreign Partners

By SRAI News posted 07-13-2022 12:56 PM

  

North of 49: Research Security and Foreign Partners

Jurisdictions around the world are grappling with how to support international science in light of research security and foreign influence concerns. The U.S. has tackled this issue with extensive disclosure requirements and repercussions while north of the 49th parallel, Canada is taking a more moderate approach with its National Security Guidelines for Research Partnerships. 

On June 22, the SRAI Canadian Section hosted a panel of experts from universities, the federal government and research funders to discuss how the recent developments of the Guidelines for Research Partnerships impact the research management processes at universities and colleges. (The Guidelines, which were initially implemented in 2021 for one program funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council [NSERC] the Alliance grants which have a private sector partner, will be rolled out gradually to relevant federal Tri-agency partnering programs.) Similar security guidelines will be implemented with other federal programs with a medium-term objective to align federal and provincial requirements. 

In this session “Research Security: New Practices and Processes and Their Impacts on Academic Research" moderated by Sharon Wu, University of British Columbia, panelists emphasized that research security is a shared responsibility between researcher, institution and funder, to ensure due diligence in partnering. 

Holly McCracken from Innovation, Science and Economic Development (ISED) provided examples of federal resources for the research community, such as “Safeguarding Science” workshops offered by Public Safety Canada or the Canadian Centre for Cybersecurity, as well as the 2022 federal budget plans for increased funding. 

Scott Baker, UBC, and Derek Newton, University of Toronto, described their institutional practices which include making researchers aware of the requirements; training and tools developed in-house to support security threat assessment; and the developing role of the institution’s research security advisor. Where possible, they are integrating this assessment, with other compliance requirements, such as research data management plans, cybersecurity, and privacy. 

With respect to the impact of the Guidelines’ risk assessment on Alliance grant submissions, Sara O’Neill, NSERC, reported minimal impact, with most applications (87%) being approved by NSERC; 5% referred for national advice; and 8% rejections. She also noted that NSERC will respond to individual researchers’ requests for additional mitigation strategies. 

When questioned about recommendations on specific software to facilitate investigation of industry partners, the federal representatives noted they use some subscription-based software and are also currently developing an open source intelligence guide. 

This session was the first of a quarterly Coffee Talk series hosted by the Canadian section in 2022-23. Other sessions will address the following topics: Research Communications (Podcasting); Intellectual Property; Research Development.


Authored by

Sharon Wu, Managing Director, Research Support Services
University of British Columbia

Terry Campbell, Assistant Vice-President, Research Services
University of Ottawa


#July2022
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