Varying European Research Security Practices Causing Challenges, Researchers Say
European countries still have "very different" levels of research security practices in place to protect against threats from China and other adversarial nations, University of Manchester researchers said in a new report. While some countries have "mature research security policies and practices," others are at an earlier stage, while "no country can be said to have institutionalised research security practices across its whole research system."
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Although many nations have export controls and other measures to protect sensitive research, the report said there's a "recognition of the need to increase capacity for risk management, due diligence and export control compliance." But that "remains challenging due to a range of barriers including resource constraints, a lack of suitably skilled individuals and limited training programmes."
The 178-page report called on governments to work together to create "sector-wide research security standards" for their universities and other research institutions. It added that export controls and awareness of those controls can vary widely between countries, particularly among smaller universities or those focused on social sciences and humanities, which believe their work is less likely to involve controlled technologies.
Other universities are struggling to build an export compliance program. Some university officials interviewed by the report's authors said "recruiting and training staff with the necessary knowledge of export controls is a challenge," largely because they face job competition from businesses or government.