SPRITE+ Trusted Research Workshop

Description

SPRITE+ held a workshop in March 2021 to identify ways to improve researcher awareness of issues related to “Trusted Research”, an umbrella term that includes issues related to:
• Regulatory compliance (e.g., Export Controls, the Academic TA Scheme, GDPR, partnercountry regulations)
• Protecting IP (including cyber security and data protection issues)
• Conflicts of interest with other research partners
• Risk of foreign interference in research/teaching and academic freedom
• Protecting staff and students overseas
• Reputational risk and ethical issues (including potential misuse/abuse/dual use of
research knowledge)
At a strategic level, the government and Universities UK have issued guidance aimed at senior leaders in the Higher Education sector, and many UK universities are actively working on adapting and rolling out the guidance. Although there is government guidance for Principal Investigators (PIs) and research teams, awareness and uptake of this guidance is patchy.
The workshop explored the implications of current guidance for ‘coal face’ PIs and their teams, examining the barriers to awareness and implementation, and suggesting ways to improve the situation. 37 researchers from a range of career stages and research disciplines participated in a series of breakout discussions over three hours.

Period	Mar 2021
Event type	Workshop
Degree of Recognition	National