Abstract

The Association of Research Managers and Administrators UK led a consortium to consider 'Efficiency, Equity, Quality and Security in International Research Collaboration'.

The 9-month project, which was awarded £99k from the Research England emerging priorities fund in May 2022, was tasked with broadening the focus of ARMAs previous report on due diligence (published in April 2021) with a new emphasis on Trusted Research and security, including export control and the National Security and Investment Act 2021.

The scope of the project was to establish the current challenges facing the sector and consider whether a sector-led system and service, as recommended in the previous report, remained a valid part of the solution to providing assurance of risk in international research collaborations. The research conducted enabled us to gain significant insights into the UK research and innovation sector response to research security issues in the United Kingdom and to learn from partners across the world whose countries had introduced similar legislation at an earlier stage.
ARMA found that whilst the majority of research organisations in the UK have made progress in responding to the national security legislation, there are unique challenges relating to the complexity and cross-cutting nature of the legislation which make this different to other forms of due diligence.

The report found that ‘over 90% of respondents felt a sector-led system and service would have a positive effect’ and recommends the creation of an independent Research Collaboration Diligence Exchange and Research Collaboration Diligence System to address the unmet need within the sector and drive both operational and cultural change around due diligence, trusted research and security.

Whilst many ideas and suggestions related to longer-term solutions that would require planning and funding, the report recommends a series of Quick Wins that could be immediately actioned and provide swift support to those implementing changes through coordination and collaboration.

The Quick Wins include actions for Research Organisations, Research Funders, Government and Regulatory Bodies and ARMA itself. Recommendations include continued cross-sector engagement; best practice exchange events; an updated ARMA due diligence questionnaire; a new checklist for internal, desk-based research for trusted research and security; and the creation of a tool kit and resource bank.

Recognising that this has become a priority for both the EU and national governments, with an increasing pipeline of legislation, we want to share our findings and learnings with colleagues at EARMA.

Participants can expect to gain an understanding of the types of regulations being introduced, the expected impact of managing these regulations within research and innovation teams and our proposals for how colleagues across the sector can work together to deliver better solutions.