UK response to research security threats ‘lacks agility and speed’

The UK’s research security system lacks agility and speed, forcing cautious universities to forgo “potentially valuable” research collaboration opportunities, according to MPs.

A new report from the House of Commons’ Business, Innovation, Science and Trade Select Committee says that if the government wants to unlock collaborations with China while protecting sensitive technologies and data, it needs to better resource the UK’s research security apparatus.

Part of an enquiry into China and the UK economy, the report, published on 2 November, says that ministers should improve the resourcing of the Research Collaboration Advice Team (RCAT) to speed up the provision of advice to universities.

Concerns about research collaborations with China escalated recently after MI5 issued a security alert that warned that 100 UK-linked academics had performed research for the China General Technology Research Institute, an organisation whose primary purpose was funding to improve Chinese espionage capabilities.

More broadly, the risks for UK researchers in collaborating with China include threats to academic integrity and the security of research data, with some British academics reporting “self-censoring” their wider research to maintain their access to China.

The BIST committee highlights that “the government and universities have made progress in developing mechanisms to mitigate these risks” including RCAT and the creation of the Trusted Research national security initiative.

But the report also suggests that the existence of two separate points of contacts for universities – RCAT and the Academic Interference Reporting Route (AIRR) – “risks causing confusion and contributing to delays”. The AIRR is based within the Department for Education so it only supports English institutions.

It should merge the two routes to ensure that “RCAT remains a one-stop-shop” and “universities in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland can also use it to report”, MPs said.

The UK can still gain potentially huge benefits from collaborating with China, the report says. “On some measures, China is now the world’s largest science spender. It leads the world in the filing of new patent applications and the production of PhD graduates in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM),” according to the committee.

“International research collaboration can bring economic benefits, such as increases to publications, patents, business growth and profitability. It can also boost export performance,” it adds.

Academics and research managers have also urged the government to create a promised Research Security Strategy – with the report pointing out that this was promised 18 months ago but still not delivered. The government has also pledged to establish a Research Security Fund to “support research security risk management and protective security measures”, for which details are yet to emerge.

The Russell Group of research-intensive universities has voiced concerns that the system is on average “slower than we would like”, the report says. It also notes that the UK universities’ financial difficulties constrain their ability to increase investment in research security capacity and capability.

The report warns that the consequences of a lagging system are that “UK universities are missing out on potentially valuable research collaboration opportunities”.

frances.jones@timeshighereducation.com