Conference: Workshop to Identify Research on Research Security (RORS) Needs in Higher Education

Universities need to learn how to identify threats to research, what research needs to be protected, and how to protect it. Many universities have recognized they are at risk and have hired Chief Research Security Officers (CRSOs) to take the lead in ensuring that research being conducted at, or for, the university is secure. This proposal will fund a workshop to gather CRSOs from newly minted R1 institutions and rising R2 institutions across US universities. These institutions are rapidly expanding their research portfolios and securing new funding, which can introduce research security challenges and provide a unique opportunity to lay the foundation for robust research security as they grow, serving as a model for others in best practices. A key aspect of this workshop will be to explore how smaller universities, or those transitioning to higher research activity, can effectively collaborate and share resources to establish and maintain a robust research security infrastructure comparable to that of established Tier 1 research institutions. The workshop’s broader impacts contribute to national security, economic competitiveness, and the integrity of the U.S. research enterprise. The proposed 2.5 day workshop will bring together CRSOs from new R1 and rising R2 institutions as a systematic method to capture and synthesize their firsthand experiences and concerns regarding research security challenges to direct future research needs. By bringing together key stakeholders, we aim to (1) understand institutional concerns, (2) identify key issues and future research directions, (3) generate actionable insights and enhance frameworks, (4) create a roadmap/guidelines for peers, (5) produce and disseminate a white paper about the research needs for university research security, and (6) build a community of practice and sustain momentum post-workshop by developing an interconnected community of research security professionals and enabling ongoing collaboration. The workshop will facilitate the identification of research gaps and the development of research questions leading to future research in cybersecurity, research security, and research administration. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.