Charles Lyons-Burt
“…we’ve long held the view that protecting our nation’s innovation is both a law enforcement priority and a top national security priority.” — FBI Director Christopher Wray
A recent story in The Guardian exposed a research collaboration resulting in dangerous drone technology between researchers in the United States, United Kingdom and Australia with an Iranian university known for its close ties to the military.
The collaboration raised questions from security and international politics experts, pointing to current sanctions imposed on the Iranian university and its connection to Iran’s drone industry. Iranian-made drones have been used in deadly attacks in Ukraine and the Middle East.
This research was funded and performed by Five Eyes countries despite claims that the researchers in question had no ties to Iran.
Such research collaborations might have been avoided with the use of Dimensions Research Security.
Global technology company Digital Science says government, academia and industry are turning to its Dimensions offering to help protect the security and integrity of the federally funded research enterprise. According to the organization, the comprehensive data and purpose-built tools found in Dimensions are uniquely suited for the research security mission.
Dimensions Research Security enables compliance with policies and security requirements used to safeguard against key threats like:
- Foreign influence
- Conflicts of interest
- Undeclared research collaborations
- Intellectual property theft
In the United States, National Security Presidential Memorandum 33 has established guidelines for implementing the National Security Strategy for U.S. government-supported R&D, while the White House recently released a policy on disclosure forms for use by Federal Research Funding Agencies, to help identify conflicts of commitment and potential duplication with the work of foreign governments.
With significant potential national security and economic consequences, how can institutions and agencies help ensure they have the right information to enable decision-making and compliance with such policies?
Dimensions Research Security – information at your fingertips
Dimensions aspires to be the world’s largest collection of linked research data. Institutions’ research activities and the activities of individual researchers, their colleagues and collaborators, funding sources, clinical trials, outcomes, publications and even patents can be collated, linked and cross-referenced quickly and easily using Dimensions Research Security.
Dimensions Research Security includes an easy-to-use dashboard, giving the user control over the data that is most important to them.
Gaining valuable insights into such data means having a greater awareness of risks associated with individuals, their collaborators and funding sources. This can help with due diligence checks, verifying disclosures and strategic decision-making.
Researchers may be unaware they’re involved in collaborations that put themselves, their research and their institutions at risk. The information provided by Dimensions Research Security could be instrumental in speaking with researchers about risk and compliance, helping to avoid foreign influence and intellectual property theft — and helping to safeguard the nation’s interests.
Find out more about Dimensions Research Security or contact the Dimensions team for a demo.
