Research security: URIS guidelines come into force on 1 November

From 1 November, AU will have new guardrails in place to increase security in international research and innovation collaboration - the URIS guidelines.

The acronym ‘URIS’ stands for ‘Udvalget om Retningslinjer for Internationalt forsknings- og innovationsamarbejde’ – or ‘the committee on guidelines for international research and innovation collaboration’. The committee was established by the Ministry of Higher Education and Science. The committee began work on guidelines for international research and innovation collaboration in Denmark in 2020, and has since made a variety of recommendations for new initiatives, including new guidelines for Danish universities.

The guidelines that come into force at AU on 1 November concern recruitment, hiring and sideline employment.

A second set of guidelines will come into force in early 2025, and will focus on project and research collaboration, policies for travel in high-threat countries, offboarding and access control.

Read about the background for the URIS guidelines in an interview from August with Vice-dean Brian Vinter, who chairs the URIS implementation group at AU.

From 1 November, URIS guidelines will apply in the following areas: 

Background checks

Background checks will be performed in connection with the assessment of applicants, potential PhD students and guests from high-risk countries. When the process of defining ‘controlled’ and ‘critical’ research is complete, more extensive background checks will also be carried out  in connection with such research.

Here you can read about how background checks are carried out and who’s involved. As a rule, the persons who play a role in a background check will be contacted directly.

Sideline employment

AU’s guidelines for sideline employment have been revised. Under the new guidelines, the head of department/school must be informed of any planned sideline employment related to a high-threat country. The head of department/school must be informed at least fourteen days before the sideline employment activity or relationship is to begin.

The head of department/school must be informed prior to any planned sideline employment related to ‘critical’ or ‘controlled’ research at AU.

Onboarding of new hires

AU’s guidance on onboarding has been updated to reflect the URIS guidelines. The following points are highlighted: 

• The importance of taking the course on responsible research practice.
• That staff should inform their manager if they are subjected to unwanted attention or pressure from foreign intelligence services. Staff who wish to to report such incidents anonymously can do so through AU’s whistleblower scheme
• Please be aware that some Danish funders may require background checks in connection with grants.

https://medarbejdere.au.dk/en/administration/research-support-and-collaboration/uris/#c3490837

The Danish Security and Intelligence Service’s definition of ‘high-threat countries’

‘High-threat countries’ are classified by the Danish Security and Intelligence Service (PET). Currently, Iran, China and Rusland are the countries currently classified as high-risk. These particular states have been singled out for inclusion on the background of PET’s intelligence about which countries are particularly aggressive in their attempts to gain illicit access to research results from Danish research institutions and groups.

Collaboration with researchers who are citizens of these countries is not prohibited, but background checks will be carried out in connection with recruitment, enrolment of PhD students and hosting guests. The reason for this is that unfortunately, Iranian, Russian and Chinese citizens are more vulnerable to attempts at manipulation on the part of their home countries’ intelligence services than the citizens of non-authoritarian states.

It is also important to add that these regimes also attempt to acquire research results and knowledge illicitly in other ways, for example through Danish citizens or cybercrime.

Read more in PET’s assessment of the espionage threat to Denmark (Danish)

https://medarbejdere.au.dk/en/administration/research-support-and-collaboration/uris/#c3379487

Classifying ‘controlled’ and ‘critical’ research at AU

Research that is classified as ‘controlled’ or ‘critical’ will require a higher level of security: to begin with, in the form of heightened use of background checks. 
‘Controlled’ research is subject to export controls, dual use regulations and sanctions. An example is technologies that have both military and civilian applications.

‘Critical’ research applies to cutting-edge technologies that have been assessed as particularly important to protect by the EU, Denmark or AU.

To begin with, only ‘controlled’ research will be classified; only a limited amount of the research performed at AU is expected to fall into this category. The departments/schools are currently being contacted by AU Research, Research Data Office in regard to classification of controlled research.

Critical research at AU will be classified after the EU regulatory framework has been established.

https://medarbejdere.au.dk/en/administration/research-support-and-collaboration/uris/#c3490807

Find out more about the URIS guidelines and AU and the timetable for implementation here.

Read a Q&A with Vice-dean Brian Vinter about URIS at AU

Contact:

Vice-dean Brian Vinter
vinter@au.dk
28 75 14 21

Senior Consultant Jakob D. Sørensen
jds@au.dk
29 45 40 23