The European University Association (EUA) published, on Monday 15 January, a contribution addressed to the European Commission as part of the consultation on the ‘Boosting research security in the EU’ initiative.
The EUA welcomes the Commission’s initiative. It stresses that open cooperation must be the default approach and advocates responsible openness, including proportionate measures to deal with risks.
The association also states that the risk of non-cooperation must be taken into account, and warns of the consequences for research of excluding or drastically limiting the scope for global partnerships.
In addition, the EUA advocates close dialogue between the authorities, universities and the academic community in the process of identifying risks in the areas of safety, ethics and integrity, and stresses that the central instrument must be university autonomy (self-governance).
Finally, the EUA stresses that resources are needed for institutional development and the sharing of best practice.
The association underlines as well the need to raise awareness of the risks to the safety of research and to raise awareness of the risks incurred by university partners outside Europe.
On Wednesday 24 January, the Commission is due to unveil a proposal for a recommendation on research security, as part of a package on economic security.
Link to contribution: https://aeur.eu/f/ae9 (Original version in French by Émilie Vanderhulst)