27 Oct 2025
CESAER input paper shares best practices for research security at universities
CESAER, the association of universities of science and technology in Europe, has presented an input note on 'Research security as a collective responsibility: Empowering universities, enabling Europe'. The paper was published on 27 October 2025 and shares best practices for strengthening research security at university level. It also calls on the European Union and national governments to empower universities in implementing proportionate safeguards to enhance research security. The associaion's members affirm their commitment to strengthen research security as a collective European responsibility.
Ahead of the European Flagship Conference on Research Security, CESAER calls on European and national policymakers to empower universities to implement proportionate safeguards that protect research while fostering responsible collaboration. The association emphasises that empowering universities to do so helps create the stable conditions in which academic freedom, scientific excellence, and international collaboration thrive, building resilience through collective responsibility and trust — without closing doors — enabling Europe’s competitiveness, prosperity and security.
The input note also offers insights, lessons learned, and best practices from across the CESAER Members to support universities in developing approaches to research security.
To achieve this, the note calls for action in five interlinked areas:
- Building a strong institutional foundation;
- Incentivising and empowering the researcher;
- Integrating openness and security through a mutually reinforcing approach;
- Ensuring responsible collaboration;
- Assuming collective responsibility by co-creating a European level playing field.
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