UK government team to advise universities on China research links

A new government team is to advise UK universities on how they should collaborate with China on sensitive research topics and manage potential problems on sharing intellectual property.

Based in Manchester, the new research collaboration advice team has been created by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) to offer advice to scientists, researchers and businesses on how they should work with overseas partners.

Its main focus will be on work between researchers in Britain and China, which accounted for 11 per cent of the UK’s research output in 2019, according to a report by Harvard University and King’s College London published in March. However, it will also examine UK researchers’ links with academics in other countries.

The creation of the 15-strong team follows calls by ex-universities minister Lord Johnson of Marylebone for the UK to “urgently” improve its monitoring of its academics links with China.

The prime minister’s brother also called for the creation of a government-sponsored body to “contribute unique research and analytic capacity on foreign engagement risk and establish a unified point of contact about it for the research enterprise”.

Announcing the new advice unit on 25 May, business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said it will “give universities and institutions access to the latest advice on safe collaboration with international partners and protections against those who seek to harm the UK”.

“Keeping the country safe is the primary responsibility of any government, and it is essential that we do everything in our power to support our brilliant scientists and researchers in pursuit of our ambition to become a global science superpower,” said Mr Kwarteng.

In its announcement, BEIS said the new team would “help researchers make the most of their collaborations while helping them to protect themselves from those who seek to compromise the UK’s national security”.

“Such behaviour left unchecked can leave the UK vulnerable to disruption, unfair leverage, and espionage,” it continued, adding that “threats to science and research in particular – primarily the theft, misuse or exploitation of intellectual property by hostile actors – are growing, evolving and increasingly complex”.

Julia Buckingham, president of Universities UK (UUK) and vice-chancellor of Brunel University London, said the advice team would build on recently published UUK guidelines on managing risk in internationalisation.

“We particularly welcome the creation of a single point of contact in government, which builds on recommendations made by Universities UK and will provide valuable insights for institutions and researchers,” said Professor Buckingham.

Tim Bradshaw, chief executive of the Russell Group, said the unit, which will begin recruiting this summer, would “bolster joint efforts from universities and government departments to combat threats to sensitive UK research from hostile actors”.

Meanwhile, technology bodies representing universities in the UK, the US, Canada and Australia have announced a new intelligence sharing system to help research and education organisations prevent cyber-attacks, following an upturn in malware and ransomware shutdowns at universities during the pandemic.

Steve Kennett, executive director of e-infrastructure at Jisc, the UK’s technology body for tertiary education, said the automated platform that shared real-time data on attacks would help institutions “to stay ahead of the curve…update our knowledge and adopt agile response mechanisms”.

jack.grove@timeshighereducation.com