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This is a past event from 11 May 2023, 9:45am - 4:30pm (BST)
They are unavailable to book
Join us online on Thursday 11 May as we focus on implementing sector guidance on managing security-related issues in international research, innovation, campuses and information.
This conference will bring together experts that have been key in developing best practices and resources to support providers in embedding a culture of security-mindedness and how to protect themselves, their staff and their students.
We will also be highlighting case studies on how the numerous guidelines available have been used by universities to support their risk management processes.
We will be addressing topics such as:
Why should you attend?
This online one-day conference will help you build on your understanding of what is needed to strengthen vigilance and capitalise on the opportunities presented by international partnerships, as well as a wide range of opportunities to network, discuss, and make connections with colleagues within the sector.
You will also be able to access the recordings of the plenary sessions (except for the 10:20-11:00 - The interface between universities and the government session) after the event. Please note, due to the sensitive nature of some topics and policies of a few organisations that speakers are representing, the breakouts and workshops cannot be recorded. This will be marked clearly on the agenda.
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Two years on since the publication of UUK’s ‘Managing risks in Internationalisation: Security related issues’ guidance, we open the conference with an overview and an update on the key messages, including proposed steps universities should take to implement the guidance.
This session will focus on how the higher education sector can engage with Government through the Research Collaboration Advice Team and also how universities can utilise the support available. Please note this session cannot be recorded.
Choose one to attend.
Please note these sessions cannot be recorded.
In this session, you’ll hear an update from key stakeholders involved in developing the Trusted Research guidance on their current work and priorities. There will be an opportunity to participate in a facilitated discussion about implementing this guidance, as well as hearing about initiatives that support the aims of Trusted Research. Please note this session cannot be recorded.
Following on from the morning plenary session, this session will delve into what universities have broadly been doing to implement the UUK guidance and discuss action that has been taken across the sector. Please note this session cannot be recorded.
These sessions are an opportunity for you to discuss implementing the key pillars of the UUK guidance in more detail, share best practice and ask questions to the session facilitators and other delegates. Choose one to attend.
Please note these sessions cannot be recorded.
This workshop will focus on a discussion around governance, processes and policies. Areas to include building resilience, due diligence and promoting the values of UK higher education. Please note this session cannot be recorded.
This workshop will discuss measures to protect staff, students and visitors at your institution including communication, knowledge sharing and travelling overseas. Please note this session cannot be recorded.
These sessions are an opportunity for you to discuss implementing the key pillars of the UUK guidance in more detail, share best practice and ask questions to the session facilitators and other delegates. Choose one to attend.
Please note these sessions cannot be recorded.
This workshop will focus on cybersecurity and protecting your estates, including discussion around the new NCSC/Jisc cyber security guidelines. Please note this session cannot be recorded.
This workshop will discuss research security, intellectual property, export control compliance and transnational education partnerships. Please note this session cannot be recorded.
International collaboration is hugely valuable and positive for the UK higher education sector. However, such collaborations may carry a degree of risk, and sometimes raise legitimate national security considerations. This session will discuss how to address challenges and realise the opportunities that international collaboration and partnership brings.
The focus of this discussion will be on how universities can ensure security management is being embedded into institution-wide culture, disseminating the important benefits and risks of collaboration through to teams and individuals responsible for research and international activity.
Associate Professor, Faculty of Social Sciences
Dr Fulda has specialized in democratization studies, citizen diplomacy, and EU-China relations. His most recent book The Struggle for Democracy in Mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong. Sharp Power and its Discontents (Routledge, 2020) has been widely praised.
Between 2015 and 2020 he had more than fifty media appearances on BBC TV and Radio, Sky News, Bloomberg Radio, LBC, ARD, Deutschlandfunk, Bremen 2, Hessischer Rundfunk, Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen, France 24, Euronews, Al Jazeera, and StratNewsGlobal respectively. As the PI for five projects and as commissioned researcher he has raised more than one million pounds from international funders, including the European Commission (2011-14), British Foreign and Commonwealth Office (2011-12), Legatum Foundation (2014-17) and Ford Foundation (2017-19).
Research Compliance Manager (Solicitor)
Chaitali Desai is the Research Compliance Manager at the University of Bristol. She is responsible for ensuring understanding and application of legal compliance measures by academics and professional services teams. She handles enquiries from university staff and postgraduate students specifically pertaining to research and teaching partnerships, and is involved in strategic conversations around high-risk research both internally and external to the institution. Chaitali has established policy, processes, and guidance around the University's response to research security obligations, whilst managing institution-wide projects and promoting the compliance function and research security agenda to senior leadership at the University.
Policy Manager
Daniel Wake is the lead of the research policy programme at UUK, which includes activities on university research funding, culture, impact and collaboration.
Before Universities UK, he worked for the British Universities Finance Directors Group and the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy. He studied politics at Loughborough University and spent a semester at Lund University in Sweden. He has an MA in Media and Cultural Analysis, also from Loughborough.
Head of Global Partnerships
Derek MacLeod is the Head of Global Partnerships and Community at the University of Edinburgh. This role supports the University’s strategic partnerships around the globe, working closely with the University’s Regional Teams.
Derek and his team coordinate the University’s Security & Risk in International Partnerships Group and are responsible for bringing together colleagues from across the University to implement government and sector guidance. Derek also sits on the Secretariat for the Higher Education Export Control Association (HEECA).
Derek was previously the Regional Director, Africa for the University, and also worked in roles across the Middle East and North America.
International Risk & Export Control Manager, Imperial College London
He works within Imperial’s central Research Office, with responsibility for the coordination and development of key capabilities, including responsible exporting and related security matters for international opportunities. He has a background in HE R&D operations, managing research contracting and associated collaboration and compliance considerations, developing business processes and institutional policy.
Chief Technology Officer – Cyber security
Henry Hughes is Jisc’s Chief Technology Officer with responsibility for defensive systems and services that protect members and customers across UK education and research. Jisc operates the Janet network, the National Research and Education Network (NREN) for the UK, providing connectivity to all Universities, Colleges, and Research organisations. Internationally, the Janet network interconnects with 37 other NRENs across Europe.
Henry has over 25 years’ experience working within digital infrastructures, across networking, access and identity management and security. He led the establishment of DDoS defensive capability for the Janet network. Established pen testing, cyber security assessment and cyber essentials certification services in parallel with cyber threat intelligence and layered network defensive services capabilities. He continues to lead and co-ordinate the expansion of defensive capabilities and improvement to cyber resilience across the UK education and research sectors. Henry is an advocate for knowledge and skills development, outreach, and training in the cyber security context.
Internationally, Henry participates in the security work package for GN4-3, a three-year EC programme to support the needs of big science. Looking ahead, Henry will co-chair the two year, GN5-1 security work stream starting 1st January 2023. This programme will focus on establishing an international threat intelligence sharing hub and the protection of terabit scale network infrastructure supporting e-science.
Risk Manager (Regulatory)
Irene works within the Directorate of Compliance and Risk at The University of Manchester. I am the Risk Manager (Regulatory). She has a background in HE compliance, developing business processes and institutional policy. Her portfolio includes a wide area of regulatory themes as well as risk management/governance (due diligence, export control and security) of research activities. Irene was the first Chair of Higher Education Export Control Association (HEECA) and she is the current Chair of the National Export control Group (ECG).
Director
Jamie leads Universities UK International (UUKi) which exists to enable UK universities to flourish internationally through our unique ability to represent them and act in their collective interests.
He has been in higher education his whole (working!) life - initially as an academic at the Education and Social Research Institute in Manchester, and then in HE policy at UUK. He studied history at university and is still mildly obsessed with the fall of the Roman republic.
Director of Research and Innovation Service, Northumbria University
Jennifer is Director of Research and Innovation Service at Northumbria University with responsibility for a wide range of research strategy, policy and support services. In addition, Jennifer is Chair of the Association of Research Managers and Administrators (ARMA) and is committed to the professionalisation and recognition of research management and administration, and to improving the way in which we work together across the sector. She is a member of numerous cross sector groups including the UUK/JISC Content Negotiation Strategy Group, the UK Forum for Responsible Research Metrics and the UUK Advisory Group on Efficiency & Effectiveness in UK Research, and was PI on the UKRI/Research England funded project to review Efficiency, Equity and Quality in Due Diligence for International Research.
Jennifer previously worked as Head of Research Operations and Head of Research Performance and Governance at the University of Leeds for 10 years.
Deputy Director of R&I System Diversity and Security
Dr Karen Salt is an expert on governance, systems and transformative change. She is currently the Deputy Director of R&I System Diversity and Security within UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), the UK’s largest public funder of research and innovation. She drives UKRI’s cross-organisational strategic thinking and policymaking on system diversity and Trusted Research and Innovation. She has led and managed interdisciplinary research centres, collaborative research teams and large research projects, including those focused on producing evidence-informed interventions and policies. A sought after thought-leader and speaker, Salt works closely with leaders across Government, academia, civil society and industry and contributes to numerous international initiatives focused on embedding inclusive and effective policymaking.
Lecturer in Politics and International Relations
Katarzyna Kaczmarska is Lecturer in Politics and International Relations at the University of Edinburgh. Kasia’s research interests centre on knowledge construction among scholars and practitioners of international politics and the ways in which the socio-political context influences academic knowledge-making and use. She is the author Making Global Knowledge in Local Contexts: The Politics of International Relations and Policy Advice in Russia (Routledge 2020). Her work on International Relations theory, the sociology of IR knowledge and post-Soviet politics appeared in International Studies Review, Journal of International Relations and Development, International Relations and Problems of Post Communism, and in various edited volumes.
Prior to joining the University of Edinburgh, Kasia was Marie Curie Fellow at Aberystwyth University with an individual research project funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 programme. At Edinburgh, she teaches courses on the politics of knowledge, IR theory and Russian foreign policy. Kasia is a member of the European Coordinating Committee for Academic Freedom Advocacy and the Academic Freedom and Internationalisation Working Group. She convenes the British International Studies Association's (BISA) Interpretivism in IR Working Group and is on the Global Epistemics book series Editorial Board.
Director of Research Services
Linsey is Director of Research Services at the University of Stirling, with responsibility for a wide range of research strategy and operations including research development, research integrity and governance, researcher development, research culture, research performance and research systems. Linsey is one of the authors of the recently published ARMA report Complex Collaborations Efficiency, Equity, Quality and Security in International Research.
Linsey currently chairs the Board of Trustees for the Scottish Policy and Research Exchange. She chairs the INORMS (International Network of Research Management Societies) working group, and was on the Board of ARMA UK, from 2014 to 2021.
Vice-Chancellor
Professor Jennings is Vice-Chancellor and President of Loughborough University. He was previously the Vice-Provost for Research and Enterprise at Imperial College London, the UK Government’s first Chief Scientific Advisor for National Security, and Regius Professor of Computer Science at the University of Southampton.
Principal and Vice-Chancellor
Peter Mathieson MBBS, PhD, FRCP, FRCPE, FMedSci, FRSE assumed the office of Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Edinburgh in February 2018, having previously served as the 15th President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Hong Kong between April 2014 and January 2018.
Previously, Peter was Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry at the University of Bristol from 2008, serving most of a sixth year after his initial five-year term. He played a major role in the formation of Bristol Health Partners from 2008 onwards and was appointed as its founding Director in May 2012, a role he undertook alongside that of Dean.
Before that, in 2007 Peter became Head of the University Department of Clinical Science at North Bristol, was appointed as Director of Research & Development for the North Bristol NHS Trust, and was elected President of the Renal Association, being the youngest President in its history.
His professional background is in medical research, teaching and clinical practice. He grew up in Cornwall and was the first member of his family to go to university.
Head of Policy, Integrity and Governance
Rhys leads the Policy, Governance and Integrity team in the University of Cambridge Research Office. He holds a PhD in Modern History from Cardiff University and has worked in research support at Cambridge since 2011. In his current role he is Secretary to the University’s Research Policy Committee and manages his team in supporting good research practice and regulatory compliance in a range of areas. Rhys is currently the Co-Chair of the Higher Education Export Control Association.
Managing Director, Formation Consultancy and Deputy Chair
Sapna is a senior lawyer with a decade of inhouse experience in research intensive universities and medical research charities. She now works as an independent consultant and portfolio non-executive director with positions including Deputy Chair of the Association of Research Managers and Administrators (ARMA) and Development Board Member of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in Science and Health (EDIS). Sapna was a co-investigator in the Research England funded and ARMA-led project, “Efficiency, equity, quality and security in international research collaboration” and an author of the resulting Complex Collaborations report. You can connect with her on LinkedIn or Twitter.
Vice President and Chief of Staff, Government Relations
Sarah Spreitzer represents the American Council on Education (ACE) and its members in Washington DC on matters related to research policy and funding, international students, immigration, and higher education policy. Before joining ACE, Spreitzer held senior positions in higher education advocacy at the University of Missouri System, Lewis-Burke Associates LLC, and the University of Washington. She has represented an array of public and private institutions of higher education before Congress and the federal agencies on federal student aid policy and funding, and advocacy efforts with federal science agencies. She received her B.A. from Beloit College (WI) and her M.A. from the Catholic University of America (DC).
Vice-Chancellor, University of the West of England, Bristol
Professor Steve West CBE is the Vice-Chancellor, President, and Chief Executive of the University of the West of England, Bristol (UWE).
At UWE, Steve is responsible for the strategic oversight, financial sustainability, and academic direction of the university. He has been Vice-Chancellor since 2008.
Steve is a Podiatric Surgeon by training and a Member of the Health Education England, Podiatry strategic oversight group. He is Chair of the West of England Academic Health Science Network (WEAHSN) and a Non-Executive Director on University Hospitals Bristol Foundation Trust Board. He has been a Non-Executive Director for the Office for Students and for HEFCE, and Chair of University.
Senior Advisor, STINT (The Swedish Foundation for International Cooperation in Research and Higher Education)
Tommy Shih is a senior adviser at STINT, the Swedish Foundation for International Cooperation in Research and Higher Education, and an Associate Professor in Business Administration at Lund University in Sweden. He conducts research on R&I internationalisation and geopolitics. At STINT he is in charge of leading the work on responsible internationalization focusing on managing research security, integrity and responsibility. The work on responsible internationalisation is done in close collaboration with international funding agencies and universities.
This conference is open to all with an interest in this topic. However, it will be particularly useful for those involved in setting strategies or establishing policies and processes.
Relevant job titles include:
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