Research funding agencies and those concluding new partnerships with foreign entities can conduct a preliminary risk analysis (RA) to identify the most suitable partners Regularly reviewing existing agreements (e.g. checking the framework conditions of cooperation, reciprocity, clarity of IPR rules, and attention to avoiding financial dependence) or also providing an exit strategy, in case of non-compliance, can be useful. The same is expected of R&I institutions, which themselves conclude direct agreements with partner institutions;
Raise awareness and including the research security dimension, in the submission dossier for calls for research proposals. The intention is to include a questionnaire for self-risk - assessment (RA) or a real risk appraisal form in the future; Please fill out these forms s if your proposal involves international cooperation. It is assumed that, as a researcher, you can make the assessment yourself, although it is not always obvious to find the right information. You can be assisted by a contact person in your institution or at the research funding body. This analysis (RA) allows to indicate a level of risk for your proposal within foreign cooperation and to decide on the go/no go of the cooperation or, if necessary, to foresee measures to restrict (mitigate) the risks in the execution of the cooperation;
Monitoring: during projects, things can also go wrong or run differently than agreed at the start. When reporting, the research funding body can look for RS infringements in order to adjust the project/policy;
Cybersecurity: research security and cyber and information security policies go together. Most Belgian research funding institutions align their strategy with the vision of the Centre for Cybersecurity Belgium (CCB) or some have the relevant ISO certificate. For research institutions, in addition to virtual security institutions, physical compartmentalisation of data access or of infrastructure is desirable, where relevant.
