The U.S. National Science Foundation, in partnership with the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Energy, and the Department of Defense, is offering online research security training to the research community.

This training provides federal research funding recipients with information on risks and threats to the global research ecosystem and the knowledge and tools necessary to protect against these risks.

To complete the research security training:

• Visit the four training modules below.
  • Each module should take about 60 minutes to complete.
  • You can leave a module and return without losing progress from this browser.
  • Please visit the National Science Foundation for more information about the .

After completing each module, you must download or print the completion certificate. The module does not store a record of your training.

Once you have downloaded the completion certificate, email a copy torscompliance@uah.edu

Module 1

NASA/Goddard/Rebecca Roth

What is Research Security?

Learn key concepts of research security and how to recognize situations that may indicate undue foreign influence. Understand the regulatory landscape that shapes research security and discover what you can do to safeguard the core values that underpin U.S. academic research.

Module 2

NASA Glenn Research Center

Disclosure

Learn about federal funding agency disclosure requirements, including types of information that must be disclosed, how that information is used, and why such disclosures are fundamental to safeguarding the U.S. research enterprise from foreign government interference and exploitation.

Module 3

Flight Loads Laboratory (FLL)

Manage and Mitigate Risk

Learn to identify types of international collaborative research and professional activities, associated potential risks, and strategies and best practices for managing and mitigating such risk. Learner experience will be customized based on their role as either a researcher or administrator.

Module 4

NASA/MSFC

International Collaboration

Learn about the role of principled international collaboration in U.S. science, innovation, and economic competitiveness. Discover how to balance principled international collaboration with research security concerns, as well as how to foster an open, welcoming research environment that fulfills research security needs.

- Ft. Jean Feldman, Head, Policy Office, NSF

To stakeholders, institutions, and colleagues:ORI updated the interactive videos  and  to better reflect current workplace environments and concerns, including issues related to diversity, equity, and inclusion in workplace settings. While still very popular, these original videos are now over a decade old. To ensure quality resources for our community members, The Lab and The Research Clinic better reflect current standards of appropriate workplace behavior in research settings.

For the thousands of users in the U.S. and abroad, ORI updated these videos in order to make them more relevant to a modern audience, addressing teachable moments missed in the original versions. The updated versions use pop-ups, voice overs, and teaching text to offer additional information about issues such as harassment, unconscious bias, microaggressions, racism, workplace culture, emotional health, and more. Since these videos were first published, ORI received feedback from users and stakeholders about how to improve these educational resources, and ORI made many updates in response so that the videos are more consistent and responsive to the current research environment and workplace.

These updated videos can be used immediately. Find the updated videos here:  and . ORI looks forward to hearing how you implement these popular resources to promote research integrity!

Stay tuned: ORI is working on sequels to both interactive videos. The sequel to The Lab is slated for release in 2025 and the sequel to The Research Clinic will be available in 2026.The Office of Research Integrity

On January 23, 2023, NASA issued a memorandum to communicate requirements documented in OMB Memorandum M-22-18 directing Federal agencies to comply with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Guidance when using third-party software on the agency’s information systems or otherwise affecting the agency’s information. M-23-16 reinforced the requirements established in M-22-18 and extended the timelines for agencies to collect attestations after the release of the CISA Secure Software Development Attestation Common Form (hereafter referred to as the “Common Form”) and approval by OMB under the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA).

Full Memo: Update to Jan 2023 Supplier Documentation Requirements for Software Producers to NASA for Purchase or Use.

The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy issued guidelines to federal research agencies on research security programs at certain universities and federally-funded research institutions.

To address risks posed by strategic competitors to the U.S. research and development (R&D) enterprise, the Biden-Harris Administration is implementing several measures to improve research security while preserving the openness that has long enabled U.S. R&D leadership and without exacerbating xenophobia, prejudice, or discrimination.

This memorandum provides federal research agencies with guidelines for implementing a certification requirement imposed by National Security Presidential Memorandum-33 (NSPM-33) and certain provisions of the CHIPS and Science Act. Specifically, federal research agencies must require certain research institutions to certify to a federal funding agency that the institution has established and operates a research security program. This memorandum describes and sets forth a standardized requirement for fulfilling these obligations.

Subject: Addressing Undue Foreign Influence and Enhancing Research Security

Effective April 1, 2024

Federal and state agencies continue to express concerns about transfers of federally funded research and other IP from US universities and businesses to foreign entities. Such transfers are often illegal, but even when such transfers are legal, the failure to disclose foreign activities can be illegal, especially based on how federal funders, including the Department of Defense (DoD), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the National Science Foundation (NSF), and other federal agencies, are interpreting and supplementing their requirements. 

Read the full memo: Addressing Undue Foreign Influence and Enhancing Research Security 

The Department of Defense announced the publication of a list of foreign entities that have been confirmed as engaging in problematic activity as described in Section 1286 of the Fiscal Year 2019 National Defense Authorization Act, as amended. These include practices and behaviors that increase the likelihood that DOD-funded research and development efforts will be misappropriated to the detriment of national or economic security or be subject to violations of research integrity or foreign government interference.

PUBLICATION: 

On June 29, 2023, the Department of Defense (DOD) issued (“DOD Materials”) concerning the
DOD’s requirement for review of fundamental research projects for conflicts of interest, conflicts of
commitment, and unwanted foreign influence.

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The U.S. National Science Foundation released the latest report by JASON, an independent science advisory group, . Building on the  report released , NSF commissioned this new study to satisfy legislative requirements in Section 10339 of the "CHIPS and Science Act of 2022" and the Fiscal Year 2023 Appropriations bill. JASON was asked to comment on specific steps NSF might take to identify sensitive areas of research and describe processes to address security in those areas.

Courtesy: National Science Foundation

The order focuses on specific, sensitive information like genomic data, biometric data, personal health data, geolocation data, financial data, and other kinds of personally identifiable information. The White House is worried that “countries of concern” can use this sensitive data to spy on Americans and military service members.

Full story: