International research partnerships and collaborations facilitate discovery and innovation, increase participant diversity and reinforce the validity of study findings. These collaborations are vital to UHN’s ability to achieve its research mission to together drive excellence in discovery and innovation to create A Healthier World.
However, given the geopolitical climate, some partnerships may come with risks related to theft, interference, or misuse of the research outputs. It is important that UHN researchers understand and mitigate against these risks.
To help safeguard Canadian research, the Government of Canada and Government of Ontario have developed a series of policies and guidelines to address research security concerns.
What is Research Security?
Research security refers to the measures taken to protect knowledge, technologies and data from unwanted access, interference or theft.
UHN is committeed to working with our partners to ensure the integrity and quality of its research outputs. UHN's goal is to enable research activities while balancing open academic collaborations with awareness of, and compliance with, security requirements. The UHN Research Partnership Security Working Group was established to support the UHN research community in navigating this evolving area and changing landscape.
What do UHN researchers need to do?
UHN researchers are responsible for complying with the research security requirements for the grants for which they are applying. Researchers are required to comply with the research security requirements for the duration of the grant.
Applicants and their research team(s) are required to comply with the policy for the duration of the grant.
What do UHN PIs need to do?
UHN PIs applying to pre-registered CIHR grants (including Project Grants) will be contacted directly by the Research Grants Team.
UHN PIs applying for CIHR or CFI grants that do not require pre-registration must submit researcher attestations for each individual with a named role on the application to the Research Gratns team at least two (2) business days before the submission deadline if the grant proposed to advance a sensitive technology research area.
Ontario Research Fund (CFI matching) and Early Researcher Award grants
Covers:
Collaborations and affiliations with foreign entities
Requirements:
Applicants are required to disclose recent and ongoing collaborations with foreign institutions and commercial entities or positions on various international committees at the time of grant application.
Applicants for projects deemed high risk will have an opportunity to describe risk reduction and/or mitigation strategies that are or will be implemented. The Ministry will work with the applicants and institutions before a funding decision is made.
UHN has established an internal Research Partnership Security Working Group (RPSWG) to develop and manage UHN’s approach to mitigating partnership security risks. The RPSWG:
Reviews federal and provincial research partnership security requirements
Answers questions related to funding-specific partnership security requirements
Reviews high-risk partnerships and provides risk-mitigation strategies as appropriate
Participates in a TAHSN-wide Research Partnership Security Community of Practice that promotes consistency in applying common principles and partnership security measures across TAHSN
Maria Kannu (maria.kannu@uhn.ca), Senior Manager, Research Grants, or the Research Grants team (grants@uhnresearch.ca) with specific questions related to upcoming Tri-Agency program grants
Margaret Kinyanjui (margaret.kinyanjui@uhn.ca) with the StRIDe team with specific questions related to CFI grants