Research and Innovation Series (RIS) – Part XIII: Understanding Research Security in a Changing Global Environment. Insights from the Routledge International Handbook of Research Security
The Stockholm Center for Research and Innovation Security (SCRIS) at the Institute for Security and Development Policy (ISDP) invites you to a webinar exploring key insights from the Routledge International Handbook of Research Security, edited by Brendan Walker-Munro and Tommy Shih.
The webinar will bring together several contributors to the handbook to discuss how research security is understood, developed, and implemented across different contexts. It will also present findings from the Horizon Europe Reconnect China project by Gábor Szüdi, including research on awareness of and needs related to research security in cooperation with China, particularly in critical technology fields.
The discussion will explore how governments, universities, and researchers can navigate the growing tension between maintaining open international collaboration and addressing risks related to foreign interference, technology transfer, and the protection of sensitive knowledge.
Organized by SCRIS, the Research and Innovation Series (RIS) promotes dialogue on issues shaping research, technology, and innovation security. By bringing together policymakers, researchers, industry representatives, and practitioners, the series explores national approaches to research and innovation, emerging technological developments, and challenges affecting economic competitiveness and national security.
The webinar will be moderated by Melita Phachulia, Executive Assistant at ISDP. The event will begin with presentations, followed by a Q&A session with the audience.
Join us for this timely discussion as part of ISDP’s RIS Webinar Series, bringing together leading experts to examine national approaches to research security and the future of international scientific cooperation in an increasingly contested geopolitical environment.
The webinar will focus on the following themes:
- How research security has evolved as a policy and academic field
- Different approaches to defining and understanding research security
- The relationship between research openness, academic freedom, and security considerations
- Lessons from Europe-China research cooperation and critical technology areas
- How universities and policymakers can build effective research security frameworks
- The role of security expertise and governance in shaping responses to emerging risks
Speakers:
Dr Brendan Walker-Munro is an Associate Professor (Law) at the Faculty of Business, Law & the Arts at Southern Cross University. His research focuses on research security and the use of law and policy to protect university research from national security threats, including espionage, foreign interference, hacking, and inappropriate technology transfer. He also researches broader issues at the intersection of national security law and higher education, including research funding, privacy, and digital security.
Hedvig Ördén is Assistant Professor, Center for War Studies, Department of Political Science and Public Management, University of Southern Denmark. Her research is situated within critical security studies, intelligence studies, and international relations. Her work focuses on the politics of security in relation to foreign information influence and interference. She is particularly interested in how security is negotiated in response to emerging threats, the production of security expertise, and how actors navigate the legitimacy of security and intelligence practices in democratic societies. Her research has been published in leading academic journals, including Security Dialogue, International Affairs, and European Security.
Benjamin Mulvey is a Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in the School of Education at the University of Glasgow, where he leads the MSc in Education, Public Policy and Equity and serves as Deputy Director of Postgraduate Research. His interdisciplinary research focuses on the sociology of international higher education, particularly in relation to China, with interests spanning international student mobility between Africa and China, inequalities in higher education-to-work transitions, and academic freedom in China and globally. His work has been published across education, sociology, and geography, and he currently co-edits Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education.
Tommy Shih is a Senior Lecturer and Associate Professor at Lund University and Professor at KTH Royal Institute of Technology. He serves as the Director of the Forum for Responsible Internationalization and Research Security ((www.risecforum.com). His academic work focuses on the intersections of global science, geopolitics, technology, and innovation management. In addition to his research activities, Tommy Shih provides expert advice to governmental and funding agencies on science, technology, and business policy.
Gábor Szüdi is a Senior Researcher and Project Manager at the Centre for Social Innovation (Vienna, Austria), with a PhD in political economy. His expertise lies in science, technology, and innovation (STI) policy, including research security. He has contributed to several EU-funded projects, including the Global Service Facility on Research Security, the EU Knowledge Network on China (KNOC), and the Reconnect China Horizon Europe project. Within Reconnect China, he co-led dissemination and exploitation activities, as well as quantitative and qualitative research on STI cooperation between China and the EU. Together with Philipp Brugner, he co-authored the open-access chapter “Research Security with China in Europe: Assessing Needs and Level of Knowledge Across Researchers in Critical Technologies and Beyond” in The Routledge International Handbook of Research Security.
His current research focuses on how European countries and the European Union can maintain an approach of “as open as possible, as closed as necessary” amid an increasingly polarized global environment.