Research security screening for universities and research organisations

• The institution behind the collaborator: a researcher is affiliated, and the affiliation can be designated even where the individual is not.
• Indirect funding: a grant can come from a foundation or company that is funded or owned by a designated party, and only the first link appears on the paperwork.
• Sensitive and dual-use research: work with a civilian description can still involve controlled technology, which brings export controls in alongside sanctions.
• Decentralised decisions: departments and research groups sign collaboration and funding agreements on their own, so no single office sees every partner.
• Visiting researchers: visitors and fellows bring access to laboratories, data and colleagues.
• Proposal deadlines: funding calls have deadlines, and a check that arrives after submission shapes nothing.

1. 1

   Register partners centrally

   Collaborating institutions, funders, sponsors and named collaborators recorded in one place, whichever department signs the agreement.

2. 2

   Screen institutions, funders and people

   Sanctions and PEP screening of partner institutions, funders and named researchers, and ownership screening of the bodies that control them.

3. 3

   Screen at proposal and contract

   Before a proposal is submitted, an agreement is signed or a visitor is invited, not after the work has started.

4. 4

   Escalate to the right people

   Pass possible matches and sensitive cases to the research security, export control and legal teams who decide.

5. 5

   Re-screen and record

   Re-screen partners when lists change and when programmes are renewed, and keep the evidence for the committee that approved the work.

Universities and research organisations are generally not obliged entities under anti-money laundering law. Sanctions law applies to them: providing funds or economic resources to a designated institution or person is prohibited, and so is dealing with funds that belong to one.

Several governments publish research security guidance that encourages universities to carry out due diligence on international partners, funders and collaborators, in proportion to the sensitivity of the research. The detail varies between countries and changes over time, so institutions should check what their national guidance and their funders expect.

Export controls are separate. They can apply to sharing controlled technology, including by electronic means, and under the US deemed-export rule giving a foreign national access to controlled technology can count as an export. In the UK, international researchers in some sensitive subjects need clearance under the Academic Technology Approval Scheme. These checks are the institution's own. on8.ai screening covers sanctions and PEP sources and US export-control lists such as the Entity List, but no UK or EU export-control list.

• Institutions and individuals: universities, institutes, companies and named researchers screened in the same check.
• Ownership screening: the bodies that own or control a partner institution or funder surfaced, with ownership rules such as the OFAC 50 Percent Rule applied.
• Every published name: each sanctions record searched under its aliases, former names and the original-script spellings its sources publish.
• Batch screening: a partner register or a list of co-authors and visitors screened in one run.
• Ongoing monitoring: partners re-screened when lists change, with alerts only on changes.
• Evidence for committees: every check and decision recorded in a form a research security or ethics committee can follow.
• Clear scope: know which sanctions and export-control lists are covered, and keep technology and licensing checks as a separate process.