Executive Summary
In Spring 2021, the Government of Canada released a policy statement to enhance research security and encourage all involved in research to take precautions to protect their research. At Queen’s University, the Vice-Principal Research portfolio will support researchers through the process of due diligence with information, resources and support services that actively assess and mitigate risks to research and intellectual property. Queen’s is prepared to engage in awareness-raising activities, the training of staff and providing access to safeguarding tools, resources, and infrastructure. Awareness of safeguards and actions will be shared via the Resources for Researchers series and the internal Safeguarding Research webpage. Staff will receive training to navigate policy requirements and support researchers assessing risk, and internal units, including Partnerships and Innovation, Research Legal Services, the Library, and the Centre for Advanced Computing. Efforts to support researchers will ensure research integrity, excellence and impact.
The ideal state is that this strategy applies to all researchers, including students, staff, and faculty in all disciplines, at the University. However, in the first instance, our focus is to ensure that potential Tri-Council-funded researchers comply with any documentation required to complete grant applications, including but not limited to, the National Security Guidelines for Research Partnerships now being utilized in the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) Alliance Grants Program application. A demonstration of conducting due diligence in this manner will lead the transition to manage security risks in research and innovation at Queen’s.
Oversight and Review
Dr. Kent Novakowski, Associate Vice-Principal Research (VPR) will oversee the implementation of the strategy. Dr. Novakowski is supported by a team, including staff in the VPR portfolio.
The strategy will be reviewed by the Associate VPR and presented to the executive team and staff in the Vice-Principal Research portfolio on an annual basis.
Introduction
In Spring 2021, the Government of Canada released a Research Security Policy Statement outlining plans to “balance openness and collaboration with appropriate safeguards for Canadian researchers’ knowledge, data and intellectual property”.
New guidelines were implemented for researchers working with partners in the private sector and applying for the NSERC Alliance grant. It is anticipated that similar guidelines will apply to all Tri-Agency and Canadian Foundation for Innovation grants that have collaborative partnerships.
The Government of Canada encourages all involved in research to conduct due diligence, attending to potential security risks and taking precautions to protect their research. Ensuring research is not exploited or misused requires a commitment to precautionary measures to mitigate risk, thus ensuring the benefits of research to the research community and beyond.
Importance of Safeguarding Research
Taking precautions to mitigate risk in research is part of best practices to discovery-driven and partner-based research.
- Queen’s values the production of research and innovation for the betterment of society. Safeguarding research is important to our institution because Queen’s values the safe and secure, fair and inclusive management of research partnerships and intellectual property;
- Queen’s values the use of risk-targeted due diligence by members of the research community to minimize potential security risks such as “theft, interference and unwanted transfer of knowledge and results” (Safeguarding Research , Government of Canada 2021);
- Queen’s values open communication of research, embracing the exchange of ideas in the local, provincial, national, and international spheres.
It is these values that form the foundation for our desire to support our researchers in secure research practices, when practical and possible, in all manners and in all disciplines.
Institutional Support
To support the adoption of our Safeguarding Research Institutional strategy and to enhance the use of best practices in improving the security of research investments among researchers, Queen’s is prepared to engage in awareness-raising activities, the training of staff and providing and/or supporting access to safeguarding tools, resources, and infrastructure. The following practices are part of our institutional support:
- Awareness-raising:
The Resources for Research at Queen’s series will commit to a safeguarding research-specific session per year; internal and external resources will be shared via the Vice-Principal Research “Safeguarding your Research” webpage. - Hiring and training staff:
The continuation of staff training to navigate policy requirements and support researchers assessing risk.
- Providing and/or supporting access to tools, resources, and infrastructure such as:
- Queen’s Partnerships and Innovations, the Research Legal Services (Industry Partnerships) and Research Services support researchers with the development, negotiation and management of partnerships. For instance, units provide support to complete the National Security Guidelines for Research Partnerships , such as the Risk Assessment Form for the NSERC Alliance competition.
- The Queen’s University Library offers resources on data security.
- The Library, as well as the Centre for Advanced Computing , offer access to secure repositories and related service supports, tools and technologies. Externally, secure repository tools include Scholars Portal and the Federated Research Data Repository (FRDR).
Confidentiality, Ethical, Legal and Commercial Considerations
The institution supports researchers in adopting and complying with confidentiality, ethical, legal, and commercial obligations through various channels:
- Best efforts to secure personal health or other confidential data in research are needed by researchers and research staff. This includes a meaningful consideration of how data is used, stored and shared. For example, identifiable data must be encrypted if stored outside a secure server (i.e. when stored on a portable device). The University Research Ethics Office, Compliance and Training Office, and the Research Legal Services assist researchers in the ethical considerations and legal agreements required to work with sensitive data. The Centre for Advanced Computing at Queen’s offers secure repository options for sensitive data. A multi-unit collaborative team is in-place to develop best practices and procedures for the use and storage of confidential data.
- Research complying with relevant legal and commercial obligations falls under the Partnerships and Innovation unit under the VPR portfolio. Research Legal Services supports researchers with research related agreements required in research with legal implications. This includes but is not limited to resources for safeguarding research, data sharing and data transfer/access agreements, non-disclosure agreements, and confidentiality agreements.
- The University Research Ethics Office supports issues of ethics and compliance. Best practices in research follow the Tri-Agency Framework: Responsible Conduct of Research (2016) . Research projects involving human participants are reviewed by either the General Research Ethics Board or the Health Sciences Research Ethics Board. In addition, the Tri-Agency's Tri-Council Policy Statement: Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans (TCPS2) is a resource for researchers to consider ethical conduct of research involving human participants.
Stakeholders
Queen’s success in safeguarding research requires collaboration across several units on campus including, but are not limited to:
Oversight and Review
Dr. Kent Novakowski, Associate Vice-Principal Research (VPR) will oversee the implementation of the strategy. Dr. Novakowski is supported by a team, including staff in the VPR portfolio.
The strategy will be reviewed by the Associate VPR and presented to the executive team and staff in the Vice-Principal Research portfolio on an annual basis.
Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Indigeneity in Research
Integrating equity, diversity, inclusion, and Indigeneity (EDII) into safeguarding considerations enhances research management practices and impacts research quality and excellence. The Indigenous Community Research Partnerships training program is an open online resource that consists of four modules, with a fifth module being designed specifically for the Queen's University local context. This resource considers ethical partnerships with Indigenous Peoples, communities and organizations in research. The three module Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in Research training program, collaboratively developed by the Vice-Principal Research portfolio, the Human Rights and Equity Office and Viswali Consulting, helps the Queen’s research community implement EDII policies and practices into their respective research programs, projects and research environments.
Safeguarding your Research Resources
- Safeguarding your Research
- National Security Guidelines for Research Partnerships
- Agency policies related to the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act
- Agreement on the Administration of Agency Grants and Awards by Research Institutions
- Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) Regulations
- Canada’s Food and Drugs Act
- CIHR Best Practices for Protecting Privacy in Health Research (September 2005)
- CIHR, NSERC, and/or SSHRC Policy on Intellectual Property
- Controlled Goods Program
- Foreign Interference and You
- Freedom of Information and Privacy Act
- Laboratory Biosafety Guidelines
- Security Considerations for Research and Development
- Tri-Agency Framework: Responsible Conduct of Research (2016)
- Tri-Agency Open Access Policy on Publications
- Tri-Council Policy Statement: Ethical Conduct of Research Involving Humans (TCPS 2018)
- Canadian Council on Animal Care Policies and Guidelines
- Data Security Standards for Personally Identifiable and Other Confidential Data in Research, University of Toronto
- Recommended Informed Consent Language for Data Sharing, ICPSR
- Sensitive Data Toolkit for Researchers Part 1, The Digital Research Alliance of Canada
- Sensitive Data Toolkit for Researchers Part 2, The Digital Research Alliance of Canada
- Sensitive Data Toolkit for Researchers Part 3, The Digital Research Alliance of Canada
- Acceptable Use of Information Technology Resources Policy, Information Technology Services, Queen’s University
- Authentication and Access Control Standard, Information Technology Services, Queen’s University
- Data Classification Standard, Information Technology Services, Queen’s University
- Data Security and Encryption: Handling Confidential and Personal Information, Records Management and Privacy Office, Queen’s University
- Electronic Information Security Policy, Information Technology Services, Queen’s University
- Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in Research Modules, Human Rights and Equity Office and Vice-Principal Research portfolio, Queen’s University and Viswali Consulting
- Indigenous Community Research Partnerships, Office of Indigenous Initiatives, Queen’s University
- Network and Systems Security Policy, Information Technology Services, Queen’s University
- Research Compliance, Training, and Ethics, Vice-Principal Research portfolio, Queen’s University
- Research Legal Services, Vice-Principal Research portfolio, Queen’s University
- Research Protocols, Records Management and Privacy Office, Queen’s University
- Records Management and Privacy Office, Queen’s University
- Records Management Policy, Records Management and Privacy Office, Queen’s University
- Web Application Security Standard, Information Technology Services, Queen’s University
Definitions
A ‘researcher’ can include any individual who worked on the research project that could legitimately claim intellectual contribution of the research project if the results of the research project was to be published in a scholarly work (Queen’s University Library).
A ‘research project’ can be defined as the research associated with investigating a hypothesis or group of hypotheses (and applicable set of predictions) aimed at answering a distinct or specific research question. A single research grant may support one research project or multiple research projects, or the converse. In the context of this survey, a research project may be associated with a distinct set of research data and would be a subset of a research program, research activity or research area you may investigate (Queen’s University Library).
‘Research data’ can be defined as any data that are collected, observed, created or analyzed to produce research results.
Research data could include:
- Observational data such as sensor readings, telemetry, survey results, images;
- Simulation data such as climate models and economic models;
- Derived or compiled data such as text and data mining, compiled database, 3D models which can come in many forms including text, numerical, multimedia, models, software, discipline specific or instrument specific (Queen’s University Library).
‘Research security’ refers to “the ability to identify possible risks to your work through unwanted access, interference, or theft and the measures that minimize these risks and protect the inputs, processes, and products that are part of scientific research and discovery.” (Safeguarding Research, Government of Canada 2021).
Looking Ahead
Currently we are resourced to assist researchers applying for Tri-Agency funding. That said, the institutional strategy is a living document and the VPR team will revisit the strategy based on researcher response and Tri-Agency requirements. We will plan for an annual review of Queen’s Institutional Strategy by the Associate Vice-Principal Research and the VPR Executive team.
For more information, please contact:
Dr. Kent Novakowski, Associate Vice-Principal Research at kent.novakowski@queensu.ca