Higher Education Regulated Research Workshop Series: A Collective Perspective

Regulated research data is a growing challenge for NSF funded organizations in research and academia, with little guidance on how to tackle regulated research institutionally. Trusted CI would like to bring the community’s attention to an important report released today by the organizers of a recent, NSF-sponsored* Higher Education Regulated Research Workshop Series that distills the input of 155 participants from 84 Higher Education institutions. Motivated by the Higher Ed community’s desire to standardize strategies and practices, the facilitated** workshop sought to find efficient ways for institutions large and small to manage regulated research data and smooth the path to compliance. It identified six main pillars of a successful research cybersecurity compliance program, namely Ownership and Roles, Financials and Cost, Training and Education, Auditing, Clarity of Controls, and Scoping. The report presents each pillar as a chapter, complete with best practices, challenges, and recommendations for research enablers on campus. While it focuses on Department of Defense (DOD) funded research, Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI), and health research, the report offers ideas and guidance on how to stand up a well managed campus program that applies to all regulated research data. It represents a depth and breadth of community collaboration and institutional experience never before compiled in a single place.

Organized by Purdue University with co-organizers from Duke University, University of Florida, and Indiana University, the workshop comprised six virtual sessions between November 2020 and June 2021. Participants ranged from research computing directors, information security officers, compliance professionals, research administration officers, and personnel who support and train researchers.

The full report is available at the EDUCAUSE Cybersecurity Resources page at https://library.educause.edu/resources/2021/7/higher-education-regulated-research-workshop-series-a-collective-perspective. It was co-authored by contributors from Purdue University, Duke University, University of Florida, Indiana University, Case Western Reserve University, University of Central Florida, Clemson University, Georgia Institute of Technology, and University of South Carolina.

See https://www.trustedci.org/compliance-programs for additional materials from Trusted CI on the topic of compliance programs.

* NSF Grant #1840043, “Supporting Controlled Unclassified Information with a Campus Awareness and Risk Management Framework”, awarded to Purdue University
** by Knowinnovation