Research Security

Updated Research Visitor Policy

The federal government maintains lists of restricted parties, both individuals and organizations. Hosting Research Visitors from restricted parties (organizations/universities/companies) can create export control risks, including federal violations, as well as raise researchers’ risk profile with the federal government. As of April 15, 2025, Northwestern will not routinely sponsor Research Visitors, including interns, from U.S. restricted lists if the individual is on a U.S. restricted list or their home institution/employer/funder is on a U.S. restricted list. There is a limited appeal/waiver process for certain instances.  For more information on this new policy, please consult this new memo from the VPR.

Research Security Training

The federal government is going to require research security training. This mandate stems from President Trump’s National Security Presidential Memo-33 (2021) and the CHIPs and Science Act (2022). Over the next several months, each federal agency will implement this requirement, with the Department of Energy (DOE) leading the way. Starting May 1, 2025, covered and key personnel on DOE proposals (and potentially any listed researcher when applying for a specific notice of funding opportunity) must complete the training prior to submission, and researchers on existing DOE  awards will also need to complete the training. Researchers have two training options: (1) a four-hour course developed  NSF  or (2) a one -hour  Northwestern-developed training meeting specific criterion. To reduce administrative burden, Northwestern’s Research Security team has created this one-hour NU-training ahead of the DOE deadline. You can access the Northwestern Research Security Training here. For questions, please contact the Export Controls & International Compliance team.

Federal Agency Risk Assessments

Several federal funding agencies (DOD, DOE, NIH, NSF) have published information on how they assess certain international risk factors, and which factors may warrant mitigation or impact funding opportunities. These matrices provide insight into what specific international activities are considered risky to the agencies and to what degree. There risk criteria differs by each agency, so it is important to review guidance from the agencies you work with or hope to work with carefully.  However, common areas of concern include foreign talent plan participation; foreign funding (disclosed and undisclosed), positions, affiliations, and associations with foreign countries of concern (FCOC - China , Iran, North Korea, and Russia); collaborations with restricted parties or denied entities; foreign patents; and co-authorships with FCOC for some agencies. Please see this resource for details and a summary matrix.

Updated COI policy related to Foreign Talent Programs

The federal government continues to regulate participation in Foreign Government Talent Recruitment Programs. As a result, we have updated Northwestern's Conflict of Interest policy to include definitions of Foreign Talent Programs and "Malign" Foreign Talent Recruitment Programs.
Learn More about this updated COI policy.