UK research security strategy to launch later this year

The UK’s first Research Security Strategy will be launched “later in 2026,” the government has said.

Such a strategy was first alluded to in the 2025 National Security Strategy, which promised to “set out the government’s domestic and international policy on research security.”

This week’s response to the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee report on science diplomacy has provided the updated timeline as well as some further information on the strategy’s objectives:

“The strategy will set out a single government view of research security and support a more coordinated approach across government and the sector. This work will help strengthen the guidance, information-sharing and support available to institutions as they navigate research security risks.”

The response also confirms the government’s intention to launch a research security fund, which will “support research security risk management and protective security measures in UK research institutions.”

As far back as April 2024 the government had said it was considering funding options to develop research security capability within universities – although this announcement came under the Conservative administration, and was made shortly before the general election was called.

Sector bodies, in particular the Russell Group, have been recommending the introduction of a dedicated research security fund for some time:

“This would allow universities to scale existing activity, using government co-investment to enhance due diligence capabilities, drive culture change within the academic community, and advance robust cyber, physical, and data security solutions. An equivalent fund is operating successfully in Canada – we estimate providing £135m over five years would secure similar benefits in the UK.”

The equivalent Canadian funding stream has been in place since 2022–23, earmarked for use in building “capacity to identify, assess and mitigate potential risks to research security.” It must be applied for annually, and is calculated as a percentage of each institution’s eligible direct research funding amounts above CA$2m – those institutions with less annual research income are ineligible to apply.

Intensifying competition

The comments on research security represent only one small part of the government response to the committee’s report Science diplomacy: sovereignty, strategy and the global race, which made recommendations in a wide variety of areas.

On international science talent, the government response has little in the way of new policy, but contains some robust language recognising the UK’s need to compete to attract researchers while simultaneously protecting the domestic pipeline:

“Global competition for research talent is intensifying, and international research talent is a strategic asset for UK growth, bringing research expertise, global networks and diverse perspectives that support innovation, commercialisation and the domestic workforce. International research talent complements, rather than substitutes for, domestic capability. The Government recognises the need for a sustained and attractive UK offer for both domestic and international researchers, combining research funding opportunities with an immigration system that secures talent for the long term.”

Committee chair Chi Onwurah has already criticised the government response, saying that some recommendations have not been addressed. In particular, this relates to the definition of technological sovereignty that the government is adopting, and the committee’s call for ministers to set out how they intend to protect the UK’s sovereignty in critical technologies such as AI.