Deputy Director: International spying a future threat to research

A new reality has hit the Danish research community.

While universities have previously aimed for academic cooperation with everyone, new boundaries are now being set up around a select group of states.

The countries in this bad book are Russia, China and Iran. The three countries are suspected of research espionage and of misusing knowledge from Western universities for controversial projects.

The Danish news media Politiken has revealed how researchers from Aalborg University had, in co-operation with a Chinese company, helped develop an algorithm that can be used for mass surveillance.

At the same time Chinese researchers have collaborated with the Chinese army in connection with projects abroad, also in Denmark.

READ ALSO: Warning of Chinese espionage: But Danish universities are still sending students to China

And in 2020, a Russian citizen living in Denmark and PhD student at DTU was sentenced to three years in prison for espionage. For a number of years, he had handed over information about green technology to a Russian intelligence service.

These cases have led to a critical view of the suspected countries. But it also raises a dilemma, as academia has always gone a long way to ensure both independence of research and academic collaboration throughout the globe.

»It’s a paradox. Research has always relied on the fact that everyone can, in principle, stand on each other’s shoulders to look further. And it is clear that the new reality challenges this premise,« says Kim Brinckmann, who is deputy director at the University of Copenhagen.

As head of the unit for Research & Information Security, he is in charge of the UCPH protection of unwanted transfer of critical knowledge to states at risk.

Background checks and closed areas

Back in the 00’s, Denmark had far-reaching ambitions for international research collaborations, especially with China.

But revelations about shady projects that were partly made possible by Danish research, had the former government set up the so-called URIS committee in 2020, which was to map out risks associated with research collaborations.

In May 2022, the committee’s recommendations were ready, and it concluded: »There needs to be a paradigm shift in the Danish approach to international research and innovation«.

The Danish Police Intelligence Service (PET) drew up a guideline for Danish universities which they felt were not sufficiently aware of the risk of spying from, say, China. And new, stricter, guidelines for international cooperation were introduced.

»We have for a long time worked from the maxim that the university should be as open as possible, and as closed as necessary. With the current security agenda, the latter part of that maxim has become more important than it has been before. And for some critical research areas and projects, the starting point instead is that we are more closed than open,« says Kim Brinckmann.

Danish universities are rolling out the URIS guidelines right now. At the University of Copenhagen, the initiative is focused on the health and natural sciences, as this is the research that the three countries are looking for.

This means that special laboratories and equipment need to be closed off and protected from unauthorized personnel. And UCPH is to assess on a case-by-case basis whether photo and recording equipment should be allowed in connection with events like guest visits.

If a researcher affiliated with the University of Copenhagen wishes to enter into a research collaboration with researchers related to a country at risk, the value of the collaboration needs to be assessed and initially discussed with their immediate superior.

»If the collaboration is to take place within a critical research area, there is extra reason to consider whether the collaboration should take place at all.

At the same time, UCPH is in the process of implementing procedures to systematically screen applicants for positions at the university if a number of conditions are met. This applies to researchers, PhD students and administrative staff.

READ ALSO: PhD student with controversial Chinese contract: »I feel completely free«

Nationality is not decisive however. UCPH is interested in the association an applicant has to a high risk country.

»If the person has resided for more than six months in one of the three risk countries, it is considered a significant association and something to be aware of. The same can be true if you have published to a significant extent together with researchers who come from a risk country, or if you have received funding from a risk country,« says Kim Brinckmann.

Students on exchange from one of the three risk countries can still study freely at a Danish university. According to Kim Brinckmann, this is because students are not employed by the university and so different rules apply for them.

List may be extended to other countries

Even though the URIS guidelines are now two and half years old, the University of Copenhagen has not yet reached their objectives with all of them.

»The University of Copenhagen is like a big ship that takes time to change course. And because this is also about a culture change, the researchers’ working conditions, and the role of the universities — it takes time. And it should take time to discuss, decide and initiate it,« says Kim Brinckmann.

When do you expect to have UCPH following all of the URIS guidelines?

»We are well under way. But I think the security situation will change in the coming years. So there will be new rules and recommendations which UCPH and the other Danish universities will have to consider. The list of risk countries can also change over time.

So the trend is for the guidelines to become stricter in the future and potentially include more countries?

»We want our security in both the physical and digital world to be even better in the coming years. As I see it, nothing indicates that we will relax these restraints. Unfortunately,« says Kim Brinckmann.

READ ALSO: University of Copenhagen managers after campaign criticism: The spying threat needs to be taken seriously

He will not say whether there is currently collaboration on projects at the University of Copenhagen that are being investigated for violating the URIS guidelines.

Despite the changed risk landscape, Kim Brinckmann emphasizes that students and staff don’t need to start feeling anxious. He does call on everyone at the university however:

»We are already strong in our critical thinking, and we should exploit this in the more risk-based approach to our international research collaboration. This does not say anything about the importance of research, but there are research areas where we should exercise greater caution, and there are other areas where we do not need the same focus. But no matter where you are and who you are, it’s a good idea to ask yourself: Who do I collaborate with, what do we collaborate on, and why is anyone interested in this particular collaboration?«