Research Security Training: The Importance of Disclosure

The Texas A&M University System, College Station

Investigators

Abstract

This project will design and develop a training module about research security, and evaluate user perceptions of learning. Specifically, this module will focus on the importance of proper disclosure in the conduct of federally funded research. This project directly addresses the need to strengthen research security of U.S. government-supported research and development, per the National Security Presidential Memorandum – 33 (NSPM-33) and the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022. Dissemination and use of this training will better protect U.S. research interests from foreign and domestic risks and threats. The training module will be Internet-based, scalable, flexible, and widely accessible to researchers and stakeholders in various settings, including researchers with disabilities. This training module will increase awareness and understanding of the origins and requirements of the current disclosure process and articulate the importance and benefit of trust through transparency. It will also address several essential elements associated with the risk of non-disclosure when awarding participant organizations and individuals who willfully fail to disclose. The development of the research security training module series is collaboratively funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Department of Energy (DOE), and the Department of Defense (DOD). This research security training module, focused on the importance of proper disclosure of foreign collaborations, will be designed and developed in consultation with a Content Expert Group, which includes experts in research security across government. The module will employ the Situated Cognition Theory. Learners will be exposed to context-based case studies, interactive branching scenarios, and simulations of real-life disclosure scenarios in an academic research security setting. Following the initial design work and consultation, focus groups will be convened to evaluate the module's ease of use and measure the efficacy of the learning process. The evaluations will also allow learners to reflect on their perceptions of the module's content and online learning environment and delivery. The project team will assess the module's effectiveness via surveys, interviews, and group exchanges. The evaluation phase will include a compilation of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) documentation of the learner's feedback during focus group testing and other course effectiveness testing methods. Following end user testing, evaluation, and revisions to the design, the module will be made available for dissemination to research security stakeholders, including university-based researchers, undergraduate, and graduate students, academic administrators, research security administrators, and researchers and staff in government agencies and national laboratories. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.