About

The certification questions that researchers are required to answer within Ideate when submitting a research application or accepting a research award have recently been updated, in response to changes to the external regulatory landscape, including the introduction of the UK National Security & Investment Act.

The process has been made as straightforward as possible for researchers, asking for all compliance information only once for multiple regulatory requirements.

Researchers do not need to have knowledge of the specific regulations to answer the questions. Answering ‘Yes’ to any of the questions does not mean that the research project falls within a regulation and the R&IS team may follow up with you to establish whether anything further is required to ensure compliance.

 

National Security & Investment Act

The UK’s National Security & Investment Act (NSI) gives the government oversight and intervention powers in the acquisition of ownership and knowledge in relation to certain sensitive areas of technology.

This can include outputs of research projects and collaborations, so when working in these areas the University may be expected to make a declaration of an activity to government under the act.

Further information can be found on the University's National Security and Investment Act webpage.

 

Ideate Certification Questions

Researchers are asked in Ideate if their project falls within any of the seventeen sensitive areas specified within the scope of the National Security & Investment Act with two follow-up questions asking about the TRL of the research and the sharing of equipment, materials, and IP.

The R&IS Governance and Compliance team will follow up with researchers based on the responses to establish whether there is a risk of relevant IP or data being acquired by anyone posing a risk to the UK’s national security and therefore whether a notification to government under the NSI Act is required.

R&IS will support with any further action to ensure compliance.

The seventeen areas are as follows:

• Advanced Materials

• Advanced Robotics

• Artificial Intelligence

• Civil Nuclear

• Communications

• Computing Hardware

• Critical Suppliers to Government

• Cryptographic Authentication

• Data Infrastructure

• Defence

• Energy

• Military and Dual-Use

• Quantum Technologies

• Satellite and Space Technologies

• Suppliers to the Emergency Services

• Synthetic Biology

• Transport

Please email researchcompliance@warwick.ac.uk if you have questions about any of the above.