The Research on Research Security Program (RoRS)

NSF is committed to securing the nation's research enterprise as part of its core mission. The Research on Research Security (RoRS) program will advance the understanding of the full scope, potential, challenges, and nature of the research on research security field through scholarly evidence.

Background

The following activities provide background and context for developing proposals to submit to the RoRS program.

• The foundational legislative and policy documents include National Security Presidential Memorandum-33 (NSPM-33) and its associated supporting documents, as well as research security provisions in CHIPS and Science Act 2022.
• In 2022 NSF asked JASON to consider what a research program on research security might entail and how it would be defined. The findings are summarized in the report (JSR-22-08), Research Program on Research Security.
• The 2024 NSF-funded workshop, Responsible Collaboration Through Appropriate Research Security: A Workshop To Discuss and Study the Emergent Discipline of Research on Research Security, identified current themes, major issues, and challenges in research security.

Program Description

Collectively, the research that RoRS funds will foster a broad community that builds collaborations between the STEM research community, research security researchers, and research security practitioners. Interdisciplinary approaches are encouraged, and proposers should address how they will leverage the range of expertise, theories, and methods of the team to engage in evidence-based research on research security. Proposers are encouraged to identify collaborators across a wide range of sectors, and to consider projects in collaboration with international partners that share U.S. concerns with research security, when appropriate.

RoRS encourages the following types of proposals to help build the emerging field of research on research security. (See the PAPPG for guidance on preparing specific proposal types.)

• Conferences and Workshops
• Planning Grants
• Early-concept Grants for Exploratory Research (EAGER)

Proposal topics may include, but are not limited to, the following:

• The nature and pervasiveness of research security threats.
• Methods for identifying research security risks, and strategies for preventing and mitigating them.
• Methods for strengthening research security protocol and approaches.
• The complex relationships between human behavior and research security policies.
• Research security policies and their implications.
• Research on organizational change around systemic and cultural factors as they pertain to research security.
• Research on research security in the context of a particular field or discipline, especially in high-risk areas.
• The international dimensions of research security.

Collectively, RoRS seeks to fund research projects with the following characteristics:

1. Produce data, analysis, theory, and tools that inform current and future decision-making on U.S. research security.
2. Use rigorous empirical methods to advance understanding of the factors that influence research security.
3. Build upon established methodologies from diverse fields of study to ensure that RoRS develops quickly and efficiently into a robust, mature discipline with its own novel approaches.
4. Develop innovative strategies to leverage previously unidentified, unconnected, and/or inaccessible sources of data.

Prospective PIs are strongly encouraged review NSF Research Security resources and to contact the cognizant RoRS program director(s) prior to submission. Proposals should be prepared and submitted following the guidance in the NSF Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG).