European Commission toolkit: Tackling R&I foreign interference

The Working Document is designed to provide information on practices to mitigate foreign interference risks to HEIs and RPOs.

This initiative of the European Commission endeavours to support these institutions’ efforts to safeguard their fundamental values, including academic freedom, integrity, and institutional autonomy and to protect their staff, students, research findings and assets. Accordingly, it does not intend to limit international collaboration but rather to promote international collaboration that is as open as possible and as closed as necessary. Moreover, it is not designed to burden HEIs and RPOs with additional administration but to encourage the integration of possible measures as much as possible in existing structures.

The document of the EC has been co-created with the Member States and stakeholders and is meant as an inventory of best practices and collection of evidence, which is neither exhaustive nor binding and should be used as a source of inspiration. Building resistance and responding to foreign interference incidents should be done in consultation with and with the support of local and national authorities, where appropriate.

The working document can be found here.

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