From 28 to 30 October 2025, the first European Flagship Conference on Research Security will take place in Brussels. This high-level event, co-organised by the European Commission together with stakeholder organisations including CESAER, will bring together policymakers, experts, and stakeholders from across the EU’s research and innovation community—as well as selected international partners—to explore how to safeguard research and innovation in an increasingly complex geopolitical environment.
The conference will examine how international cooperation can remain both open and secure, while safeguarding academic freedom. It will tackle emerging research security practices and challenges within universities and research organisations, the role of funders in managing security risks, and how public authorities can coordinate their approaches. The European Commission’s role in ensuring a level playing field across the EU and beyond will also be addressed.
The programme is being developed by the Commission together with twelve major European stakeholder associations, including CESAER.
CESAER will co-organise a dedicated workshop as part of the official programme, in collaboration with the Young European Universities Network (YERUN). The workshop takes place on Wednesday, 29 October 2025, from 11.15 until 12:30 local Brussels time.
During the workshop, Irna van der Molen (TU Twente), Jonathan Scott (University of Strathclyde) and Aart van Gils (TU Delft) will give contributions on behalf of CESAER. The workshop is titled ‘Getting started with research security: safeguarding and advancing open and secure R&I through institutional practices’ and will showcase research security strategies and best practices in implementing measures, similar to Task Force Openness of Science and Technology’s seminar series on research security. In the workshop, practical steps for universities to implement and advance research security measures will be discussed, as well as emerging challenges and the need for additional support from the EU and national governments.
Confirmed speakers of the conference’s plenary include Ekatarina Zaharieva, Commissioner for Startups, Research and Innovation (European Commission), Christina Egelund, Danish Minister for Higher Education & Science (on behalf of the EU Council Presidency) and senior leaders from universities and research organisations across Europe. Our President, Orla Feely, will participate in a moderated dialogue with high-level representatives of the Conference co-organisers.
Update: please note that the registrations for the conference have now closed.
For more information, browse the website of the conference, or contact our Advisor for Research Vincent Klein Ikkink at vincent.kleinikkink@cesaer.org
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