About us

We provide advice to research institutions on the national security risks linked to international research.

The Research Collaboration Advice Team (RCAT) is a collaboration between the government and academia providing research institutions with a first point of contact for official advice about national security risks linked to international research.

We work across government to make national security advice accessible and digestible for the academic community.

Priorities

Some hostile actors are using unacceptable tactics to access the UK’s valuable or sensitive technology, damaging our national security. Often, this involves one or more partners in an international research collaboration working in bad faith, or under duress, to access data, know-how or equipment in pursuit of commercial, state security or military advantage. 

We want to protect our world-leading scientific institutions from these sorts of covert or coercive behaviours so they can collaborate with confidence in open, trusted environments.

Responsibilities

We support academics and university leaders to understand the risks, and to put in place appropriate and proportionate safeguards to support their collaborative activity. We do this by promoting greater understanding within the academic research community about the UK’s security policies and regulations, and by offering tailored risk-management guidance. We are here to help researchers create and sustain successful, thriving international research partnerships.

We are responsible for:

  • increasing understanding among academics of the laws and regulations they need to follow as they work internationally
  • developing academics’ understanding about unacceptable tactics we see adversaries using, how these put researchers and their work at risk, and how these risks can be effectively and proportionately managed
  • improving the government’s understanding of how academics encounter risk and how they tackle it, and how government and academia might work together to improve practices
  • supporting academic institutions to design and implement policies and standards which reflect the importance of the UK’s research base to national security

RCAT is not an enforcement body. We work with research institutions on a voluntary basis, with full respect for the independence of academics and their institutions.

Who we are

RCAT team-members are based in offices around the country and maintain close advisory relationships with the UK’s leading research institutions.

Who we work with

RCAT partners with organisations such as the National Protective Security Authority (NPSA), the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), as well as representatives of the academic community such as Universities UK (UUK).

Advice from our partner organisations on trusted research and managing risks

Corporate information

Jobs and contracts

Contents