Embedding Trusted Research in Early Career Researcher Development

Helping researchers engage confidently with research security from the start of their careers

Research security does not only sit in strategies, policies or approval processes. It also lives in the judgement calls researchers make every day about who they work with, what they share and how their research might be used.

The University of Strathclyde wanted to engage doctoral researchers attending the CMAC Summer School in these conversations early in their careers, helping them understand how trusted research relates to their own research activities, professional responsibilities and future choices as collaborators, supervisors and research leaders.

The challenge

Early career researchers frequently navigate practical decisions about collaboration, data sharing, mobility, partnership development and the onward use of their research outputs.

While these decisions can carry important research security implications, trusted research is often perceived as something that sits at an institutional level rather than within everyday research practice.

The challenge was to make trusted research feel relevant, practical and accessible to researchers at the beginning of their careers, without presenting it as a compliance burden or discouraging responsible international collaboration.

Formation's approach

Formation delivered the closing keynote of the summer school, using real-world examples and interactive discussion to show how research security considerations can arise at different points in the research lifecycle, from choosing collaborators and sharing data to managing outputs and responding to new opportunities.

The session helped participants recognise where risks can emerge, understand the wider context in which trusted research has developed and consider how responsible decision-making supports research integrity and international collaboration.

The keynote was followed by a 30-minute Q&A, giving participants the opportunity to connect the ideas from the talk to their own research environments, raise practical questions and explore how trusted research considerations may arise in practice.

The impact

The session gave doctoral researchers a practical framework for recognising research security considerations in their own work, asking better questions before risks escalate and seeing trusted research as part of responsible collaboration rather than a barrier to it.

Participants were supported to leave with a clearer understanding of how trusted research connects to their own work and greater confidence in recognising when questions or concerns may arise.

By engaging researchers early, the programme contributed to wider efforts to build research environments where good decisions, informed judgement and responsible collaboration are embedded from the outset, before habits and assumptions become fixed.

Looking ahead

Research security depends on institutional systems and processes, but it also depends on the judgement and everyday decisions of individual researchers.

Supporting researchers at an early stage helps create stronger foundations for trusted research by making responsible decision-making part of everyday academic life, not something introduced only when a problem or partnership is already under review.