Research compliance

The Research Compliance team 

We are responsible for advising the University on compliance with legal obligations that particularly affect the University's research responsibilities.  

The main areas of legislation which we provide support on are:

  • Export Controls
  • National Security and Investment
  • Subsidy Control in Research and Development
  • Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit-sharing
  • Trusted Research and Innovation

We work closely with other teams such as Research Contracts, Research Governance, and the University's Secretary's Office. 

Trusted Research 

The University of Bristol adheres to the UKRI’s over-arching principles of Trusted Research and Innovation to ensure we are working with suitable partners, managing information and knowledge-sharing risks, and that we have the right contractual documents in place to protect an academic and their work.

Three key considerations 

  • Assess partner suitability – their legal framework and affiliations, their values, and conflicts of interest
  • Manage information and knowledge sharing – through cyber-security, proper treatment of sensitive data, compliance with security legislation
  • Ensure proper commercial application – through appropriate collaboration agreements, professional and business-like approach to assignment of intellectual property rights, appropriate scope of open access, and compliance with export control legislation.

Trusted Research Evaluation Framework project

Colleagues within the Research Compliance team are leading the Trusted Research Evaluation Framework project, working alongside the National Protective Security Authority’s Framework. This initiative will demonstrate how all colleagues, in all departments across the University, uphold and implement research security.

Contact us

If you believe your research collaboration or partner engagement is relevant to any of the areas of legislation above, or you have general research compliance queries, please contact the team: research-compliance@bristol.ac.uk.

Internal colleagues

Please see our SharePoint for further information on the main areas of legislation, how we can support you and our resources.