The UG’s knowledge security advisory team will soon also advise on ethical dilemmas surrounding (international) research collaborations. This includes partnerships with the fossil fuel industry, the defence sector, and institutions in conflict zones.
There is a growing demand for this within the academic community, university board president Jouke de Vries said during a university council meeting last Thursday.
Greenwashing
The advisory team was established in late 2022 to assess potentially high-risk partnerships. So far, the focus has been on knowledge security – preventing knowledge from ending up in the wrong hands. Now, ethical concerns are being added to its remit, such as the risk of greenwashing when collaborating with companies like Shell.
The team will be renamed the ‘advisory team for knowledge security and sensitive partnerships’. It will also be expanded with two or three researchers with relevant expertise. In specific cases, the team can be further extended with external experts, De Vries added.
Requesting advice
After the summer, the board will work on putting together the expanded team. For now, only the university board and faculty boards will be allowed to submit requests, to avoid overburdening the team.
The university council welcomed the initiative. ‘Long overdue’, said Chris Csölle with student party Calimero. However, he also questioned the fact that the board submits the request and then also decides what to do with the advice.