PNNL

International collaboration is the core of groundbreaking global research. However, joint research initiatives also present malign actors with a host of opportunities to acquire dual-use technologies, resulting in potential economic and reputational damage to universities and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD)-enabling technologies and expertise. Therefore, it is critical for research institutions to develop an awareness of their collaborators’ affiliations and intentions. These principles are the foundation for a series of workshops the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) conducts on behalf of the U.S. Department of State’s Office of Cooperative Threat Reduction (DOS/CTR). 

Over the past three years, PNNL’s Know Your Collaborator (KYC) workshop series has engaged hundreds of academic partners and institutional researchers internationally on the topic of research security. These engagements have included research organizations in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, South and Southeast Asia, and Sub-Saharan Africa. The KYC workshop increases awareness of the potential risks of joint collaborations along with measures to evaluate and mitigate those risks through enhanced due diligence activities and other security practices. The focus is protecting sensitive and valuable intellectual property. With the pace of emerging technologies, it is essential for research organizations to know their collaborators to minimize the loss of intellectual property, which could contribute to the proliferation of WMD.

Key members of the PNNL management and facilitation team that support the KYC workshop series include Kelsey Allen, Laura Whelan, Amariah Jackson, Yavana Ganesh, Aaron Melville, Ellen Wynkoop, Taylore Roth, Alex Langford, Samuel Ortega, Miles Porter, and Aubrey Means.

The KYC workshop series began in 2021 with a focus on training foreign partners to establish KYC programs including tools to screen for potential problematic collaborations, practices for identifying red flags, and measures to identify high-risk partnerships. Participating researchers gained awareness of due diligence practices, risk-based assessments, and strategies for building a robust and comprehensive research security program.

In 2022, the KYC workshop series expanded to focus on research security within the chemical sector. “With the growing threat of weaponizable pharmaceutical-based agents, it is crucial that research institutions protect dual-use chemical research that could be used to support malign State-based chemical weapons programs,” said Yavana Ganesh. 

In 2025, PNNL will implement additional KYC courses that mobilize academic and research personnel against State-based actors’ efforts to exploit partnerships to advance WMD and ballistic missile program development. The workshops will explore foundational concepts related to WMD proliferation threats, United Nations sanctions regimes and requirements, evasion tactics, and sanctions screening and due diligence practices to prevent inadvertent contributions to State-based WMD programs.

The most recent KYC workshop was a series of multilateral two-day engagements in Nairobi, Kenya, in November 2023 with more than 40 academic and research scientists from Kenya and Nigeria participating. PNNL facilitators engaged university leaders through presentations, group discussions, and exercises to develop KYC screening practices, risk matrices to recognize and mitigate high-level threats, and a framework for standing up a research security unit. This workshop also included a partnership with the newly formed African Research Security Consortium, which leads regional efforts to promote the inclusion of research security at academic institutions. 

Program Managers Kelsey Allen and Laura Whelan said, “PNNL has become a leader in the topic of knowledge security globally, building capacity to mitigate risks of intellectual property theft and fostering secure international collaborations while protecting U.S. national interests. This work has become a significant area of growth for PNNL expanding into multiple topic areas. It’s been very rewarding to see the impact of the great work being executed in this space.”

It is now easier for researchers to collaborate across boundaries than ever before. PNNL’s KYC workshop series will equip academic and research institutions with information to protect dual-use research, intellectual property, and sensitive technologies. 

For more information on the KYC workshop, contact Kelsey Allen or Laura Whelan.