In February 2026, the European Commission published the Research Security Monitor 2025, a Staff Working Document from the Directorate-General for Research and Innovation, alongside continued preparatory work on a new European Centre of Expertise on Research Security. Neither is a replacement for Horizon Europe’s existing security-appraisal procedure — CASRAI has covered that framework in detail in Horizon Europe Research Security: “As Open As Possible, As Closed As Necessary” and Sensitive-Technology Screening. What’s new is a layer above the programme level: EU-wide monitoring of national policy and a standing body meant to coordinate practice across all 27 Member States, not just Horizon Europe grantees. For research administrators working with EU partners, understanding what this layer adds — and what it doesn’t change — matters for anyone whose research-security obligations currently stop at “what does my Horizon Europe grant agreement require.”
Where This Fits: The Council Recommendation Behind It
Both initiatives trace back to the Council Recommendation on enhancing research security, adopted by EU Member States in May 2024. That Recommendation set out a shared “European approach” to research security — one explicitly framed as keeping international research cooperation open while managing risks of undesirable technology transfer, malign foreign interference, and breaches of research integrity tied to security-sensitive collaboration. It asked Member States to develop national research-security strategies and asked the Commission to support that work at EU level. The Research Security Monitor and the Centre of Expertise are both concrete follow-through on that Commission-support mandate, developed under the European Research Area (ERA) policy agenda’s ongoing research-security action line.
What the Research Security Monitor 2025 Actually Contains
The Research Security Monitor 2025, published as a Commission Staff Working Document on 27 February 2026, is a qualitative baseline assessment — not a scoring system or a compliance instrument. It maps and compares research-security policies and practices reported across EU Member States: national strategies, funding-agency safeguards, and measures adopted by individual research-performing organisations. Its stated purpose is to support peer learning and identify where policy maturity still varies, rather than to rank or penalise countries.
Two points are worth flagging for anyone citing it:
- It’s a snapshot, not a standard. The Monitor documents what Member States and institutions are already doing; it does not itself create new obligations for grant recipients or institutions the way a Horizon Europe Model Grant Agreement clause does.
- It’s meant to recur. ERA policy-agenda documentation describes the Monitor as a biennial exercise, with the 2025 edition serving as the baseline and a further edition planned for 2027 — so the qualitative picture it presents is explicitly provisional and expected to be updated, not a one-off report.
The European Centre of Expertise: A New Coordinating Body, Not (Yet) a New Rulebook
The Centre of Expertise on Research Security originates from the ERA policy agenda’s exploration of “more structural support” for research security across the Union — work that has moved from an options-assessment stage toward active preparation. As described in the Commission’s February 2026 communications, the Centre is to be established within the European Commission and is intended to:
- Provide advice, training, and coordination support to Member States, funders, and research organisations.
- Act as a hub for sharing good practice identified through mechanisms like the Research Security Monitor.
- Build a cross-EU community of practice among the national authorities, funding agencies, and institutions that are implementing research-security measures day to day.
As of the February 2026 announcement, the Centre was expected to become operational by mid-2026. CASRAI has not independently confirmed its operational launch date or initial scope of activity as of this writing, and readers relying on this for compliance purposes should check the Commission’s Strategic autonomy and research security page directly for current status.
What This Adds Beyond the Horizon Europe Framework
It’s easy to read “EU research security” as a single thing, but the Horizon Europe screening apparatus and this new EU-level layer operate at genuinely different scopes:
- Horizon Europe’s security appraisal — the self-assessment table, DG HOME screening, and scrutiny-phase review CASRAI’s existing guide covers — applies at the level of an individual funding proposal, and only to organisations applying for or holding a Horizon Europe grant. It is a compliance gate built into one programme’s grant-award process.
- The Research Security Monitor and Centre of Expertise operate at the level of national policy and institutional practice generally, independent of whether an institution has any active Horizon Europe funding at all. A university with no Horizon Europe grants but active bilateral research partnerships outside the EU is squarely in scope for what these mechanisms are trying to build capacity around.
In other words: Horizon Europe screening asks “should this specific proposal be funded as submitted, and does it need extra safeguards.” The Monitor and Centre of Expertise ask “how mature and how consistent are research-security practices across the EU as a whole, and how do we help the less-mature parts catch up.” One is a gate on a specific funding stream; the other is an attempt at EU-wide policy infrastructure that sits above and outside any single programme.
Practical Implications for Research Administrators
For institutions primarily tracking Horizon Europe compliance, nothing in the Monitor or the Centre of Expertise changes existing grant-agreement obligations — the self-assessment and screening steps described in CASRAI’s Horizon Europe guide remain the operative process for that programme. What does change is the broader policy backdrop:
- Institutions building or updating an EU-facing research-security policy — independent of any single funding programme — now have an EU-level reference point (the Monitor) for benchmarking national and institutional practice, and, once operational, a body (the Centre of Expertise) that may offer training and advisory resources beyond what any individual funder currently provides.
- US-based institutions with European partners should expect the general direction of EU research-security policy — more formalised national strategies, more structured peer learning across Member States — to continue converging in spirit, if not in mechanism, with the US’s own NSPM-33-driven build-out; CASRAI covers that US framework in NSPM-33 Research Security Program Requirements: The Four Mandated Elements.
- Research security officers coordinating across multiple funder relationships should track the Monitor’s future editions (2027 and beyond) as a source of comparative national-policy context, rather than treating the current 2025 baseline as final.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does the Research Security Monitor create new compliance obligations for Horizon Europe grantees?
No. It is a descriptive, qualitative baseline report on Member State and institutional practice, not a regulatory instrument. Horizon Europe’s existing Model Grant Agreement obligations and security-appraisal procedure are unchanged by its publication.
Is the European Centre of Expertise on Research Security operational yet?
As of the February 2026 Commission communications describing it, the Centre was expected to become operational by mid-2026, but CASRAI has not independently verified an operational launch date. Confirm current status directly with the European Commission before relying on it for institutional planning.
How often will the Research Security Monitor be updated?
ERA policy-agenda documentation describes it as a biennial exercise, with the 2025 edition (published February 2026) as the baseline and a further edition planned for 2027.
Does this apply to institutions without Horizon Europe funding?
Yes. Unlike Horizon Europe’s proposal-level security appraisal, the Monitor and the Centre of Expertise are aimed at EU-wide research-security policy and practice generally, not gated by participation in any specific EU funding programme.
