About RRCoP Project

NSF # 2201028 & 240985, Interagency Agreement #A2407-049-089-064206.0

Community Objectives and Supporting Resources

Build a Community

The Regulated Research Community of Practice (RRCoP) builds a network of people able to help each other in implementing an affordable but effective cybersecurity and compliance program at academic institutions.

Resources: Participation, HigherEdCUI Slack, Regulated Workshop Series, and Subscribe, Regulated Research Benchmark Study, Collaborating Communities

Collect and Share Resources

Establish a leadership training and development program accelerating availability of distributed university resources.

Resources: Higher Education specific Resources, Related Presentations, Tools and Templates, Purdue's End to End CUI Workflow and Deliverables #NSF 1840043

Advocate and Negotiate

Develop representation through strategic partnerships with industry and government entities.

Resources: Advocating and Influencing, Federal Sponsored Resources

Manage Change

The Department of Defense modified the DFARS clause to mandate that NIST 800-171 be followed for data classified and marked as CUI in 2017. The next evolution of this program, CMMC, has already undergone significant changes now called CMMC 2.0. Other agencies, for example, Department of Education, have indicated that they are considering following a similar path to safeguard data.

Resource: Effective Cybersecurity for Researchers

Simplify Compliance

A collective and streamline approach to compliance lowers the barrier to entrance for expansion of supported regulations by individual institutions.

Resource: Compliance Frameworks,

Mission of the project

The daily news clearly shows the increasing threat to safety and privacy of data, personal as well as intellectual property. While the requirements such as DFARS 7012, HIPAA, and Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) improve the consistency of data handling between agencies and contractors and grantees, it leaves academic institutions to figure out how to meet such requirements in a cost-effective way that fits the research and education mission of the institution. Most institutions, agencies, and companies act in isolation with one-off contract language to address data security and safeguarding concerns. Even though cybersecurity has a clear and uniform goal of protecting data, a onesize solution does not fit all academic institutions.

By supporting this community with development of a community strategic roadmap, regular discussions and workshops, and a repository of generalized and specific resources for handling regulated research programs RRCoP lowers the barrier to entry for institutions handling new regulations.

In October of 2024, RRCoP joined Trusted CI: NSF Cybersecurity Center of Excellence www.trustedci.org that is supported by the National Science Foundation under Interagency Agreement #A2407-049-089-064206.0. Trusted CI empowers trustworthy discovery and innovation funded by NSF by partnering with research cyberinfrastructure (CI) operators to build and maintain effective cybersecurity programs that secure the progress of NSF-funded research. The center started in 2012 and consists of a multi-institutional, cross-functional team that addresses the complex challenges facing NSF’s cyberinfrastructure research ecosystem.

For the project period, October 2024 - September 2029, RRCoP will fulfill Trusted Ci's new expanded services now supporting regulated research.

December 2021 - December 2024 Project Deliverables

RRCoP deliverables include:

Monthly meeting cadence with rotating topics and activities including: All Hands Meetings, Established and Emerging Institutional Showcases, Researcher Focus, Training, Webinars, Assessment and Planning, and Strategic Partnerships [View Webinars]
Three full or six half-day workshops & training events
- May 2023 - Full Day Advanced System Security Plan Workshop Created Output: Community-created SSP,
- May 2024 - Full Day "A Day with CMMC Assessors" Output created: Workshop Report
- October 2024 Half Day "Regulatory Compliance for Research: DFARS, CMMC, HIPAA, GDPR, NSPM-33"
- October 2024 Half Day "Why Strong Data Protection Programs Are Vital for Higher Education Research"
- coming soon - May 2025 - Full Day - Avoiding Shelfware: Building Sustainable Research Compliance Documentation
Repository of generalized and specific resources (templates, standards, best practices)
Central hub for communication within CoP and with the Partners HigherEdCUI Slack community
Community strategic roadmap (current and future needs)

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