ABSTRACT

The acquisition of knowledge through research is widely understood to be one of the main purposes of a university. 1 In general, this academic research, irrespective of subject discipline, will be funded by a learned society, government research council or charitable body with the intention that its methodology and findings be published so as to benefit society as a whole. However, in certain cases, the research findings may be so sensitive, especially in terms of its security impact, that this norm is broken: although the research does produce new knowledge, its sensitivity to its funders means that it will not be published openly by the academics responsible. This chapter explores some of these issues.