ASSESSMENT: Academic Researchers Exposed to US Travel Risk

Written By fra juniper

NOTE: This brief was first circulated to our clients earlier this year.

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SUMMARY:

  • More stringent screening at the US border has increased travel risks for visitors.  

  • Academic researchers are particularly exposed to this risk given generally low levels of institutional support and the at-times sensitive nature of their work.

  • This poses financial and reputational risk for academic institutions, threatening ongoing projects, future funding, and research retention.

TYBURN RECOMMENDATIONS

At Tyburn St Raphael, we specialise at countering hybrid threats to high-risk individuals conducting cutting-edge research and innovation. We are experts in providing travel security assessments and solutions for high-risk individuals.

Engaging experts to provide tailored support for high-risk researchers
Effective risk management processes depend on the individual risk profile of researchers. Security experts can provide specialist advice tailored for the researcher to reduce the likelihood of research disruption, reputational harm, or safety incidents abroad.

Evaluating existing security practices to understand how researchers conceptualise security

Joint assessments with security experts and researchers can uncover practical gaps and identify pain points. We recommend a concierge model to support researchers and staff in foreign travel, emphasising security as an enabling function.

Co-designing secure communication tools and protocols with specialists experienced in academic environments

Researchers and academic institutions require security tools and protocols tailored to their unique threat environment. Experts who have extensive technological knowledge and experience with safeguarding researchers can provide specialist solutions to minimise physical and intellectual property risks.

DETAIL:

What has happened?

  • Credible media reports have detailed increasingly stringent US border practices impacting international travellers, including researchers, with anecdotal evidence of increased detentions and deportation. 

  • While US government Customs and Border Protection denies a rise in electronic media searches, intensified enforcement of existing rules has prompted updated travel advisories from the UK and Germany. 

  • Media reporting has focused on researchers’ pro-Palestinian views and criticism of the US and Israeli governments as risk factors. 

  • The risk is exacerbated for academics given the very low level of basic security provision afforded by most academic institutions. 

Context

  • Travel security risk has risen up the agenda for universities and other research-performing institutions. However, the recent focus on risk around the US highlights the limitations of existing frameworks and provision. 

  • Academic researchers work on sensitive projects without many of what would be considered the minimal viable protections expected in industry. 

  • There are significant gaps in the support provided by most universities’ risk assessments, with risk-averse policies leading to travel bans. 

  • Where trips are approved, minimal provisions are made for researcher security, with emergency contact details often the only provision.

  • Provision of temporary devices and support in the development of secure data management systems tends to be limited and largely ad hoc, often organised by researchers themselves rather than centrally managed. 

Assessment

  • In 2025, the importance of assessing travel risk and implementing effective management processes for academic researchers has increased.

  • Existing approaches that assume a default low level of risk for most travel, ringfencing ‘high risk’ travel based on a limited set of criteria, are increasingly out of date in a fastmoving geopolitical context. 

  • There is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach – the risk profile will vary with researchers’ discipline, field, institution, current projects, and personal and political views.

  • In the absence of institutional support, it is increasingly likely that individual academics will seek recourse in ‘homegrown’ security practices.

  • These may fail to mitigate threats or, worse, prove counterproductive. 

Media reporting:

fra juniper
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