In May 2025, Prof. Dr. Julia Priess-Buchheit travelled to the United States to engage in strategic dialogues on the future of international research cooperation in a shifting geopolitical landscape. Her mission placed a strong focus on capacity building - equipping institutions and professionals with the knowledge and skills needed to make research both open and secure.

Across her meetings, she connected with representatives (associations) from each of the professional roles that underpin IP4OS’s multi-professional team approach: researchers, data stewards, research managers, librarians, knowledge transfer professionals, and open science ambassadors. These exchanges highlighted the shared challenges faced by US and European counterparts, particularly in scaling capacity for knowledge valorisation and open innovation while ensuring resilience against emerging security risks.

At the IP4OS General Assembly, Prof. Dr. Priess-Buchheit delivered a lightning talk summarising her findings. She emphasised that capacity building must now adapt to integrate research security, ensuring that training, tools, and policy guidance not only empower openness but also help institutions navigate complex copyright, data sovereignty, and geopolitical considerations.

By feeding these global insights into its Synergy Framework and EU-wide training programmes, IP4OS is broadening the scope of its support for research-performing organisations. This strengthens its contribution to the ERA Policy Agenda, helping Europe build a research environment that is “as open as possible, as closed as necessary” - an environment where knowledge circulation, innovation, and security go hand in hand.