Decision regarding collaboration with Saudi Aramco
| Update: As of June 2025, the moratorium on new sponsored engagements with Aramco has been lifted. MIT will resume consideration of new proposals through the elevated risk review process, consistent with the Institute’s procedures for considering other engagements with Saudi Arabia. This decision was informed by a year-long review by the Senior Risk Group (SRG) through consultation with the faculty-led International Advisory Committee (IAC), and with inputs from the Faculty Policy Committee (FPC), principal investigators, the MIT Washington Office, and others. If you wish to engage with Aramco, please work through the International Coordinating Committee and risk review process, detailed here. |
Dear Faculty colleagues,
We write to let you know about a decision regarding collaborations with Aramco, a founding member of the MIT Energy Initiative. After thorough review and consultations within MIT and Aramco, Aramco’s membership in MITEI will not be renewed, and new sponsored engagements between MIT and Aramco will not be considered at this time.
Within MIT, this outcome was informed by extensive consultations and community input over the past year and a half, and by specific recommendations from the International Advisory Committee (IAC), input from the Ad Hoc Faculty Committee on Guidelines for Outside Engagements, and review by the Senior Risk Group. A full description of this process appeared in the May issue of the Faculty Newsletter.
Aramco has been a valued research partner for MIT. It is a technical leader in many areas of engineering and science, and it has provided many valuable research opportunities for MIT faculty and students which have contributed to advances in fundamental energy science and technology. Our researchers have also forged productive individual working relationships with their Aramco colleagues.
We appreciate the thoughtful consideration that has been given to this matter by faculty committees and groups and by individual members of the community.
Sincerely,
Richard K. Lester
Associate Provost
Maria T. Zuber
Vice President for Research