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Saturday, October 17
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| Session Code |
Session Title |
Speaker(s) |
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9:00 AM - 12:30 PM
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| WS4 |
Proposal Budget Development: Building a Basic Grant Budget
| Are you new to pre-award or do you feel overwhelmed when a PI contacts you for help developing a budget? Then let us help you not only understand the fundamentals of creating an effective budget for both federal and private grants, but also give you tips and tricks for creating time-saving templates. We will discuss effort and the considerations needed to account for the NIH salary cap, the benefits of a detailed travel budget, and calculating the correct F&A base. Additionally, translating the budget to the budget justification will be discussed. |
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Erin Bhagvat
Matthew Anderson
Victoria Mothershed
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| WS5 |
Boston Mathalon
| This session will focus on providing excel based resources and formulas to help research administrators in day to day forecasting and transaction processing. The goal of the session is for participants to walk away with a firm understanding of how to calculate the impact on grant funds of indirect cost rates, fringe rates, salary caps and more. We will provide some basic excel based templates but also work together to create relevant spreadsheets as we progress through the session. |
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Amy Caby
Laci Ulrich
Marissa Consalvi
Theresa Lagasse
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9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
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| WS1 |
Leading Organizational Change
| Research administrators are placed in a difficult role when they are both the architect of structural change and in charge of implementing the restructuring. Their actions and outcomes will fundamentally transform how central administration, principal investigators, and department administrators do their jobs. This workshop will focus on organizational change and the impact that it has on the research community when restructuring departments, defining roles and responsibilities and creating new policies and procedures. |
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Tolise Dailey
Annedorte Vad
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| WS2 |
Everything You Need to Know about Research Financial Compliance
| This workshop will focus on how research administrators can manage reduction of administrative burdens, using the notion that a research administrator's main objective is to help advance the science - where the objective can be achieved while protecting the institution, in the least intrusive/minimal burden pathway that does not create further obstructions. This workshop will also discuss how, in the rapidly, ever changing world of research compliance, it has become difficult to know what to comply to and/or with. As auditors become more savvy, research administrators are being tested more so than ever, regarding: a) knowledge of the regulations and required action; b) knowledge of your operational internal controls and how they map to rules; c) evidence that the controls are consistently applied throughout the institution. This workshop will discuss real strategies and tactics, including use of streamlined electronic tools/examples in order to comply with a breadth of research compliance topics. |
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David Ngo
Lisa Mosley
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| WS3 |
Understanding the FAR
| This workshop will provide attendees an understanding of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) and how it drives the federal contracting process. Attendees will understand how to navigate the FAR and a method to negotiate and document federal contracts both as a prime recipient as as a subcontractor. |
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Sandra Nordahl, Distinguished Faculty
Timothy Linker
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1:30 PM - 5:00 PM
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| WS6 |
Research Development Management, Staffing, Infrastructure and Best Practices
| Research Development provides a framework and robust infrastructure to support and grow grant activity in its larger context. This larger context includes institutional strategic planning and institutional vision for research development, awareness of the national and international competitive research environment, capacity building of the institution’s grant enterprise, capacity building for individual investigators to prepare successful grant proposals, team building and team science, preparing and managing the process for collaborative and large-scale proposals, liaison with funding agencies, mentoring and outreach to new investigators, and other emerging topics. This session will provide organizational models for research development, staffing patterns and position descriptions, research development services, and integration of research development into existing research administration functions and strategies. |
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Marjorie Piechowski
Shandra White
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| WS7 |
What’s in an Audit - How to Navigate Various Types of Audits
| The financial research administration regulatory environment is under constant review. Many research administrators are tasked with addressing internal audits, annual Single Audits, sponsor audits or “reviews”, state audits and Office of Inspector General (OIG) audits. This workshop will address how best to position your institution to manage and survive an audit. Topics will include how to prepare for an audit, how to work with auditors and differences in processes and expectations related to audits conducted by various internal and external audit groups. The workshop will also include lessons learned from auditees with direct experience with National Science Foundation (NSF) and Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) audits conducted at large R1 institutions. |
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Trudy Riley
Jennifer Camp
Vanessa Peoples
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| WS8 |
Research Misconduct Workshop
| This session will provide a foundation in research misconduct starting with the basics, progressing to misconduct in clinical trails, and discussing journal efforts to tackle research misconduct. |
|
Debra Parrish
|
|
Sunday, October 18
|
| Session Code |
Session Title |
Speaker(s) |
|
9:00 AM - 12:30 PM
|
| LL1 |
FREE: Stepping Stones to Becoming a Peer-Reviewed Journal Author
| This Learning Lab’s goal is to demonstrate how research administrators can develop scholarly articles that could be published by a professional journal. The presenters will cover topics such why research administrators should publish scholarly articles, barriers to publishing, incentives to publish, formatting of scholarly articles, choosing a topic, performing literature reviews, tips on writing productivity, and resources available to aid in the writing process. The Learning Lab is for research administrators at any level who aspire to author a manuscript for a peer reviewed journal that describes a professional activity that advances the conduct of research administration. Participants should bring a list of ways they have already contributed to the research administration field (e.g., through their area of expertise, through conference presentations, etc.) so that by the end of the session, they can envision transforming their prior work into a publication for the journal. |
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Nathan Vanderford
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| WS13 |
Dealing with Challenging Research Administration Predicaments - CRAP
| This workshop will discuss case studies related to management of Science and Security (Foreign Influence), undisclosed small business start ups in institutional space, inheritance of contracting terms accepted without any idea what was involved to be compliant (Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification), misuse of funds and sponsor reporting strategies (False Claims), how to manage subrecipients (failure to disclose changes in institutional status), financial conflict of interest, export control as well as other learning opportunities. This presentation will be interactive with discussion and exploration of the management of challenging situations that face research administration professionals on a regular basis. |
|
Sandra Nordahl, Distinguished Faculty
Susan Wyatt Sedwick, Distinguished Faculty
Andrea Deaton, Distinguished Faculty
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| WS14 |
Kirschstein NRSA Workshop: NIH Research Training Grants and Fellowships
| As Dr. Seuss wrote, “Oh, the places you’ll go! Your mountain is waiting so get on your way.” If you need help climbing that mountain to NRSA funding success, this session will ensure you are confident and surefooted in keeping your trainees and fellows on the safe path to funding. This interactive workshop will focus on issues specific to grants awarded under the auspices of Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Awards, specifically Individual Fellowships (F's) and Institutional Training Grants (T32's). Scale new heights with an overview of the Kirschstein-NRSA Guidelines, recent and anticipated changes and navigate the mandatory electronic submission process for applications and forms. |
|
Lisa Moeller
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9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
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| WS9 |
NIH Fundamentals
| The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Fundamentals provides a foundation in grants from NIH. As NIH is the single largest federal grant-awarding agency, this training opportunity is perfect both for someone new to research administration and for research administrators seeking to expand their knowledge of federal funding agencies. This full-day workshop covers the following topics: (1) Overview of NIH, including its mission, institutes, and funding focus, from pre-doctoral fellowships to large-scale research projects. (2) Policies and procedures essential to preparing successful grant applications. (3) Policies and procedures essential to managing grant awards. (4) Latest NIH policy updates. |
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Dede Rutberg
Becky Wagenaar-Miller
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| WS10 |
Research Law
| The "theory of everything" (TOE) is a hypothetical theory studied in physics; its intent is to fully explain and link together all known physical phenomena. The Introduction to Research Law workshop is similar to TOE in that it attempts to explain and link together all known issues of research administration. Legal issues arise throughout research, starting with intellectual property issues, continuing through contract and grant matters and living on in post research licensing, "derivative works disputes" and post-clinical trial liability questions. This workshop is for new research administrators who need a "boot camp" approach to recognizing the legal issues that they will face daily. |
|
J. Michael Slocum, Distinguished Faculty
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| WS11 |
A Guide to Clinical Trials Administration
| Clinical trials are a rapidly changing field in research administration. For this reason, they require careful preparation and oversight. Many of the skills needed to administer more traditional investigator initiated, grant funded research projects can be adapted to managing clinical trials. This teaching workshop will examine the basics of clinical trial administration from recruiting subjects to archiving records, explore the differences between industry and federally funded studies, highlight special concerns and discuss best practices for managing clinical trials. |
|
Bruce Steinert
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| WS12 |
CPRA Body of Knowledge Review
| This is a full day workshop for persons interested in taking the Certified Pre-Award Research Administrator exam sponsored by RACC. This session walks participants through the entire Body of Knowledge for the exam, in addition to offering attendees some "insider tips" and other best practices to help them be successful. |
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Katie Watkins
Georgetta Dennis
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|
1:30 PM - 5:00 PM
|
| WS15 |
Trailblazing Teambuilding: Techniques for Creating a Purpose-driven Leadership Team
| The process of building a great team, with high team morale and strong engagement, begins with building a great leadership team. Developing an incredible leadership team doesn’t have to break the budget but it does require a strong vision, excellent communication, a good deal of time and consistent effort. Our workshop will focus on connection, purpose, motivation, understanding, and accountability amongst your teams. The purpose of this workshop is to provide participants tools to develop a strong leadership team on any budget. A leadership team is most effective when there is a united front amongst its leaders and a unified, trusting, and high-performing leadership team WILL impact the individual contributors at the organization in a positive way. Leaders will behave in a way that employees will be able to model leading to an ROI for the organization that is high. With a GREAT leadership team, the organization experiences better productivity and the strategic vision for an organization's research administration enterprise becomes the reality. |
|
Jodi Ogden
|
| WS16 |
What you must know for your Multi-Country, Multi-sites research award: From due diligence to close-out!
| This half-day workshop aims to take it audience through how to manage a multi-country, multi-site award, from planning to execution and eventually the close –out. Idea is to take them through a virtual journey through a case study method whereby we will develop a comprehensive case covering major aspects of challenges that an institution faces and how to best solve those. Some of the topics to be covered are a) Understanding of international regulations (HIPAA, Common Law, updated UG) and how do institutions across the globe see those and try to be compliant, b) Impact of local laws and their applicability to the award. C) Standardization of protocols (CRFs, study drugs, lab assays etc). D) Data Sharing, Human Biological Material sharing, etc and other similar topics. |
|
Mir Asghar-Ali Khan
Goret Paulo
Salima Panjwani
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| WS17 |
PRAM Workshop: A Hot Topic Case Study
| In our ever-changing research and regulatory environment, who can predict what the hottest topic will be in the coming year. We will cover all of the content areas that must be addressed in the PRAM workshop: leadership development, research administration staffing and management, research and faculty development, innovation and economic development, and integrity and stewardship. We will utilize a case study based on a hot topic (e.g. foreign influence compliance, assessment of the research administration organizational structure in relation to an emerging issue, etc.) that will be identified closer to the time of workshop delivery. |
|
Susan Wyatt Sedwick, Distinguished Faculty
Cynthia Hope
Marianne Woods
|
| WS18 |
Playing On a Global Team - Resolving International Issues in Research Administration
| Research is no longer an isolated local endeavor. Cutting edge science often requires global collaboration, access to international venues, materials or people and understanding of funding opportunities outside your home country. The complexities of international interactions from establishing global research centers to negotiating funding agreements with foreign sponsors and subcontractors, to ensuring ethical conduct with humans, animals, biosafety, conflicts of interest oversight, accounting, taxes and audit requirements, the intricacies of global research can feel daunting. Join your fellow participants on a journey of discussing the key barriers to international collaboration and identifying solutions to foster success in international research team outcomes. |
|
Cindy Kiel
|
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Monday, October 19
|
| Session Code |
Session Title |
Speaker(s) |
|
10:30 AM - 11:30 AM
|
| LC1 |
Publishing in the Journal of Research Administration -- An Informal Discussion with the Journal Editor
| Come and drop in to learn more about the SRAI Journal of Research Administration and how you can become a published author. |
|
Nathan Vanderford
|
| M101 |
How to Succeed in the Leadership of Research Management: Influencing and Advocacy Skills
| Research management leaders often work with highly gifted people such as scientists, physicians, academics with the highest level of degrees - this can be intimidating. Research managers are often influencing people over whom they have no direct line management and indeed, in some cases, where there is no culture of line management. At the same time, research and its management often are seen as secondary issues to the “real” administrative issues like finance, HR, estates, IT, etc. Research managers must therefore be skilled advocates for research management with other senior administrators within their own organizations. The same is true when seeking to influence funders, policy-makers and others, who may be from a range of backgrounds and specialisms. To rise through the ranks (as many research managers do), and have an impact on both very intelligent researchers, and senior administrators, research managers must hone a very special skill set. It takes inner strength and confidence to rise to a level where top professionals will listen and learn. |
|
Debra Schaller-Demers
Mark Hochman
Ian Carter
|
| M102 |
Mindfulness and Emotional Intelligence for the Research Administration Professional
| Mindfulness is about being in the moment, paying attention to your thoughts and actions and their impact on others. Mindfulness and emotional intelligence (EI), increases productivity, enhances leadership effectiveness and supports health and happiness. Mindfulness and EI help individuals adapt more easily to change. This course will teach research professionals how to employ mindfulness and EI into their day-to-day work, explore how to connect mindfulness and EI to specific situations and tips on reducing stress while improving performance. |
|
Theresa Caban
|
| M103 |
Study Start-Up Success in Clinical Trials
| This session reviews a few case studies to shed light on the question “What do we need to do to bring our industry sponsored clinical trial start-up times down to our target range, once and for all?” Speakers will explain how to tame the bureaucracy using case studies, helpful tips, and practical applications in order to reach this goal. This session is for healthcare and higher education executives who lead clinical research programs that aren’t performing as well as they could. It will help them learn from the successes and failures of others in the pursuit of getting new industry-sponsored clinical trials up and running. We all want optimal results; scalable and sustainable growth; efficient and effective operations; happy and engaged employees; stronger industry partnerships and satisfied principal investigators. |
|
Allecia Harley
|
| M104 |
Teamwork Makes the Dream Work: Creating Collaborative Administrative Environments for the Development of Large Proposals
| Large multi-investigator, multi-disciplinary, and/or multi-institution proposals can be an administrative rabbit hole for principal investigators to navigate. They can also create administrative nightmares for all of the research support offices that are involved. When large proposals are developed, there may be several research administrators assigned to a proposal with overlapping expertise and, let’s be honest, opinions on how to craft winning proposals. The University of Tennessee has staffed up central proposal development resources, in addition to having an Office of Sponsored Programs and also college-level proposal development offices to help achieve its vision of a top-tier, “R1” level research institution. Structurally, the university has institutionalized the possibility of the “too many cooks” idiom; however, between the individual administrators, we have been able create a collaborative environment on each proposal to ensure that the investigator team feels supported and not overwhelmed by the assistance. In this session, the presenters will discuss how we plan and execute large and complex proposals, including discuss past pitfalls and lessons-learned. The presenters, from the University’s Office Research and Engagement and from the Engineering Research Office will share how their roles and responsibilities adapt to fit the project and the PI’s needs and how to harness individual expertise to help the research team create fundable proposals. RA Relevance: Sponsored programs development is more and more becoming a collaborative endeavor at the research administrator level. Understanding how to utilize the strengths and experiences of individual research administrators within a proposal team is key to seamless support to the investigator. |
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William Helmrath
Marie Penn
|
| M105 |
Strategic Asset Management of Real Property and Moveable Equipment for Financial Reporting Purposes
| Institutions of Higher Education have many financial reporting requirements. One of the most significant investments that an institution has is its land, land improvements, buildings/building service systems, moveable equipment and intangible/intellectual property assets. This proposed session will provide the attendees with a detailed review of the various asset management, financial reporting, stewardship and departmental responsibilities for the management and accountability for those assets assigned to them. |
|
Kevin McHugh
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| M106 |
Investigator/Faculty On-boarding: Facilitating The Transfer of Your New PI
| Faculty come into our University regularly, and many expect to transfer awards from their prior Institution. This presentation will focus on the many responsibilities and duties that face the Department Administrator to achieve a successful faculty transfer, with input from the Central Administration & Dean's offices. This session will provide a checklist of specific duties and "best practices" that will facilitate a seamless transition, and considerations for onboarding new or more senior faculty. The presentation will also provide case studies and real-life scenarios so that the participants can dialogue on these "what would you do now" or "how would you handle this" cases/situations. |
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Janet Simons
William Hoffman
Karen Sack
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| M107 |
Collaboration in Research Administration: Marrying Pre- to Post-Award Seamlessly
| Silos are rampant in Research Administration and isolation of expertise is common. Within the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Utah, we were no exception to that sentiment. In this presentation we’ll outline what was done within our Department to help bridge these gaps, what hurdles we ran into, what processes worked and what didn’t, as well as go through some case studies that challenged our best practices and help to refine our solutions. |
|
Joy Blatchford
Christopher Blatchford
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| M108 |
Audits: Requests and Documentation
| This session is for research administrators who would like to gain knowledge of audit requests and what actions are needed when you are audited. We will cover the work flow of audits, the types of audit requests one may receive as well as requested documentation to support costs. During this presentation, we will demonstrate differences in work flow and documentation requested between U.S. audits and International audits through examples. This will provide foundational knowledge and begin to advance participants understanding in how to approach an audit request. |
|
Christyne Anderson
Roseann Luongo
|
| M109 |
Research Misconduct: A Year In Review
| This session will review the Federal agency actions and research misconduct findings, state and federal court cases against universities and journals involving research misconduct, and international efforts to combat research misconduct |
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Debra Parrish
|
| M111 |
Conducting Research Across Borders: Issues in Research Administration and Compliance
| While there are challenges to oversight of international research collaborations, they pale in comparison to those faced when participating in international research collaborations - including but not limited to those arising from different cultural, regulatory, and institutional contexts. But, then, so do the opportunities. This session is designed to explore the various challenges that institutions face when conducting collaborative international research. Panelists will address a variety of issues that may arise regarding international research how they have addressed them. |
|
John Baumann
|
| M112 |
Overview of Human Research Protections and Regulatory Framework
| The federal requirements governing Institutional Review Board (IRB) operation and the ethical principles underlying conduct of human research have become a critical component of Research Administration. This workshop is designed for research administrators who may not be involved with their IRB daily, but regularly encounter questions regarding human subject compliance. Participants will learn the basics of human subject protection and how better to apply this knowledge to their daily responsibilities. |
|
Thomas Coggins
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| M113 |
Measuring the Startup Journey and Academic Productivity of New Research Faculty through Systems Engagement, Project Efficiency, and Scientific Publication
| Little is known about the process of tracking the activity and days-to-productivity of new research faculty. The purposes of this session will be to identify onboarding measures for new research faculty, and describe a quantitative technique that could be used for measuring the startup journey and academic productivity of new research faculty. Three measures, (1) engagement, (2) efficiency, and (3) publication, will be used to identify the total number of days that it takes for a new research faculty member to move from the discovery- phase (value-consumed) into the engagement-phase (value-created) after accepting a new position. This session will focus on the best practices for tracking, reporting and comparing the startup journey and academic productivity of new research faculty. |
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Holly Zink
|
| M114 |
An Introduction to the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI): Tips and Tricks when Applying for Funding and Managing an Award
| Attendees will learn about PCORI’s: - mission and enabling legislation - updates in the 2020 enabling legislation - overview of funding opportunities and the application process - patient and stakeholder engagement requirements - merit review process - common compliance pitfalls and ways to prevent them |
|
James Hulbert
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1:30 PM - 1:45 PM
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| M200A |
The Art of Presenting: How to Prepare, Design and Deliver an Engaging Presentation
| Communication is a critical skill needed in many facets of our professional careers. As research administrators, we often have opportunities to practice our communication skills at local, regional, or national/international conferences. We leverage our communications skills as we present education and training content that aims to enhance the body of knowledge of our field. As you have attended SRAI events, have you ever attended a “bad” or “boring” presentation? Let’s be honest, we all have. This quick talk is designed to teach you how to give a great, engaging presentation. We will discuss presentation best practices that will help you avoid being a perpetrator of giving a “bad” presentation! |
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Nathan Vanderford
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1:30 PM - 2:30 PM
|
| LC2 |
Enforcing Your Internal Grant Proposal Deadlines: What Works Best (and What Doesn’t)
| Sponsor deadlines govern our world of research administration, but are your own internal Office of Sponsored Projects proposal review deadlines routinely ignored? Has your institution given up trying? We'll review the pros and cons of strictly enforcing internal guidelines and explore ways to encourage or require PI timeliness and compliance. We'll discuss how electronic research administration software may be able to help improve the situation. |
|
Matty Gilreath
|
| M201 |
Building a Future-Ready Digital Leadership Pipeline in Higher Education Research Administration
| Digital technology has transformed how higher education research administration operates both in the delivery of learning and business operations. Digital transformation is the process of strategically using digital technology to improve business operations, processes, productivity, and new products and services. This digital transformation requires new leadership capacities to meet the challenges of this new digital era. Higher Education needs Digital Leaders—leaders who can maneuver and motivate others through a fast-paced digital transformation that is echoed throughout the organization. This session will explore how well you are prepared as a digital leader. |
|
Ann Marie White
|
| M202 |
Using Philanthropy to Support Research
| This session will identify and describe the benefits and important differences in securing and using philanthropic gifts to support research. Hear from an experienced fundraiser, and research administrator, how to secure millions in gifts to support important research. We will review simple steps to foster an environment of gift-supported research at your institution; large or small. Learn how to cultivate new and existing donors and how to partner philanthropic funding opportunities with research priorities. We will discuss engaging your faculty, physicians and other staff in philanthropy. Guidelines for distinguishing between gifts and grants will also be shared. Unless your research program is blessed with a fully-funded endowment producing perpetual income sufficient to sustain and grow your research or you’re 100% confident you will be fully funded by the government, then you need to attend this session. This practical session will provide tips to use right away and in the long-term. |
|
Kevin Titus, Distinguished Faculty
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| M203 |
Your Institution Needs You: The Role of the Research Office in Strategic Research Planning
| Research Offices can bring significant insight and benefit to institutional research planning. As well as providing performance data, they have understanding of internal capabilities (and constraints) and of external agendas and opportunities, to lead to a more nuanced, better focused, and more achievable strategy. Using an international case study approach, this session will explore both the ‘what’ and the ‘how’ of strategic research planning. We will include the relationships between research planning and the other areas of institutional planning that need to be considered. Lessons learned and best practices will be identified through an interactive discussion with session participants. |
|
Ian Carter
Terry Campbell
|
| M204 |
It Takes A Team: Developing Large-Scale, Collaborative Grants
| Large-scale, collaborative applications are beasts! In this session, we will learn about the new science of team science - the new "normal". We will discuss strategies to lead the development and formation of effective teams and address the challenges that arise when research teams get together. You will leave this session with an understanding of your role on the team, resources to support team development, and enhance skills to submit large, collaborative applications. |
|
Julie Benson
Pips Veazey
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| M205 |
Business Procedures and In House Systems for Research Administration in a Small University
| Small Universities have to compete for Research Funding with research intensive Universities that have large research support offices and robust systems for research management.They need to have relevant information and appropriate systems that give them the opportunity to do this. I work in a small teaching led University where I am the only staff member for Research Support. I will run through the business procedures and in house systems I have developed to help foster an improvement in the management of the research enterprise. |
|
Colin Cooper
|
| M206 |
Evaluating Institutional Risks and Developing Annual Compliance Plans: What Research Administrators Need to Know
| Managing research has become more challenging as regulations grow more complex and scrutiny from the federal government and other sponsors increases. In this environment, successful research management lies in an institution’s ability to identify high-risk compliance areas and determine the best approach to manage them. To do so, this session will address how research administrators and compliance professionals can evaluate and prioritize risks for the purpose of developing an annual compliance work-plan. |
|
Roseann Luongo
Debra Schaller-Demers
|
| M207 |
Indirect Cost Rates – A Non-Profit Perspective
| Almost every research institution must engage in the process of negotiating federal indirect rates. Non-profits face unique challenges under the Uniform Guidance in preparing, submitting and negotiating indirect rates. As we go through this process, many of us often wonder if we have done everything we can do within the constraints of federal regulations in order to maximize our institution’s negotiated indirect rate and resulting indirect cost recovery. In this session, we will discuss strategies that may be employed to maximize indirect cost recovery, both in the preparation of your indirect rate proposal as well as during the subsequent rate negotiation and budgeting of indirect costs on grants and contracts. Participants will be encouraged to share their experiences concerning the indirect rate process. |
|
Alex Weekes
|
| M209 |
Protecting Intellectual Property Rights When the Research Results are Classified
| The U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (PTO) reviews patent applications and imposing secrecy orders when disclosure of an invention by publication of a patent would be detrimental to the national security A secrecy order withholds the grant of a patent, orders that the invention be kept in secrecy and restricts filing of foreign patent applications. This program provides an overview of the USPTO Secrecy Order Program and the ways in which an institution should respond to a Secrecy Order. |
|
J. Michael Slocum, Distinguished Faculty
|
| M210 |
Foundations of IACUC and Animal Activities in Research Administration
| Poor communication between the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) and members of sponsored programs, grants and contracts offices, and research administrative staff, can lead to missteps in adherence to regulations. In addition, when the responsibilities and scope of the IACUC are not well explained, known, or understood, the interpretation of necessary compliance holds can sound more like “Hi, my name is IACUC and I’ll be holding up your grant award today”. IACUCs have defined regulatory requirements to which they are beholden and the administrative offices that support them must uphold the requirements. These federal and state regulations affect pre- and post-award activities, subcontracts, and other facets of research administration. Research Administrators are often caught in the middle of these “compliance holds”. In this first section of a two part session (refer to Part 2: “IACUC and Research Administration: why and when our paths cross and how to improve the journey”), the University of Michigan’s IACUC Office will provide the foundations of IACUCs and how IACUCs and animal activities overlap with Research Administration(ors). Focusing on how regulations relate to research administration, we will first review cornerstone regulations, terminology, review processes, and required documents and assurances. Participants are encouraged to bring questions, scenario’s, quips, and concerns to the discussion. Our goal is to help Research Administrators navigate the IACUC and the processes related to grants and contracts, to reduce administrative burden, and to facilitate research administration by sharing foundational knowledge of IACUC regulations and processes, opening channels of communication, and helping us all asking the right questions at the right time. Participants will be able to describe the basic regulations governing animal research and identify when IACUC regulations affect research administration functions. |
|
Lauren Danridge
|
| M211 |
Innovative Ways to Establish Collaborative Partnerships with Industry
| There is increasing pressure on all universities to increase the volume and depth of collaborations with industry. This can be challenging, especially where universities are in competition with each other. This case study will demonstrate how the University of East Anglia has taken a novel approach to increase collaborations both locally and nationally, and provide specific tools and techniques that can be applied in any setting. The case study is also underpinned by 3 theoretical frameworks drawn from the UK and US which will be evaluated, thus providing a basis for audience members to transfer the subject of the session to their own local environments. The session will address not just the work undertaken but also address what worked well and what didn't, how the approach can be developed further and the skill-sets required for success. The delivery method will be a presentation with a Q and A afterwards. A similar presentation was given at a national UK conference and the candidness provided was welcomed by those in attendance. The 3 frameworks referred to above and which will be covered are: Tomas Coates Ulrichsen's Capabilities for Knowledge Exchange, UK, The Corporate Engagement Process from Network of Academic Corporate Relations Officers (NACRO) and the Partnership Continuum developed by Wayne C Johnson, Former VP for University Relations as Hewlett Packard (HP). |
|
Helen Lewis
|
| M212 |
Who Approved This?
| This session will go over the various National Institutes of Health Prior Approval requirements and systems. |
|
Jessica Moise
Melinda Nelson
Erik Edgerton
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|
1:50 PM - 2:05 PM
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| M200B |
Staying Organized through the Chaos: How Do Top Leaders Do It?
| In the constantly changing world of Research Administration, how can we stay focused and mindful in the chaos and competing priorities? How do top leaders stay on top of it? This session will discuss strategies, tips, and tools on staying focused, deadline driven, mindful, and healthy, while riding the waves of controlled chaos. |
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Betty Morgan
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2:10 PM - 2:25 PM
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| M200C |
Co-Creating Successful Research Career Mentor Relationships
| Co-Creating Successful Research Career Mentor Relationships There are limited publications and best practices specific to mentoring for research careers for faculty researchers and research administration professionals. Prior studies have supported and defined effective strategies for successful relationships, such as the components of a formal mentoring program (Kashiwagi et al); however, as with any other type of relationship, the reality is much more nuanced. Each mentee has their own work and communication style, and while a formal curriculum with contracts and committees may be welcomed and appreciated by one individual, another mentee may need a more fluid, evolving dynamic with less defined guidelines. Ultimately, while there is resounding consensus regarding the importance of mentoring in academic medicine and the benefit of multiple mentors, the relationship itself requires individualization based on the needs and desires of the mentee. This Quick Talk session will begin a conversation about mentoring in research settings, what is unique, and how to co-create positive and productive mentoring relationships. A few case studies will be shared, such as peer mentoring and faculty researcher and research administrator mentor relationships. By fostering a framework with mentors from different fields and professional status, mentees can learn from the unique attributes each mentor has to offer. Relationships between similar or lesser professional status can provide a structure for friendship, networking, and stress management, which may not be as comfortable between hierarchical mentors. Learning objectives include: 1) identifying types of mentoring relationships; 2) recognizing mentor/mentee assumptions; 3) developing strategies to network and select mentors; 4) describing successful mentor relationships; 5) evaluating mentoring goals and outcomes; and 6) reflecting on mentoring at different stages of career development. |
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Traci Rieckmann
|
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3:00 PM - 4:00 PM
|
| LC3 |
When Pre and Post Level Up
| Often in institutions of higher education the post award activities are conducted in the accounting area. Typically disparities between the Pre Award and Post award offices must be overcome when the two offices are merged under one umbrella. Issues arising include and are not limited to: pay disparities, experience and knowledge, career growth and advancement, and operating philosophies.The question of whether to combine services has long been debated. This discussion group will explore disparities and what are the advantages, disadvantages and challenges to overcome. |
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Karen Mitchell
Germaine Calicat
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| M301 |
Building Bridges: Establishing Relationships Between Principal Investigators and Research Professionals
| This concurrent session will review the six types of difficult PIs. It will establish guidelines for the research administrator to define the type of PI they are supporting, and how to build a strong bridge- working relationship, with each type. Although there is no magic potion for working with a difficult PI, this session will provide tools and tips for maneuvering through meetings and correspondence, building that bridge! |
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Betty Morgan
|
| M302 |
Developing Soft Skills in a Deadline-Driven Environment
| In 2012, the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) implemented centralization of the entire pre-award process with the launching of Research Management Services (RMS). This brought a different light to how the Office of Sponsored Research (OSR) managed preparation and submission of applications and administrative requirements to meet sponsor deadlines. Immersion training of the new business unit included a session devoted specifically to communications, development of partnerships, and identifying and dealing with different personalities. From the immersion training the RMS teams developed Core Competencies, a set of qualities and skills developed to create a cohesive philosophy and best practice to conduct business as professionals, successfully manage interaction with clients and partners, and measure performance. During this session presenters will share the UCSF Core Competencies and how they apply through interactive case studies with the help of a polling application (Poll Everywhere) to stimulate discussion with the audience. Case Study topics will cover managing Principal Investigators (PIs) who are consistently late in providing proposal information and/or materials, redirecting PIs who insist on including unallowable costs on a federal application budget, making an application deadline with a PI who's missing in action, best practices for responding to sponsor notifications or requests, making submission deadlines when sponsors make last minute changes, building good partnership to ensure timely receipt of information needed for requests and reports. |
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Joyce Abe
Sally Brown
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| M303 |
Grant Management Prospects in Developing Countries- The CaBERA Feat
| Juxtaposing grant management and developing countries often have a negative connotation, especially considering the fact that developing countries are still building their capacity to do cutting edge research. This presentation will focus on the success story of the NIH awarded CaBERA and IEARDA grants and how the implementation of these grants has improved and facilitated efficient research management at Noguchi and the Medical School. The presentation will trace the genesis of research management at Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research and University of Ghana Medical School, and the innovative uprising of research management. A few of the challenges faced during the implementation and how these challenges were overcome will also be shared in the presentation. |
|
Nana Oye Akuffo
Griselda Annan
Isabella Rockson
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| M304 |
The Other Side of the Campus: Fellowship Strategies for Humanities and Social Sciences
| Researchers in the humanities and social sciences often feel at a disadvantage in finding grant support with so much emphasis on STEM disciplines but there are thousands of opportunities available through fellowships and private support. This session will provide comprehensive information about the array of fellowship opportunities for the other side of the campus and how research administrators can provide support to these investigators. Although many fellowships are individual awards rather than to the institution, there is an institutional role and benefit to encouraging faculty to pursue such support. |
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Marjorie Piechowski
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| M305 |
How Do You Really Know if Your Office is Really Effective?
| How do you really know that your Office is effective? In fact, how do you really know that your Office is really effective? Some Offices will undertake customer satisfaction surveys and/or collect anecdotal stories about their services, but strictly speaking this is a measure of appreciation rather than a measure of effectiveness. Other Offices identify specific processes and measure their performance (timeliness, percentage of transactions undertaken correctly etc), or they may adopt integrated balanced scorecard approaches, but these may really be a measure of efficiency rather than effectiveness. To be efficient is often defined as "functioning in the best possible manner with the least waste of time or effort" whereas effectiveness can be defined as "that activity required to produce a desired or intended result." Therefore, to understand whether one's Office is effective it is necessary to first understand what is the intended result. This will frequently be related to the organisation's strategy, which will be unique to that organisation. In this session the two speakers, who have a combined 60 years research administration experience, including creating, restructuring and reviewing Offices, will use practical examples to illustrate how selected Offices have been effective in supporting institutional strategy. They will conclude with a generalised model enabling participants to connect their own activities to institutional strategy and determine their own organisational effectiveness. Participants will be encouraged to engage and discuss throughout the session. |
|
Mark Hochman
Ian Carter
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| M307 |
I Have a Sub-Recipient: Basic Steps of Sub-Recipient Monitoring from Pre-Award to Closeout
| This presentation will provide a step by step guide to research administrators new to the sub-recipient process. The presenter will use her experience to discuss topics related to sub-recipient monitoring that include risk analysis, monitoring of deliverables, monthly review of expenditures, and invoice audits. The presenter will also discuss experience as a sub-recipient and the differences that an administrator can encounter between monitoring the sub-recipient and serving as the sub-recipient. |
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Carly Pigg
|
| M308 |
Surviving an NSF Audit: How to Develop and Strategy and Plan for a Successful Audit
| Developing a detailed plan and strategy for responding to a federal audit can reduce audit findings and increase the likelihood of a successful outcome. Responding to an audit requires long term engagement from central office staff, department administrators, faculty and senior leadership. A successful plan should include building an audit team, resource planning, communication to the University community and regular stakeholder meetings. This session will walk through one institutions experience with the new NSF organizational risk assessment and audit including the strategy, plan for response and lessons learned. |
|
Laura Kozma
Michael Glasgow
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| M310 |
New International Privacy Regulations and Their Impact on Research
| The European Union has grabbed headlines and attention with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), however, around the globe numerous countries from China to Thailand to Nepal have quietly been updating their privacy laws with huge implications for multi-national research. In this session we will take a global tour of new regulations and their impact on research. Many are similar to GDPR but some go much further with in country registration requirements. Research administrators overseeing international research need to be prepared. |
|
James E. Riddle
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| M311 |
Confronting Conflicts: Identifying and Managing Conflicts of Interest in Research Plus Foreign Influence
| The emergence of new and more intense conflicts of interest and commitment are a direct consequence of the entrepreneur university or hospital. While these institutions may be good at promoting an entrepreneurial culture, the development of an infrastructure to properly identify, manage, and monitor the conflicts that emerge is surely lacking. And now, the issue of the influence of foreign interests has additionally emerged as a hot point. Offices of research administration and compliance are left with the responsibility of identifying and managing them. In this session, speaker(s) will identify and discuss strategies for fulfilling these responsibilities. |
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John Baumann
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| M312 |
Two Heads are Better than One: Creating Partnerships Between University Libraries and Offices of Research
| Over the past three years, the Syracuse University Office of Research and the University Libraries have built a multi-faceted partnership to provide support for the research enterprise at the University. Collaborations have formed around activities such as funding discovery, research profile development and management, grant compliance, shared resource costs and skills training for products like Pure (a popular research information management system), and bibliometric analysis for enhancing institutional research reputation. Benefits of this growing partnership have included positive outcomes for faculty and students (as indicated by pre and post surveys), enhanced institutional visibility (through multiple research platforms), and a strong line of communication and shared goals between units towards cohesive support of the research enterprise. |
|
Christina Leigh Docteur
Chetna Chianese
Emily Hart
Anne Rauh
Brenna Helmstutler
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| M313 |
Industry Affiliate Programs: A Model for Increased Research Funding and Industry Engagement
| In this session, we will explore contract-based industry affiliate programs. These programs and centers are traditionally established with the help of federal seed funding, such as Engineering Research Centers (ERCs) and Industry-University Cooperative Research Centers (IUCRCs). With the right faculty commitment and support and with sufficient industry interest, though, these centers can be created without the federal seed funding. This session will give an overview of an industry affiliate program and will explore set up, administration and management, and the benefits to industry and the institution. It will also explore accounting and overhead differences, intellectual property considerations, and best practices for establishing and administering industry affiliate programs. |
|
Kate Lewis
|
| M314 |
Introduction to the NIH Grants Policy Statement
| The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the largest federal grant making agency in the world. The National Institute of Health (NIH) Grants Policy Statement (GPS) provides researchers and research administrators alike with a powerful resource to answer a broad range of questions regarding NIH grants and cooperative agreements, but at over 350 pages in length, the NIH GPS can be a very intimidating document. This session will put participants at ease with using the NIH GPS for maximum effectiveness. |
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Rebecca Claycamp, Distinguished Faculty
|
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4:30 PM - 4:45 PM
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| M400A |
Balanced Scorecard at Organisation Against Drugs in Greece
| The complexity of large organisations in the field of addiction such as the case of the Organisation Against Drugs in Greece which employs 725 employees with an annual budget of 35 million euros require the use of modern management tools. The use of balanced scorecard in research and development activities of the organisation demonstrate the commitment of the organisation in its effort to modernise processes and programmes. |
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Antonios Ganas
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4:30 PM - 5:30 PM
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| LC4 |
Managing Export Controls and Foreign Influence Data
| Join us as we lead a group discussion about the ways your peer schools are tracking and managing data related to export control and foreign influence. We’ll cover data capture and flow, related business process, and data analysis/metrics. |
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Kaci Foster
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| M401 |
A Capstone Approach to Innovation in Research Administration
| Capstone projects in academic program are often used to address complex problems with an ultimate goal of a scholarly product(s) through presentations or publication. Two seasoned research administration scholars are proposing utilization of principles for capstone projects as a means of solving multiple challenges in research administration: process improvement, engagement and development of talented staff members who need to feel valued and recognized for contributing to improved procedures, systems and morale; and providing opportunities for emerging leaders in our profession to development presentations and scholarly works. The added benefit is that engaging talented professionals on this level can help with retention and combating the constant brain drain when those people move on to new challenges. Come be inspired to inspire others. We can do this as a 1/2 day workshop or concurrent session. |
|
Susan Wyatt Sedwick, Distinguished Faculty
Marianne Woods
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| M402 |
Adaptive Work in Research Administration: Thriving Outside of “What we have always done”
| This session will introduce the concept of adaptive work and the adaptive challenge—when solutions for a current problem lie outside of the current way of operating. When there is a gap between the desired state and the current state, the pursuit of progress requires more than just the execution of current policy and methodology. In the instant when “what we have always done” will not work, new goals will require experimentation and smart risk-taking. This session will explore the elements of the adaptive challenge in the workplace for research administrators including: the demand for learning, division of responsibility, the need for smart experimentation, and how to outline values to ensure the team will thrive. |
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Holly Zink
|
| M403 |
The Evolving Role of Research Administrators in Program Development and Funding
| The management of the academic research enterprise has evolved, and frequently includes a layer of professional staff whose partnership with research leadership and each other is critical to project development, funding and success. These staff include Research Administrators, and Research Development Professionals. Research Development (RD), is distinct from traditional Research Administration, in that it involves earlier and more substantive involvement in Program planning, technical design and development, and process management. RD has emerged as a crucial component of the research enterprise, connecting stakeholders across the continuum of institutional research support functions. RD professionals ensure efficient collaboration between stakeholders, including traditional research administration (grants and contracts staff), other institutional offices, and leadership. RD brings a set of skills and strategic activities that bridge and augment these different partners’ purview, enabling or optimizing key elements of the research enterprise. RD even has its own professional organization, the National Organization of Research Development Professionals (NORDP), now 10 years old and with over 1,000 members. This presentation will explore how ‘Research Development’ integrates with and contrasts ‘Research Administration’, how NORDP and SRAI complement and contrast with each other, and how all of our roles and impact continue to evolve. |
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Jacob Levin
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| M404 |
Teamwork from the Top: How to Make the Most of all Players on Your Administrative Team
| Research Development is a relatively new kid on the block when it comes to research administration. Brown University formally opened an Office of Research Development in the Spring of 2015. In the past five years we have developed a strong working relationship with our Office of Sponsored Projects, establishing standard operating procedures that not only benefited each offices' work processes but ultimately lead to funding for our faculty. In this presentation, which will be co-presented by the Associated Directors of both offices, a full case study will be discussed and both offices' rolls and responsibilities will be highlighted. From the identification of a unique DARPA funding opportunity, team building, providing seed funds to the team, to the securing of the funding to the handling of the subcontracts and reporting - the teamwork and collaborative efforts of the offices and the administrative contacts in the departments involved will be discussed. |
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Edel Minogue
Katherine (Katie) Fleck
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| M405 |
The 21st Century Leader: Using Data to Support Strategic and Operational Decision-Making
| The best business schools teach that the 21st century leader must be a master in using data to drive organizational decisions. And yet, universities themselves tend to lag behind, with too many decisions being made on the basis of intuition or tradition. Using an international case study approach (Canada and the U.S.) the presenters will identify key activities which exploit the value of information in guiding institutional success. Topics will include: business questions and associated measures, data management practices, building an analytical team, and promoting a data culture. Best practices and lessons learned will be identified through an interactive discussion with session participants. |
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Terry Campbell
Mary-Margaret Klempa
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| M407 |
How to Use the Compliance Supplement to Get Started
| The Compliance Supplement introduces critical areas (e.g. allowability, cash management) with clear internal controls and compliance areas in easy-to-digest segments. Breaking down the different parts and sections is a great way to start a post-award career as it provides the basics while touching upon the compliance areas that need to be top of mind for an administrator to understand policy and procedure decisions. The Supplement streamlines resources as a tool for users to explore further areas of interest and this presentation will showcase this resource. |
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Julie Luster
|
| M408 |
Confidentiality Agreements - The Basics
| Confidentiality Agreements are often the first step in establishing a relationship with a pharmaceutical or biotech company for a research project. The company wants to ensure that any confidential or proprietary information that it discloses to an academic institution is kept confidential. It is critical that academic institutions understand the intent of the confidentiality agreement and negotiate terms that are clear, not overly broad and reasonable. This session will introduce basic information about negotiating confidentiality agreements, including what terms are appropriate and why, as well as instruction on how to effectively negotiate revisions in an efficient and professional manner. |
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Karen Mullin
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| M409 |
First Line of Defense-Understanding the Relationship Between Insurance and Indemnity and Contract Risks- Are You Really Protected?
| Despite what we are told, insurance does not protect us from all liability. This session will discuss the interplay between insurance and indemnity provisions in a contract. We will discuss best contracting practices for insurance and indemnification provisions, including the types of insurance coverage that is essential in a clinical trial. We review specific contract provisions in relation to the protections provided by both insurance and indemnification provisions. Specific contract provisions will include subject injury, conduct of the study, payment for services, delegation of sponsor/PI responsibilities, subcontracting, affiliates and network relationships, and confidentiality. |
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Penny Smith
Peter Sullivan
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| M410 |
IACUC and Research Administration: Why and When Our Paths Cross and How to Improve the Journey
| Ever wonder why the IACUC holds up an award release? Curious about why an IACUC protocol is needed and how it affects a subcontract? Frustrated by grant congruencies? Unsure what an MOU is and why they are needed? Poor communication between the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) and members of sponsored programs, grants and contracts offices, and research administrative staff, can lead to missteps in adherence to regulations. In addition, when the responsibilities and scope of the IACUC are not well explained, known, or understood, the interpretation of necessary compliance holds can sound more like “Hi, my name is IACUC and I’ll be holding up your grant award today”. IACUCs have defined regulatory requirements to which they are beholden and the administrative offices that support them must uphold the requirements. These federal and state regulations affect pre- and post-award activities, subcontracts, and other facets of research administration. Research Administrators are often caught in the middle of these “compliance holds”. In this second section of a two part session (refer to Part 1: “Foundations of IACUC and Animal Activities in Research Administration”), the University of Michigan’s IACUC Office will briefly review the regulations, terminology, and review processes of “IACUCs”, and then take an in-depth look into the ways in which IACUC rules and regulations interact with, and affect pre- and post-award activates. Participants are encouraged to bring questions, scenario’s, quips, and concerns to the discussion. Our goal is to help Research Administrators navigate the IACUC and the processes related to grants and contracts, to reduce administrative burden, and to facilitate research administration by sharing foundational knowledge of IACUC regulations and processes, opening channels of communication, and helping us all asking the right questions at the right time. Participants will be able to identify when IACUC regulations affect research administration functions and analyze when IACUC involvement is, or may be needed. |
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Lauren Danridge
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| M411 |
A Day in the Life: Conflict of Interest and Its Impact on Research Universities
| This presentation shall focus on the topic of "Conflicts of Interest" and how this topic integrates into the broader discussion of "Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR)". As universities and funding agencies have begun to stress entrepreneurial and economic development over the past decade, the potential for conflicts that result are not always appreciated by even seasoned administrators and investigators. Whatever the stage of professional development -seasoned researcher, senior administrator, junior faculty member, or graduate student/postdoctoral associate - there is often a lack of understanding for the breadth of the problems faced in the research arena. The focus of this presentation will be on providing a robust framework for decision-making regarding COI situations. The application of this framework to recent case studies will be provided. |
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Philip DeShong
Beth Brittan-Powell
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| M412 |
Collaborations: A Changing World for Research Administration and Management.
| Collaboration has gained attention in the past few decades. Collaboration is necessary for researchers and research administrators to address complex research issues that otherwise cannot be addressed by individual researchers. Collaboration is important for researchers’ and research administrators’ sustainable development in knowledge creation. Research being a knowledge creation activity, interpersonal research collaboration networks are important for knowledge cross-fertilization and research productivity. Thus, learning and transfer through collaborations not only lead to research productivity, but also help researchers and research administrator to maintain their ability for sustainable development in a knowledge economy. While collaboration is increasingly recognized to be important for research, researchers’ and research administrators’ collaboration networks are still not adequately recognized as a form of research capacity, yet funding agencies also favors collaborative research because it can draw diverse expertise, promote creativity and innovation and therefore lead to scientific breakthroughs. |
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Edward Kakooza
Dickson Muyomba
Harriet Nambooze
Aida Nakawunde
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| M413 |
Houston, That National Institutes of Health (NIH) Grant Is in Trouble
| This session is interactive and provides 10-12 "real-life" case studies that illustrate warning signs of research grants in trouble and suggests solutions for correcting, mitigating, and even avoiding problems, as early as possible. This session provides opinions, drawing on knowledge and experience of the audience to further flesh out the situations and possible solutions. All of the case studies are real situations that NIH Grants Management Specialists have experienced and resolved, and this unique perspective also lets the audience know they are not alone when it comes to troublesome situations and who can help. |
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Deanna Ingersoll
Erik Edgerton
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4:50 PM - 5:05 PM
|
| M400B |
Setting Up Research Support Office (Grants Office) in a Resource Limited Environment
| Research support offices are an inescapable/ unavoidable investment and a welcomed development for any institutional wanting to promote research work through sponsored grants to grow their research base and meet their goals of resource mobilisation as well as research and innovation. However, most ongoing research projects in many institutions are externally-funded, limited demand have short life spans, fragmented and underfunded to deliver robust, quality and impactful research. As such the policy effectiveness, development policies and programmes remain poorly informed by research. Therefore, setting Up Research Support Office (Grants Office) in a Resource limited Environment can be a challenging endeavor and worth an investment as these research support offices help in research training capacity and developing productive and sustainable research culture and many other related activities in line with grants management for both pre award and post award grants management and to help disseminate information on funding opportunities, provide application forms, guidelines, and grant program announcements, requests for proposals and program interests, Facilitate stronger collaborative linkages between multidisciplinary research consortia partners (funders,scientists,project managers, partner organizations)to enable efficient and productive research in areas of strategic importance to an institution. This presentation will discuss what Makerere University College of Health Sciences did to set up their research support offices a midst low funding and institutional reluctance to establish such offices. And what steps the offices are taking to keep afloat and sustain the operations of the much needed research support services in their institutions and the merit of having a research support Office. |
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Mordecai Tayebwa
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5:10 PM - 5:25 PM
|
| M400C |
Alternative Sources of Cost Share in the Absence of Real Cash Commitments
| Many research institutions in LMICs struggle to meet their cost share requirements due to very limited financial support from their governments for research. Unfortunately, majority African governments contribute less than 0.5% of their GDP to research. Failure to appropriately provide and account for mandatory project cost share can result in unfavorable audit findings and require the return of funds to the sponsor. This session will look at some of the non-cash sources of cost share research institutions can use to meet their mandatory cost share requirements, using the successful experience at Makerere University School of Public Health whose annual research revenue is about $32M, about $6M of which is cost share. The issues to address: 1) Identify the alternative sources of non-cash cost share in the absence of real cash commitments 2) describe valid means of verification for non-cash sources of cost share 3) List the general guiding principles for non-cash sources of cost share Relevance and value to research administration: With the increasing requirement for cost share from research funders, this session is relevant for cash constrained research institutions to learn the different non-cash options available to meet their cost share requirements. |
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Stella Kakeeto
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Tuesday, October 20
|
| Session Code |
Session Title |
Speaker(s) |
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9:00 AM - 10:00 AM
|
| T101 |
Coaching and Retaining Our Current and Future Generations
| This session will discuss how coaching and mentoring are key factors to success in a multi-generational workforce. We will illustrate with "real life" examples what is timeless in the work of research administration. The focus is on how commonalities, rather than differences are keys to success and can be integrated into coaching and mentoring employees. |
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Maryellen OBrien
John Sites
Laura Reddington
|
| T102 |
Building Community in Research Administration
| Research administrators are often located in physically separate spaces from each other, and depending on our institutions, our roles may be divided as well: pre-award, post-award, accounting, proposal submission, award negotiation, industry collaborations, clinical trials, material transfers, and more. Because of the variations in our roles and locations, we often work together but may never meet each other, or we may have peers in similar roles but no way to share resources, develop best practices, or strengthen our network. In this session, we will explore how to to build community across the research administration community. We will introduce a few models including a formal learning structure, social and informal learning, and appreciations and recognition for the RA community. The models all work well together or can be used as building blocks as you work to establish, invigorate, and strengthen your institution's research administration community. |
|
Kate Lewis
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| T103 |
Developing an Effective Online Learning Program for Grant Administrators
| Sponsored Projects Offices seek to develop a skilled and adaptive grants administration workforce to assure that administrators are adhering to the best practices in our field. A successful program will adopt proven methods that promote effective learning, facilitate uniform onboarding of new administrators, and enable established administrators to expand their skill-sets. However, most academic research institutions still rely on outdated methods in their training programs that deliver reams of content on federal policy without measuring outcomes. Partners HealthCare recently launched a system-wide initiative to collaboratively develop online courses as a component of our training program. The courses will feature interactive components, activities that closely model daily grant administration job duties, and randomized assessments to measure learning outcomes. In this presentation, we will share how we went about building the program and the challenges we faced along the way. |
|
Kjersten Reich
|
| T104 |
Identifying and Addressing Process Improvements in Sponsored Projects Offices
| Process improvement often takes a backseat to deadline-driven tasks. However, identifying areas of need in process efficiency and developing tools and processes to meet those needs can assist sponsored project offices in areas such as reducing administrative burden on faculty and staff, helping to ensure compliance, reducing errors and just making life a little easier. |
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Amy Cook
|
| T105 |
Building a Best in Class Clinical Research Program to Drive Growth
| Academic medical centers and research hospitals are more often looking at clinical research as a driver to topline clinical revenue through offering novel trials to enhance clinical delivery, increasing ambulatory referrals for tertiary / quaternary care, and creating market differentiation by offering streamlined research contracting to industry. This session course is intended for those interested in understanding they myriad of research administration and operations issues associated with the lifecycle of a clinical trial that may be optimized to increase speed to execution while maintaining institutional compliance. The speakers will discuss methods to the learners related to the pre study feasibility process, as well as the operational, financial and regulatory tasks that must be completed to fulfill institutional/sponsor requirements. The speakers will also discuss their respective strategies in working with researchers to increase enrollment and manage the financial success of the trials. |
|
Keith Graff
Kumar Mukesh
|
| T106 |
Is Research Administration Becoming Too Specialized?
| Over the past decade the field of research administration has become specialized. Prior to uniform guidance much of the field was divided into pre, post, and compliance. These days you have clinical research administration, subawards, contracts, and risk assessment, to name a few and this is just the pre award services. Under post award services you now have invoicing and draw teams, payment manager’s/accounts receivable, grant analysts, closeout teams and risk assessment. Is this out of necessity or the natural course as the field evolves? Whether you are a large research institution or a PUI without specialized teams, this session will explore the pros and cons of diversifying research administration; Outline strategies for cross training and breaking down silos; and determine weaknesses in the infrastructure to improve the sharing of information and knowledge. |
|
Karen Mitchell
Beverly Morehouse
|
| T108 |
Uniform Guidance: Focusing on the Administrative Aspects
| The Uniform Guidance establishes the fundamental requirements for managing federally sponsored grants and cooperative agreements. This session will explore the administrative requirements of the UG, focusing on the essentials that beginning research administrators must know to be successful. Topics include discussions on the differences between contracts, grants, and cooperative agreements and understanding the agencies' "Merit Review" process. We will review the standards for financial and program management including discussions on cost-sharing and revisions of budgets. Finally, we will touch on the requirements to manage and monitor our sub-recipients. |
|
Ann Holmes
Denise Clark
Tim Reuter
|
| T109 |
The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act: What Research Professionals Need to Know
| The presentation will give an overview of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act ("FCPA"). We will explain how, when and why the FCPA applies to research activities. We will provide attendees with the information they need to assess whether the FCPA is implicated in the particular research activity undertaken. If it is, then we will provide attendees with a framework to be able to address the risk created by the FCPA implication. The FCPA may be implicated by many types of research activities and collaborations, including collaborations with international institutions, speaking at international conferences, and teaching foreign learners. Attendees should know what the FCPA is and how it may apply to them. This presentation will go over what the FCPA is, why it was enacted, and how it applies in the research context. We will also go over some strategies to address FCPA risk, including developing policies and procedures and sample contract language. |
|
Andrea Wever
Genevieve deLemos
|
| T111 |
A Brief History of Human Research Protections and Ethics – from Nuremburg to St. Kitts.
| It is easy to become lost and burdened with regulations which were originally designed to protect us from repeating research abuses of the past. We can easily forget that history and why the system of research protections in place today exists in the form that it does. In this session we will take a tour through the history of research, the foundations of the Belmont Report, and explore the ethical underpinning of our research ethics review systems. We will also explore contemporary research ethics issues. For those new to research, a good history lesson goes a long way to a greater understanding of why the research oversight process exists and how it came to be structured the way it is. |
|
James E. Riddle
|
| T112 |
Keeping Up with ClinicalTrials.gov: A Systematic Approach in Maintaining Compliance
| It is scientifically and ethically imperative for researchers to understand it is a key commitment to our research participants to report the results of the clinical trials, so that we can advance knowledge and make informed medical decisions about health care. This session will discuss the most recent federal mandates and requirements of clinical trials disclosure and the best practice. The presenters will share the approach of Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, to establish an effective program for clinical trials registration and results reporting at their institution. Rutgers’ Human Subjects Protection Program (HSPP) has taken a proactive approach to identify key issues and facilitate investigator compliance within ClinicalTrials.gov records through the HSPP website and continued education and training. |
|
Rebecca Chen
Cheryl Forst
|
| T113 |
Finding the Value in Social Science and Humanities Research
| This interactive presentation will build a model of four sources of value from academic research, applied here to the social sciences and humanities. We will use international examples to show how these disciplines can create value for communities, civic spaces, non-profit organisations, policymakers, businesses and the economy. University structures often separate their support for working with these sectors, and we will show how the University of Bristol encourages cross-team working and a holistic approach to impact. A case study will explore how research into classical myths has built valuable collaborations with high schools, robotics companies and military strategists. |
|
Andrew Wray
|
| T114 |
Top Three Components of Measuring Research Impact
| Research Impact is becoming increasingly important for funders, as well as researchers. Institutions are keenly interested in collecting data on the results of research, discoveries, outcomes, and reporting on them. Showing the value of funded research allows funders to evaluate impact and make decisions about potential future phases. The session will touch on the developments on measuring and reporting research impact in the US, as well as the UK. Samples of evidence collection, measurement techniques and reporting will be shared with the attendees. |
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Randy Ozden
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| T115 |
Federal Demonstration Partnership (FDP) Update
| The FDP is an association of federal US agencies; academic research institutions, with administrative, faculty and technical representation; and research policy organizations that work to streamline the administration of federally sponsored research. FDP members of all sectors cooperate in identifying, testing, and implementing new, more effective ways of managing federal research grants with the goal of improving the productivity of research without compromising its stewardship. This session will include an overview of the FDP’s structure, mission, and current initiatives. |
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Cindy Hope
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| T116 |
National Science Foundation (NSF) Update
| This session will cover new developments related to proposal and award policy at NSF. NSF staff will provide a comprehensive review of NSF’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, recent policy changes and updates to NSF’s proposal system modernization efforts. |
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Jean Feldman
|
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10:30 AM - 11:30 AM
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| LC6 |
Conflicts of Interest: Managing Increasingly Complex Relationships Between Researchers and Industry Sponsors
| Scrutiny of Research-Related Conflicts of Interest is on the rise industry-funded research is increasing while the nature and complexity of relationships between sponsors and physician-researchers grows more intertwined. While these relationships can be beneficial to patients, physicians, industry and institutions, it is critical that they are managed appropriately to ensure the credibility of research is not questioned. Research administrators and leaders are challenged on a daily basis to maintain an up to date understanding of the dynamic and lucrative relationships between investigators, their staff and the sponsors of research while providing patients and institutions with comfort that these financial arrangements do not compromise the integrity of the research. Each environment has its own tolerance level and culture, but the scrutiny of these arrangements is increasing daily and every institution must have a process in place. Questions that will be examined include: how to maintain a current view of personal arrangements with sponsors; how to gain the trust and buy-in of investigators when you are seeking personal financial information; how to develop and maintain effective management plans; what are the advantages and disadvantages of the range of options to manage COIs- ranging from bans on personal services to industry sponsors, annual caps, public notifications, patient notification, staff notification, etc. In the post-Sloan Kettering environment, it is time to review your institutional process and determine what changes should be made. |
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Genevieve deLemos
Andrea Wever
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| T201 |
Turning Your Research Administration Strategic Initiatives into a Reality
| Strategic planning is essential for a leader in research administration. Without a plan of where you want to take your unit and a roadmap to get there, you will lead your team aimlessly without direction and purpose. However, even the best thought-out plans require institutional backing and financial resources. This session will focus on how to identify and prioritize your strategic initiatives and then how to align your initiatives with the long-term vision of your institution and those who lead it. The importance of articulating the value of your strategic initiatives, gathering data, and defining metrics of success will be discussed along with the pitfalls of not pitching your initiatives correctly to those from whom you need support and resources. |
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Jennifer Woodward
Laura Kingsley
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| T202 |
Research Administration Training Implementation with SRA’s LevelUp Program
| Panel Session *Note: Fred Hutch is anticipating purchasing and obtaining access to the SRA LevelUp program by April 2020, so we will have approximately 6-7 months of prospective data and some outcomes to share. However, the training update and implementation process started in November 2018, so we will have exactly 2 years full of stories and examples to share. Research Administration Training Implementation with SRA’s LevelUp Program Research administration is a profession that requires a versatile skill set, such as writing, policy interpretation, negotiation, project and financial management. To ensure the highest quality support for faculty members and their research, research administrators need to continually hone their skills and competencies through ongoing learning and growth opportunities. This session will provide an in-depth case study of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (Fred Hutch) experience with implementing the SRA LevelUp research administration training modules. The panelists will describe the journey from the need’s assessment stage to the module evaluation and integration with existing trainings at Fred Hutch. Learning objectives include: 1) assessing training needs, gaps and readiness; 2) engaging stakeholders in planning and implementation; 3) obtaining leadership buy-in and resources; 4) integrating existing training with SRA LevelUp modules; 5) developing a training evaluation plan and metrics; and 6) partnering with SRA to ensure successful training implementation and enhancements (note: Evan Roberts, Executive Director of SRA, said he would be willing to speak for a bit during this session – not necessarily as a panelist but he could discuss the partnership and launching an early adopter of SRA LevelUp trainings). |
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Bonnie Schade
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| T203 |
Lessons I Learned from Mom about Being a Great Research Administrator
| Mothers universally pass along life lessons to their children. As a child, we may interpret those messages as silly or bothersome (especially when she repeats them over and over); however, I discovered many of them have served me well as a research administrator. For example, my mother always insisted that I wear clean underwear. Come learn how that message and more are directly relevant to my life as a research administrator. |
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Kim Carter, Distinguished Faculty
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| T204 |
Doing Less and Achieving More
| This session will present the steps taken by UC Berkeley's central pre-award office to modify its proposal review model to include only essential institutional issues and concerns, thus freeing up Berkeley's contract and grant officers to focus on the more time consuming tasks of award review, negotiation, and set-up. Participants will learn about the institutional proposal review model, how central and regional RAs now work collaboratively to implement this model, and how obstacles to the model were resolved. The strategies that were used to involve and train pre-award staff will also be presented. |
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Pamela Miller, Distinguished Faculty
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| T205 |
Forging and Sustaining Award-Winning Research Partnerships Between Minority-Serving Institutions and Research-Intensive Institutions
| The participation of underrepresented individuals in biomedical sciences is a critical issue affecting our nation’s health and the future of research. By 2050, less than 50 percent of the general population will be non-Hispanic whites, making the United States a majority-minority country. However, our nation’s biomedical scientists represent a largely homogeneous profession, with certain racial/ethnic groups persistently underrepresented in the research workforce. To address these challenges, multiple NIH institutes support both grant mechanisms to promote the development of partnerships between minority-serving institutions and research-intensive institutions and expanding capacities and capabilities for conducting research, notably disparities-focused research. Many of these mechanisms are quite complex, but the value generated from successful partnerships is significant to the minority-serving institution, the research-intensive institution and the field of biomedical sciences in general. This session reviews best practices in forming these types of research partnerships and presents field-tested strategies to sustain them. Specifically, the presentation focuses on: • defining the institutional and cultural challenges in forging inter-institutional partnerships. • identifying the types of funding available for building these partnerships in support of minority work force development and the promotion of minority health disparities research. • delineating the institutional commitments required for success. • providing grant-writing strategies and critical planning and evaluation efforts needed for submitting successful inter-institutional applications. • presenting lessons learned from previous partnership experiences. |
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Anita Harrison
Meredith Mullins
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| T206 |
Using Data and Metrics to Aid in Decision Making and Improve Research Administration
| Over the past years, research organizations have implemented electronic systems to replace paper-based processes and improve financial management both retrospectively and prospectively. While this transition has mainly been recognized for improving organizational efficiency and management, another major benefit is the vast quantity of data now available to better manage the research enterprise and proactively identify risk areas. This session will focus on how one organization is currently using their data to monitor performance, assess financial management, and identify compliance risk areas. We will also discuss a vision for using this data in the future. In addition, we will present other methods for collecting data, such as performance surveys, that are used to drive organizational improvement. |
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Gary Smith
Jonathan Kutrubes
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| T207 |
Risk Assessment at a Smaller Unit/Institution
| To comply with the ever-changing of the Uniform Guidance and protecting our Institution, leaders and managers of Research Administration must understand how to conduct oversight of organizational activities and risks, through utilizing risk assessment. Topics such as training/education of staff, researchers, and upper management to create a culture of understanding and addressing risk encountered in the conduct of sponsored programs will be addressed. Identification of potential risks (and how to mitigate them), analyzing workflow, checks/balances and understanding each and the necessity of a strategic plan to mitigate identified risks will be discussed. |
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Pamela Whitlock, Distinguished Faculty
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| T208 |
Understanding the F&A Calculation - "Watering Down the Rate"
| The facilities and administrative rate calculation is difficult to do and frankly, to the non-accountant, even harder to understand. This session will use a pitcher of water and some glasses to give the participant a simplified version of the calculation, the components and the impact that administrators have on the data that goes into the calculation. We hope to dispell the theory that our institutions are making a profit from research and that the cost of research is often much higher than the "overhead" funds we are receiving. |
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Ann Holmes
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| T209 |
Cash Management - Why You Should Count On It As Part of Your Research Administration
| Any good accountant would tell you that 'Cash is King'. Having a good Cash Management process whether you are in a centralized office or in a department will allow for your research team to cover immediate expenses, determine the health of your books for clinical trials and assure you can meet upcoming obligations such as payroll. |
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Jason Claes
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| T210 |
Negotiating Investigator – Initiated Clinical Trial Agreements
| This session will focus on how and why specific terms of a Clinical Trial Agreement differ when the clinical trial is investigator-initiated, including regulatory compliance, intellectual property rights, and obligations regarding confidentiality, indemnification and subject injury compensation. |
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Karen Mullin
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| T212 |
Export Controls: When It’s Not Fundamental Research
| How do you know if a research program at your institution will cross the boundaries of "fundamental research" into export-controlled work? Does all non-fundamental research require a government license to proceed? What are the compliance considerations when dealing with non-fundamental research? In this panel discussion, we’ll cover the core principles behind the fundamental research exclusion (or FRE) under the Export Administration Regulations (EAR). We’ll walk through specific types of contract clauses and agreements, as well as certain types of tangible items and external parties, that can trigger export compliance requirements for an institution. We’ll then apply these concepts to real-world case studies that arise in the academic and non-profit research community. With the opportunity for in-depth Q&A, we’ll discuss challenges and situations that attendees handle day-to-day at their institutions. |
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Jennifer Saak
Jeff Seo
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| T214 |
INORMS: Best Practices in Research Evaluation, Materials for Senior Decision Makers
| An international working group of INORMS members have been working over the last two years to develop some briefing materials for research managers to engage their senior leaders and decision makers with best practices in research evaluation. The guidance is based on a 5-step process, called SCOPE. This stands for: START with what you value; CONTEXT considerations; OPTIONS for evaluating; PROBE deeply; EVALUATE your evaluation. This session wi unpack the SCOPE model and allow participants to explore whether and how this might be used in their own settings. |
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Baron Wolf
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| T215 |
Horizon Europe: A Preview of the New EU Framework Programme
| Horizon Europe is a few weeks away from its official launch. The new European Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, spanning from 2021 to 2027, is a huge funding opportunity for institutions across Europe and beyond. Aim of the session is to give a preview of the new programme, highlighting potential opportunities for US researchers and institutions. |
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Marina Castellano
Nicola Bergonzi Concesi
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| T216 |
Understanding the VA’s Structure and Function for Easier Interactions
| This session will compare and describe the general organization of universities with Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Centers, discuss various differences the structure provides, present what is needed for the VA in order to make working with the VA smoother. This will be an interactive presentation. |
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Rene Hearns, Distinguished Faculty
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1:30 PM - 2:30 PM
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| LC7 |
Go/No Go Decision Making for Proposal Submissions
| You run a small research administration office and a faculty excitedly drops by with a "great idea" they want to submit for funding to a National Sponsor. Is it a "we need" idea or "we can deliver" idea? Does the proposed project align with strategic objectives of the institution? Should this really be developed and submitted? This session will focus on guiding the proposer to decide for themselves, is it a Go or No/Go? |
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Dee Salmon
|
| T301 |
The Return of the Jedi
| The Jedi Knights are back! At the 2019 SRAI Annual Meeting, we provided session attendees with tools and strategies to recognize and express their professional value (experience, education, gender, and organizational structure) in the workplace. Many individuals working hard to build a career often do not take the time to strategize and implement a career plan. During this session, 3 research administrators at different stages in their career journey through the research administration galaxy: Jedi Knight (10-15 yrs in the field), Jedi Master (15-20 yrs), and Jedi Grandmaster (over 20 years) will provide guidance and advice on thinking and having a big picture approach to your career. This session aims to ignite new ways of thinking about your career in the research administration. An administrator at any level of research administration who feels they do not have a strategy for their career plan, this session is for you! |
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Susan Wyatt Sedwick, Distinguished Faculty
Miriam Campo
Sikirat Tijani
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| T302 |
The Latest Trends in Research Development: An International Perspective
| There is no question that research development professionals have great jobs. Strategies on focusing on advance, futuristic areas of research, planning on internal and external funding positioning, communicating with funding agencies, providing metrics, intelligent proposal development are just a few areas of research development that are becoming increasingly important. As the winning ratios are declining and competition intensifying, research development is becoming of paramount importance. This session will focus on what some institutions are doing around the world and having successes. |
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Randy Ozden
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| T303 |
The Right Fit - Clinical Research Feasibility
| Many factors determine financial and logistical feasibility of clinical research studies for your site. This session provides an overview of standard operating process and tools necessary to make this determination, developed from study examples and case studies. |
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Renee Vaughan, Distinguished Faculty
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| T304 |
Onward & Onboard
| Too many organizations miss the opportunity to properly onboard their employees; either by providing too little support and resources or by assuming what their needs are and missing the mark. Successfully retaining talent largely rests on the employee's experience when joining an organization. A personalized and comprehensive onboarding program is especially important in complex organizations to set the right tone for employee engagement and overall employee experience. Effective employee onboarding experiences should include an introduction to company culture, systems and resources and allow the individual to arrive and thrive from day one. Seattle Children’s has successfully implemented a best in class onboarding program specific to the research institute, and this session will lift the hood and show you how we implemented our program, how we measure success, and what lessons we are learning along the way. |
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Carinne DeMaio
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| T305 |
Managing a Research Unit
| A research unit presents a unique set of challenges by the nature of being self-reliant on funding. As a department research administrator, one must be prepared to be a “jack of all trades”. While each research unit has its unique set of challenges and requirements, one thing is constant – the need for prioritization to maximize your ability to work with researchers to fulfill their requirements. This presentation will talk about the pre- and post- award responsibilities of a unit. We will also look at projecting research expenditures, how to manage funding lapses for researchers, basics of Human Resources for research managers, immigration and intellectual property issues. The great thing about being a department administrator is no two days are the same! |
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Tracy Reinke
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| T306 |
How to Avoid the Most Common Errors in a Research Performance Progress Report (RPPR) that Delay an Award from the National Institutes of Health (NIH)
| As you busily assist the Project Director/Principal Investigator (PD/PI) with the preparation of an Annual Research Performance Progress Report (RPPR), how often do you refer to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Other PHS Agency Research Performance Progress Report (RPPR) Instructional Guide for guidance? Participants of this session will analyze mock responses to sections of the Annual RPPR that most frequently require follow-up by the NIH to determine if the responses meet the requirements of the RPPR Instructional Guide. Attendees will work collaboratively to complete activities designed to promote their understanding of the RPPR guidelines. |
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Susan Toy
Bryann Benton
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| T307 |
Metrics in Research Administration: Performing Up to Standards
| Meaningful metrics are key tools for managing productivity, providing insight into financial health and monitoring compliance with sponsored award regulations. Yet, institutions continue to struggle with common roadblocks to producing metrics, including the use of multiple systems, cumbersome reporting solutions and competing priorities. Overcoming these roadblocks and figuring out the when, what and how of metrics allow post-award leaders to transform post-award operations into a high-functioning business unit that is responsive to stakeholder needs. This session provides best practices for implementing and monitoring metrics throughout the award management lifecycle. It also presents specific metrics for post-award business processes, including cycle times, financial goals, staffing considerations and benchmarking. |
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TJ Enno
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| T308 |
The Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) and Its Impact on Department of Defense Contracting
| By the end of January 2020, the Department of Defense (DoD) plans to issue the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (“CMMC”). The CMMC's goal is to protect Federal Contract Information (“FCI”) and Controlled Unclassified Information (“CUI”) and to work to mitigate the associated national security and economic risks. The CMMC will combine various existing cybersecurity standards and will measure an institution’s maturity of institutional cybersecurity practices. The CMMC will represent a major shift in DoD contracting. Institutions must be affirmatively certified to a particular level of cybersecurity compliance and processes, rather than simply being subject to post-award scrutiny for operating according to applicable cybersecurity standards (e.g., DFARS 252.204-7012, NIST SP 800-171, NIST 800-53, etc.). CMMC will begin appearing in Requests for Information in June 2020, so research institutions seeking DoD funded contracts must be prepared for its implementation, both from an information technology and contracting standpoint. |
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Lauren Wilson
Christopher Rich
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| T309 |
SBIR/STTR: The Big Challenges with Small Businesses - A University Perspective
| SBIR and STTR projects can provide valuable research and financial opportunities to the small business and the universities with whom they collaborate, but they also present a unique set of challenges. From Conflicts of Interest and Intellectual Property to invoicing and payment; these projects- which are designed to promote research- have a very real potential to hinder it. This session will highlight ways universities can address some of these challenges from the proposal phase through closeout and mitigate some of the risks they present. We will discuss the proposal process, the contract terms, flow down clauses, and various risk mitigation methods available. |
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Timothy Gehret
|
| T310 |
No IRB is an Island: Integrating Other Necessary Privacy and Safety Reviews for a Holistic Human Subjects Protection Program
| This session will focus on strategies to enhance Human Research Protection Programs by incorporating processes to fulfill regulatory requirements in relation to the EU General Data Protection Regulation, recent NIH changes relating to biosafety, and others. The session will explore strategies to optimize communication and implement formal processes to facilitate a more comprehensive review of human subjects research protocols. |
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Quinton Johnson
Adora Parker
|
| T311 |
I’m a Twin? Wait? I’m Really A Triplet? We Were in Research?!
| Research misconduct and ethical violations are more historically common than most realize in our society. There are those that are well known in the research community from the Nazi War Crimes to the Tuskegee Syphilis Study. But, other stories exist. One entitled “Three Identical Strangers” was recently highlighted by an award-winning documentary at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival. This fascinating story unfolds about a triplets who were adopted into separate households at six months of age. The parents were never told of the existence of the other siblings. They were also not told that they were all, the children and the parents, in a project studying the idea of nature versus nurture. This session will discuss case study, the ethics of the research, and the current standing of these men as we know it now. |
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Tonya K. Edvalson, Distinguished Faculty
Maryellen O'Brien
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| T312 |
Podcasting in Research: Part II
| I started producing VIEW to the U, a monthly podcast in the Office of the Vice-Principal, Research, at UofT Mississauga (UTM). This podcast features faculty members from UTM’s 17 different departments talking about their research, its impact, and related topics. I now have 31 tracks, over 10,700 listens and it has been accessed in over 50 countries. I think the podcast has the potential to reach all kinds of audiences including current and potential students, other researchers and/or potential collaborators, alumni, funders, and interested community members. And now with the SRAI author fellowship I will be doing further research about the podcast as a means to communicate academic material and research, and will be able to speak about my findings. I would love the opportunity to present at SRAI, and I think other people might be encouraged to start doing their own podcast or at least consider it as a possibility. The ways in which the podcast can be used to communicate are endless. I can tell them about my experience and lessons learned along the way. |
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Carla DeMarco
|
| T313 |
Science and Security in Basic Research
| This session will explain the issues regarding science and security in basic research and describe some actions the National Science Foundation and the U.S. government interagency community are taking in this regard. The session will also explain ways the research community can act to mitigate risk. |
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Rebecca Keiser
|
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3:00 PM - 4:00 PM
|
| LC8 |
Tale From Two Universities - Central Office Administrators as Department Floaters
| Positive and productive communication and workflow between departments and central research offices doesn’t grow organically. Instead, this style of communication needs to be mindfully developed and maintained. A floater role that reaches across the department/central divide can be beneficial in improving communication, preventing “siloes”, helping to prevent administrative burnout, and facilitating process improvement. UMASS Lowell and Tufts University each use floaters in a unique model, and the opportunities and challenges within these approaches highlight strengths and areas that need improvement within the administrative support structure of each institution. This session will provide illustrative lessons learned from each university and show the benefits for administrators in thinking like a floater and viewing their own roles and the greater administrative community holistically. |
|
Brandi Negron
Martha Goldberg
|
| T401 |
Hiring the Best Candidate: Maybe Experienced, Maybe a Potential Grow-Your-Own Research Administrator
| The session will be based around activities and discussions from senior representatives of four major sectors of the profession: large institutions (universities and independent labs), medical research organizations, Federal Government administrators and small to mid-sized Universities. Participants will learn strategies for identifying applicant strengths and potential as new members of a research administration team. Much of the discussion will center on the interview process and discussion points will include but not be limited to: (1) identifying applicant skill weaknesses of misrepresentations related to skills and experience. (2) identifying and developing a rationale for selecting one applicant over others. (3)Being aware of one's personal biases and controlling emotional responses that could effect selection. (4) Weighing established applicant skills over those which are transferable-- that is, the potential for trainability and growth. Along with a guided discussion from the panel, role playing, mock interviews and other activities will be used to reinforce the participant's understanding and retention of the topics discussed. |
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Mike McCallister
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| T402 |
Research Administration as a Profession - Growing in Our Careers
| Research administration has evolved significantly from its early days of manual ledgers, grant proposals were submitted in hand-written copies and expenditures tracked in the margins of a lab notebook. As regulations and requirements grew increasingly complex, our roles in managing research have also changed resulting in the emergence of a new profession, a new career track distinguishable from other areas. We are not just accountants, or lawyers, or teachers or writers, we are research administrators. In 2016, a survey was launched to conduct research on research administration as a profession. A follow-on longitudinal survey was conducted in 2019 to view how we are continuing to evolve individually and as a whole. Join two study PIs in a discussion of the survey results and what we have learned so far about career projections, skills-sets, opportunities and current hot topics in research administration. How might the survey results help you in planning your next career move or figure out what areas of expertise you might need to develop to prepare you for your next level? |
|
Cindy Kiel
Jennifer Shambrook, Distinguished Faculty
|
| T403 |
Research Assessment, University Strategy and Interdisciplinarity: A Finnish Perspective
| I will discuss and aim to engage the audience for reflecting our approach to research assessment, its outcomes and its added value for the academic community, as well as how they feed to our strategy and its implementation. For research administration, key issues towards the implementation are (not in order of importance) supporting the researchers on 1) identifying opportunities for funding and 2) building collaborations that utilize possibilities on, e.g., emerging new data and novel methods for analyzing them. -- At the University of Helsinki (UH), a top 3 Nordic university, we just concluded a comprehensive research assessment. Key goals for this assessment were to 1) provide input to the development of the University strategy for 2021-2030 and 2) through expert peer feedback, help our research community strengthen the competitiveness of our research further. All in all, the four assessment panels involved 46 experts from 15 countries. The assessment confirmed that we have internationally excellent research at all our campuses and that research impact is already at a very good level. This outcome gives a strong basis for encouraging multi- and interdisciplinary research collaboration, and we will set developing capacities and incentives for those as strategic goals for UH in the coming years. Strengthening collaboration across disciplines is important as, e.g., mission-oriented research is becoming a key feature of the upcoming and largest ever European Union Framework Programme for Research 2021–2027. |
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Anssi Malkki
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| T404 |
Facilitating Success for New Investigators: The Crucial First Year
| Identifying and hiring new investigators is a major strategy to build or enhance institutional research capacity, representing a commitment of time, money and other resources. Depending on the area of research, a new investigator might be a million dollar investment. However, to receive a full return on that investment, it is important to ensure that new investigators get a good start in the crucial first year. This session will identify four areas of challenges new investigators face in establishing their research career (personal, research, academic. and logistics ) and will provide a set of institutional services and resources that will facilitate success for these investigators. |
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Marjorie Piechowski
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| T405 |
Recovering From, and Planning for Disasters at a Research Institution - A Panel Discussion.
| This panel discussion will include research administrators that have been involved in the recovery from a natural disaster that impacted their institution, and be led by a disaster professional with more than 35 years of experience. Come learn from their successes, challenges and maybe a few failures. Topics will include both recovery actions and preparedness that you can implement at your institution. |
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Kevin Titus, Distinguished Faculty
|
| T406 |
Costing Principles for Recharge Centers and Cores
| This session will present a summary of critical costing principles for setting up and administering recharge centers and cores in colleges, universities, nonprofits and hospitals. As most of these institutions have recharge centers and cores, this course will help in the administration of research. The session will cover relevant Federal criteria and will offer practical solutions with regard to managing these enterprises in an efficient and compliant way. |
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Robert Klein
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| T407 |
An Introduction to the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute’s Financial Compliance Program for Awardees: Program Background, Compliance Review Focus Areas, and Common Financial Compliance Pitfalls
| The session will provide an introduction to PCORI's Financial Compliance Program for Awardees, including program background information, information on Financial Compliance Review focus areas, and common Financial Compliance pitfalls. PCORI has over 700 active contracts with over 300 institutions. Congress has recently reauthorized PCORI’s funding for 10 years, and the legislation has been signed into law. PCORI started performing Financial Compliance Reviews of awardee institutions in 2017 and will have completed over 100 Financial Compliance Reviews by the end of FY20. |
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Brian Soule
|
| T408 |
Post Award Red Flags “What Happens When Your Faculty Member Surprises You?”
| This session is a discussion of case studies from issues that resulted from the lack of inclusion in award terms and conditions or contracts which ultimately resulted in difficult award management issues. These post award case studies will look at examples of when faculty members or administrative support informs or surprises sponsored programs, research staff, and/or accounting about things they did not know were part of the award. Some examples may include travel, equipment, sub awards, cost share, and stipends. |
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Kimberly McKoy
Kimberly McKoy
Pamela Montgomery
|
| T410 |
Protecting Academic Freedom in Research
| Even senior faculty are increasingly facing pressure from other members of the university community, from politicians, and from the public/media concerning the topics of research and the results of that research that raise issues of genetics, climate change, racial and ethnic issues, income inequality, and even individual psychology and medical issues. This program will address the concept of academic freedom in research, the legal and ethical limits of that concept, and the role of research administrators in protecting such academic freedom while managing the research "enterprise" for the overall benefit of the institution and the advancement of knowledge. |
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J. Michael Slocum, Distinguished Faculty
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| T411 |
Developing your Export Control Office
| You have been given the responsibility of developing your export control office. This session will take a look at some of the resources needed to either build an export control office or expand your current export control office at your organization. |
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Domenica Pappas
|
| T412 |
Storytelling With Data: Data Visualization in Research Administration
| Sharing information effectively is a critical skill in the research administration field. We all need to be pushed to think more critically and creatively about communication and presentation as it is necessary to be able to share ideas clearly. Yet communication and presentation skills and resources are not necessarily top-of-mind when we think about our work. This discussion session will provide a forum for interested and like-minded communicators and data enthusiasts at all levels to share a variety of innovative ways to communicate and disseminate data and information to different stakeholders, curated from leaders in the field. |
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Kimberly Pratt
|
| T414 |
The National Science Foundation Office of Inspector General and the Research Administration Community
| The National Science Foundation Office of Inspector General will discuss its work and how that work overlaps with the research administration community. Office of Audits will discuss the federal audit environment, how audit work related to award recipients is conducted, how that work is evolving, and case studies from audit reports. Office of Investigations will discuss the types of allegations received, the investigative process, whistleblower protections, and recent case studies. |
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Mark Bell
Ken Lish
Pamela Van Dort
|
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4:30 PM - 5:30 PM
|
| T501 |
Escape Room: A Day in the Life of a Research Administrator
| When asked what a typical day is in the life of a research administrator, the standard response is "it depends". This interactive presentation combines commonly encountered situations into a complex adventure in which teams must test their skills and knowledge in order to solve the puzzles and escape the Research Administration Annex. Participants will leave this session with a list of best practices for prioritizing and organizing tasks and duties, as well as ideas for solving common research administration scenarios. |
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Meaghan Ventura
Meaghan Ventura
Kimberly Pratt
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| T502 |
Maneuvering Through the Complex Personalities of Research Administration
| Do you feel like you are speaking a different language when communicating across university research offices? If you’d like to learn our tips on how we have been successful in communicating better and developing professional relationships between these offices, join our session. We will discuss communication strategies, best practices for processes, and understanding our colleague’s and our own personality traits that can strengthen our everyday working relationship. These strategies have worked for us and can work for you too. |
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Miriam Campo
Lynn Asseff
Nancy Thoman
Heather Saunders
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| T503 |
Research Capacity Building and Enhancing Competitiveness through Research Administration at Liberal Arts Colleges
| This presentation will address research administrators at primarily undergraduate institutions to gain insights on best practices to strengthen research capacity. These include but are not limited to: culture of service and support, myriad of research resources and scholarships, internal peer review processes, faculty mentoring, collaborative workshops and research visibility. We will highlight how a research support office can play a critical role in sustainable implementation of such frameworks and practices. Yale-NUS College is a partnership of Yale University and the National University of Singapore and is the leading liberal arts College in Asia. We aim to redefine liberal arts and science education for a complex interconnected world. Since its inception, the College has taken strategic initiatives to build a culture that will transcend the perceived dichotomy of teaching and research. The College supports the active research of its faculty, and offers opportunities for synergies with our founding partner institutions. Through successful integration of solid research teams and swathe of institutional resources, we have been successful in securing multi-million dollar external grant funding. We ensure that we have the capacity to generate impactful grant applications, and continuously aim to develop expertise for greater “grantsmanship”. |
|
Meenakshi Annamalai
Yan Ru Rachael Tan
Song Da Tan
|
| T504 |
Biorepository Considerations in an Ever Changing Regulatory Environment
| This session is intended to provide the most up to date thinking about the operational management of biorepositories used in clinical research settings. The session will address the following topics for research administrators who are involved in clinical trial activity dependent on biological specimens: 1) discussion of various repository models; 2) ideas for repository management and operational considerations; 3) review of multiple regulatory considerations (e.g., HHS, FDA, and HIPAA); 4) the impact on informed consent; 5) implications from the revised Common Rule discussions; and 6) biospecimen research scenarios for both current and future regulatory considerations. |
|
Philip Cola, Distinguished Faculty
Madeleine Williams
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| T505 |
Leveraging Technology to Enhance the Efficiency of Research Administration
| Research administration has evolved through the years to be a significant contribution in the functioning of institutions. With the ever increasing demand for research and innovation, the regulatory and compliance requirements have become more complex. There are a number of ways that existing and emerging technologies can be leveraged to improve efficiency of Research Administration. In addition to new technologies, improved use of available data aggregated and anonymized, and collected from a variety of sources, including social media, and other private sectors has the potential to enhance both the precision and efficiency of Research Administration. Technology and innovations will lead to the culture of high standard research performance in the institutions, promote research efforts, enhance the capacity of researchers and research administrator. |
|
Edward Kakooza
Dickson Muyomba
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| T506 |
Resolving Cost Share Conundrums
| During the session we'll address some common questions about cost share - what it is, how cost principles impact it, the types of cost share, sources of cost share, how a sponsor can capture it, and how you can document it. How do different organizations support cost share or require different protocols to build a cost share package. What do you do when the sponsor pushes non-mandatory cost share or a commitment is made accidentally? Have you ever had that 'what were they thinking?!? moment when looking at a cost share package? Let's share some educational stories about dealing with over commitment and determining the need for cost share. A session with lots of info, answers, and audience participation. |
|
M Fran Stephens, Distinguished Faculty
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| T507 |
Recent Office of the Inspector General (OIG) Audits
| A fast-paced summary of recently released audit findings from NSF, HHS, and other major federal agencies. The session will primarily focus on educational institution findings, but it is also important to know about some of the other major findings that have fiscal, criminal, and civil implications across organizations. |
|
Kris Rhodes
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| T509 |
Human Subjects Protection: Before, During, and After
| The success of human research studies lies on the element of trust – trust in investigators and the process they conduct the studies. This session will review a variety of key points along a “research cycle” of a human subject study which include IRB review, post approval monitoring, reporting responsibilities and the most recent disclosure requirements. The conduct of human subject research should be facilitated and monitored through a study’s life cycle. The “active engagement of study participants” will be utilized to separate the 3 stages, i.e. Before, During, and After, in the discussion, in order to enhance the quality of human subjects studies. |
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Rebecca Chen
Cheryl Forst
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| T510 |
Research Integrity Investigations at the NSF Office of the Inspector General
| The National Science Foundation (NSF) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) is responsible for investigating allegations of wrongdoing associated with NSF proposals and funded research. This presentation will provide insights into our processes through a series of case studies that illustrate the full range of allegations we investigate, including fraud, embezzlement, research misconduct, and other violations of research integrity, such as violations of human subjects regulations, conflicts of interest, peer review, and unreported affiliations and support from foreign entities. In addition to reviewing recent administrative, civil, and criminal outcomes, we will also present the results of our project on serial spending, a practice where PIs with multiple grants spend down their oldest grant while making no drawdowns on newer grants despite reporting progress on those projects. |
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Valerie Hillgren
Pamela Van Dort
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| T511 |
Research Impact and ORCID: Basics and Benefits
| Research impact can be difficult to assess without access to a broader picture of connections between researchers, the institutions they are affiliated with, funding received, resources used, collaborations, and deliverables. Stakeholders in the research and scholarly communication landscape are increasingly recognizing the need for name disambiguation and system interoperability in order to establish these connections, meet reporting requirements, and measure impact, while also reducing administrative burden. ORCID (Open Researcher & Contributor Identifier) is an international nonprofit organization that provides a persistent digital identifier (an ORCID iD) for researchers that also serves as a record of their affiliations, activities, funding, and works. ORCID iDs persistently link researchers to their contributions and institutional affiliations over time while also serving as a mechanism for interoperability of data across systems, significantly improving the flow of research information within and between organizations at every stage of the research lifecycle, from grant application and publication to research information management reporting and assessment. Faculty activities, research business informatics, and profile systems have started leveraging ORCID to improve higher-education services in research offices, libraries, and technology units at research institutions across the globe. In the US alone, over 125 research institutions are ORCID members, and adoption is steadily increasing. This presentation will cover the basics of ORCID from a research impact and assessment perspective, including how ORCID can be used to mitigate confusion caused by name ambiguity, assess research activities for individuals and groups, assert institutional affiliations to your researchers’ ORCID records, and save time and reduce administrative burden both institutionally and for your researchers. |
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Sheila Rabun
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| T512 |
Going Global: A Funder’s Journey into the Unknown
Wellcome spends over $1bn per year on health research. In Summer 2020, Wellcome will announce a new strategy that will combine a strong foundation of discovery research whilst seeking to solve three urgent health challenges – infectious diseases, mental health problems, and the impact of climate change on health. Research culture will be central to this strategy, as the best research comes from a diverse workforce, an inclusive research environment, and effective leadership. We believe the culture of research that predominantly rewards ‘excellence’ - based on what a researcher produces, while under-emphasising how the research was produced – needs to change.
In this session we will:
• Outline Wellcome’s new strategy and funding opportunities.
• Describe the steps we’re taking to encourage a more positive research culture.
• Ask the audience how Wellcome, and funders in general, need to change to encourage a better research culture. |
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Roger Blake
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| T513 |
NFRI: Nonprofit Funder and Research Institution Partnership
| NFRI, the partnership between nonprofit funding organizations and research institutions, has made significant progress toward the development of a library of shared resources for our communities. With input from almost three hundred participants since 2017, NFRI is addressing mutual challenges and goals related to intellectual property, research project support and F&A costs, as well as administrative processes such as application procedures, budgeting and reporting templates, and terms and conditions for research. While each sponsor is unique, and institutional policies and procedures vary, these materials offer common ground for improving communication and giving us better information for managing these crucial areas of the research enterprise. Committees representing over fifty nonprofit sponsors and over eighty research institutions collaborated on this toolkit of documents, templates, and reference materials. We are presenting these resources and seeking further input from sponsors and research institutions to further expand the use and value of this very exciting partnership. |
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Vivian Holmes
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Wednesday, October 21
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| Session Code |
Session Title |
Speaker(s) |
|
10:15 AM - 11:15 AM
|
| LC10 |
What I Know Now About Research Administration That I Wish I Could Tell My Younger Self
| My colleague and I envision this as a discussion group beginning with handing out note-cards at the beginning to attendees and having them write their answer to that question down. We'll begin the discussion with a learning experience of our own, after which we'll select cards randomly for discussion by the group. |
|
Angela Yost
William Smith
|
| W101 |
Extroverts Working Remotely
| This session focuses on the people in every organization who are high touch and high connectivity. They draw ideas and inspiration from their interactions with co-workers as they work through issues and challenges but….they are working remote! Topics will include the ways in which organizations can foster these individuals so that the same synergies they generate in the office take place while off site. Some day-to-day challenges, facing extroverts in particular and all of us in recent experience, will be explored as well. How do you identify an extrovert/introvert as we meet and interact remotely? This understanding helps us more seamlessly interact with colleagues by accommodating varying work styles and personalities. |
|
Shannon Connell
|
| W102 |
Mentor-Mentee Relationship Up Close & Personal: Obtain & Maintain A Relationship
| A mentor-mentee relationship can be a highly rewarding experience for both the mentor and mentee. It can be the key to reaching your professional and personal goals. The presenters will share their personal story of how they started, developed, and maintain their mentor-mentee relationship. This session will be highly interactive, in order for the audience members to get a close up view of the inner workings of a positive and healthy mentor-mentee relationship. |
|
Domenica Pappas
Sikirat Tijani
|
| W103 |
Research Strategic Planning and Structure in Large Integrated Health Systems
| This presentation will outline different research structures in academic and non-academic integrated hospital systems. The advantages/disadvantages of a centralized research structure vs. a decentralized model will be discussed. Examples from two different large health systems will be shared. There will be discussion on how to formulate a research program strategy for large health systems, get stakeholder and executive leader buy-in for investment in research and innovation, and how to lead large strategic planning efforts. An example from a large health system will be shared as to how a central infrastructure and research administrative structure was accomplished over a 2 year period. Participants will receive tips and tools on how to do effective research management in large health systems with limited resources and plans for setting central research infrastructure and support for industry sponsored clinical trials, federally sponsored research and unfunded investigator initiated research. |
|
Vani Nilakantan
|
| W104 |
Bridging the Divide Between Pre- and Post-Award
| When it comes to managing a project with the compliance team, pre and post award teams we often get a different communication language. Do you feel as though you’ve entered another planet each time you start the discussion or when resolving an issue? Well you’re not alone. This session will explore the communication issues surrounding research administration. We will outline strategies to aid in conversations, meetings and communications with your constituents. This session will discuss building communication strategies and networks that will improve service. |
|
Germaine Calicat
Karen Mitchell
|
| W105 |
Foreign Influence: A New Research Concern?
| Several federal agencies have expressed growing concerns about inappropriate influence by foreign entities impacting federally-funded research. As a result, academic research institutions have a heightened interest in understanding the collaborations faculty members may have with foreign colleagues, governments and entities. The spirit of research encourages international collaboration but the reconciliation between this open and willing sharing and acceptable and transparent practices is challenging. |
|
Gina Hedberg
Gloria Greene
Judy Bristow
Amy Cook
Susan Wyatt Sedwick, Distinguished Faculty
|
| W107 |
Welcome to the Upside Down: Case Studies of the Non-Compliant Kind
| Compliance with sponsor award terms and conditions is the primary objective of all sponsored research offices. But what happens when everything goes wrong? In this session, we will review four case studies in which non-compliant behavior occurred in a sponsored research project. We will examine the specific issues, their origins and impact, and the outcomes of each situation. Based on the four scenarios, attendees will create three preventative measures to ensure compliance at their own institution. |
|
Meaghan Ventura
|
| W108 |
University Executive Management: Focusing on the Facilities and Administrative Rate Future
| This session will present important considerations for executive management and senior staff of universities involved in planning and approving the Facilities and Administration (F&A) rate process, including proposal preparation and negotiation, at their institution. The session will cover areas topics can result in higher proposed F&A rates, including special studies (such as library studies and space surveys), depreciation of capital assets and treatment of operations and maintenance costs. The session will also cover recent HHS Cost Allocation Services viewpoints on these topics. |
|
Robert Klein
|
| W110 |
Research Misconduct: Legal and Practical Implications
| Through discussion and case studies, this session with explore best practices for conducting research misconduct investigations in accordance with federal regulations. We will also discuss lessons learned from interacting with the government and tips for limiting exposure under the False Claims Act. Finally, we will discuss the role that research administrators can play in this important process. |
|
Derek Adams
Stacey Springs
|
|
11:30 AM - 11:45 AM
|
| W200A |
Innovating Academic-Research Manager Connections: Using Interactive Methods to Engage the Disengaged - A UK Perspective
| Engaging researchers with research support can be challenging, particularly in research active (but not intensive) universities. To drive better connections between academics and research services, the University of Lincoln has developed a combination of creative and somewhat alternative approaches. These include the development of a board game focused on the pre-award journey highlighting key pitfalls and opportunities to increase success, speed networking sessions allowing academics from across all disciplines the opportunity to sell their expertise to potential collaborators, and peer-led development workshops providing advice and support from those that have succeeded in accessing competitive grants. This quick talk demonstrates a range of these approaches, and illustrates the ‘trial and error’ nature of building a research supported culture. The aim of the session is to help colleagues understand how they might take a less risk-averse approach to innovating their current approaches to engage hard to reach academics, build stronger relationships, and ultimately enhance the quality of applications. |
|
Lyndsey Kemsley
|
|
11:30 AM - 12:30 PM
|
| LC11 |
Shared Service for Research Administration? What Have We Learned.
| The increased complexity and changing nature of research administration led us to evaluate the models we use institutionally to provide services to faculty. Shared services for research administration is not your typical back office transaction center. How can this be a successful model for supporting faculty? Come learn and exchange ideas about the challenges and successes of doing this type of transformation. |
|
Joanne Bentley
|
| W202 |
Creating Collaborative Learning Environments for Pre-Award Research Administrators
| Many universities and colleges have a decentralized approach to research administration, meaning that no one person or office administers the entire pre-award process by itself. Often times, it is a mix of people with formal pre-award roles such as in the central or college/department research offices and informal ones, such as departmental accountants and administrative coordinators. These quasi self-formed, temporary teams have members with differences in knowledge-bases, skills and experience with the particular sponsor’s requirements that create the foundations of informal learning environments that can greatly benefit the entire pre-award enterprise and lead to professional growth and skills development across multiple positions. In this session, the speakers will discuss what kinds of learning and mentoring environments are established at their institution and their effectiveness. Additionally, we will lead the group through discussions and exercises on how to best utilize informal learning environments and how “stealth mentoring” can help grow junior research administrators. RA Relevance: Skills development and knowledge acquisition are key areas to the growth of research administrators and the research development enterprise. Sole reliance on formal training sessions overlooks the myriad of opportunities to train and help grow others during the day-to-day development of sponsored proposals. |
|
William Helmrath
Marie Penn
|
| W203 |
How To Create Proposal Review Ninjas
| Proposal review is something that is difficult to stay sharp on if it isn't your full-time job. Your department or institution may have specific times of the year where your swimming in proposals, or maybe even once every 5 years. Here is a framework to breakdown proposal review into digestible components that any research administrator can learn, follow, and develop their own framework for proposal review. This will include examples of checklists, workflows, and provide the basis for you to create your own infrastructure to ensure you are hitting the important aspects of a proposal review at your institution. |
|
Jennifer Redmond
|
| W204 |
Evolving Practices in Research Information Management
| The purpose of this presentation is to provide an insight into the evolving practices in research information management, from basic principles to application of quantitative analyses in many if not all spheres of research management. Starting from the theory behind and the basic principles of relational database systems, the session will discuss a pro-active approach to addressing reporting requirements as well as the pitfalls of evidence-informed policy. A subsequent overview of classic research performance indicators and more modern research drivers will show that data increasingly affects all aspects of the research domain. |
|
Floris van der Leest
|
| W206 |
Effective Strategies for Managing Accounts Receivable
| Collecting on accounts receivable can seem like an overwhelming task. It’s often left as the last priority. There are many deadline-driven requirements for a sponsored project that seem more critical and get more attention. However, managing accounts receivable and the effort to collect on payments owed is vital to a healthy research enterprise and one of the most important aspects of an organizations’ research operations. Join us to learn best practices for accounts receivable collections for sponsored projects. We’ll review suggested approaches and strategies that you can implement to improve collections and reduce delinquent receivables. We’ll also look at benchmarks to measure progress and success. |
|
Susan Horton
|
| W208 |
Publication of Research vs. Protection of Sensitive Data & Agreements
| Tensions or confusion seem to exist between data protection and the academic goals of publication and data sharing; especially when research data obtained from participants contain personal data, sensitive or confidential information. Traditionally, universities and other nonprofit institutions push to publish everything and commercial organizations publish nothing. Often extensive negotiations have been conducted over what can be published, just how long a university or site has to wait to publish, and whether an institution can publish independently or only in concert with other sites or with the sponsor’s handpicked publication committee . Now, with commercialization of research the norm, and with the potential for malicious exploitation of research vastly increased, the question of publication and protection of sensitive data is much more complex. This is particularly true when even the most personal data (e.g., genetic information) may be commercially valuable. Even more difficult are the issues that surround the proper methods to be used to acquire sensitive data that is not freely published. Large, publicly held companies have been prosecuted for industrial espionage for obtaining information from former employees of their competitors. Other companies openly sell information obtained from the new industry of "data mining." This session will provide an overview of the present status of the perennial issues surrounding publication versus protection of data. Some of the topics to be covered are: • Relationship between informed consent for data sharing and other uses of data such as publication • Identity issues and anonymizing research data • Access restrictions for all or part of the data (e.g. restrict access to citizens and permanent aliens) • Planning for data sharing • How confidential information will be kept, stored and used safely • How and when personal information may be removed to anonymize data • How and when informed consent can be obtained for “future research” on data being compiled under existing project(s) |
|
J. Michael Slocum, Distinguished Faculty
|
| W211 |
Managing for Foreign Influence Risk
| There are increasing concerns over the potential influence of foreign states on U.S. academia, particularly as it pertains to international collaborations in research. As the landscape continues to evolve, higher education institutions will be increasingly pressured to provide full disclosure of foreign involvement at all levels of the organization, ensuring flawless coordination of personnel, students, grants and data across many offices and roles. This session explores the issue of foreign influence and the impact it has on a multitude of moving parts at higher education institutions — from pre- and post-award offices to compliance and academic affairs — and provides best practices on how to manage foreign affiliations. |
|
Roseann Luongo
Jeff Seo
Valerie Bonham
|
| W212 |
Celebrating Research Impact from an International Perspective
| Impact reporting is of increasing importance internationally as there is more pressure on government funds to demonstrate accountability and value for money to government and taxpayers. Having ‘Broader Impacts’ as part of the NSF funding criteria already, we’d expect impact reporting to increasingly become more important in the USA as well. As such, research managers need to have a good understanding of what impact is in this context as this is a new style of reporting for research. This session will explore what impact reporting is and why it is gaining momentum. We will share experiences and practical examples of how organisations have been implementing impact strategies and how they have been mobilising researchers to engage more with the impact agenda. The session will go into more depth around how you can implement different strategies in a practical way, equipping research managers with tools to support academics to plan, capture and report impact through identifying stakeholders, activities and outcomes and evidencing demonstrable change. |
|
Kristy Evers
|
| W213 |
National Science Foundation (NSF) Conference Proposals: Let’s Talk
| This session will provide a central office and departmental/college perspective on the preparation and submission of NSF conference proposals. Participants will receive insight into the basics components required for a conference proposal. We will also be discussing common concerns related to participant support costs, and program income just to name a few. |
|
Amber Hardie
Elizabeth (Beth) Eslick
Marisa Gates
|
|
11:50 AM - 12:05 PM
|
| W200B |
Preparing for the Cloud: Tips for a Non-Techie Research Administrator
| Your institution is investing in a new, cloud-based ERP. Now what? A successful implementation requires significant planning and a high degree of coordination and communication across the institution. This session reviews best practices to achieve a successful implementation with a focus on addressing business process transformation, roles and responsibilities, education and training, data conversion methodologies, report development,, and general ledger and subledger reconciliations. |
|
Simone Barnhill
|
