Quick Talks

Full recovery of indirect costs is critical for sustainability of research activities. Yet many institutions in developing countries still grapple with recovery of indirect costs for their research. The growing restrictions by funders and the general absence of Negotiated Indirect Cost Rate Agreements (NICRA) remain a stumbling block to the full recovery of indirect costs for research. It is estimated that more than 90% of research institutions in Africa do not have NICRAs, and therefore, often recover less than what it costs them to conduct research. It is essential that institutions develop and maintain their research environments to sustain high-quality research, and the recovery of full indirect costs is critical to this end. My presentation will explore the tools that can be used to ensure optimal recovery of indirect costs for research, the pre and post award good practices to maximize recovery of indirect costs and how to optimize indirect cost recovery if funders allow lower than the institutional indirect cost rate. I hope Institutions with a similar challenge can learn new tools and approaches to optimally recover indirect costs for their research.

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?

In 2021, the College of Atmospheric & Geographic Sciences created a Grant Management Center to provide professional grant management to the over 160 grants that comprise 40% of research expenditures for the University of Oklahoma. This center acts like a shared business service center but at a college level. Our university continues to have a centralized Office of Research Services and Research Financial Services. The GMC acts as a go-between the departments and the central services. This quick talk will focus on what our responsibilities are and what we hope to accomplish.

Funding has increased over the past two decades at my institution and there is a rise in expectations in both the institution and the funders to continue this trend. This leads to capacity limits for both established researchers and the research development (RD) staff across the HEIs. The areas of both concern and opportunity are in late-stage Postgraduates (PGRs) and Early-Career Researchers (ECRs), and International researcher funding openings, as these are the areas least explored and supported by HEIs globally. RD managers at my Institutions have limited capacity in research development for ECR funding mechanisms for our future leaders

Many Research Administrators (RA) experience challenges in the new field like research In Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs). Majority of African research institutions lack of ideal mentorship processes, lack of clear orientation approaches, and clear standard operating procedures in the field of research. Lack of strong mentorship processes leads to research administrators along the way desert the career path of research administration along the way hence institutions in LMICs missing out on new findings and outcomes in research. This session will look at some of the means to expand orientation of young RA. Observations of some successful means at Makerere University like capacity building trainings of young research administrators through trainings, personnel exchange in institutions with clear mentorship processes and systems, placement under the senior research administrators for mentorship. Improving and incorporation of existing training opportunities into a core skills training program for researchers. inclusive training for all researchers, Strengthening standard operating procedures guiding research administration. With personnel exchange young researchers will gain from international professional development leading to globalization of research institutions like Makerere University and sustainable research in institutions. Clear orientation will create future leaders and experienced research Administrators. Researchers learn to prosper and solve shared research problems. Research administrators will portray enhanced skills, leadership, supervision and project management capabilities in the disciplinary of research hence advancement of research. Increased retention of researchers in research administration hence development of clear career path in Research Administration. Long term sustainability and buy-in by the researchers

In this presentation, we’ll demonstrate how using an institutional repository like Figshare to quickly publish public health gray literature can increase the exposure and impact of research. Public health gray literature communicates important information to both researchers and members of the public and a repository increases discoverability, trustworthiness, and reusability for these resources. We’ll present several examples to illustrate how repository record components like descriptive metadata, digital object identifiers, links to relevant data and peer reviewed publications, and in browser previews of the files, benefit authors and end users.