About the Program

Project Description

The SHARE Program will allow institutions of higher education to exchange knowledge and resources to support future research leaders and bolster externally funded research across Ohio and other regions of the country. Based on lessons learned from national leadership mentoring programs, the SHARE Program will pool resources and expertise from varied institutions of higher education, ranging from smaller colleges to major research universities. Regional Communities of Practice (RCOPs) will feature peer and senior mentoring and be developed around two areas of focus: research leadership with RCOPs created in Ohio, Texas, Michigan, and Georgia; and regulatory compliance with RCOPS initiated in Ohio and Texas. Each RCOP will identify the research leadership and/or compliance needs of its members, identify and connect expertise within the membership, host a regional conference, and develop accessible tools for best practices.

These collaborative networks will provide a cost-effective, accessible, and replicable model to address barriers to professional development and resource sharing, making it easier for under-resourced institutions to pursue grant funding and aspiring research leaders to attain the skills they need.

Each RCOP will be anchored in a coordinating center institution which will serve as its base and leverage existing state-based relationships during the first year. During Year 1 of the SHARE Program, Kent State University will serve as the Research Leadership coordinating center, and the University of Cincinnati will act as the Compliance coordinating center. Subsequent RCOPs will recruit new participants annually from all institutions within a roughly 300-mile radius of the coordinating center to ensure a large regional impact. As the project continues, Regional Communities of Practice (RCOPs) will join to form Ohio- and Texas-based Regional Research Networks (RRNs). In the future we will join RRNs to form National Research Networks (NRNs).

This scalable model will allow participant institutions to share broad leadership and compliance expertise, lowering costs for both professional development and the need to hire additional staff with specialized research knowledge. With the potential to expand across the United States, the SHARE Program provides a scalable model by which other RCOPs/RRNs can develop and link to strengthen research capacity nationwide. Ultimately, the project benefits the research enterprise at institutions of higher education, creating opportunities for students, faculty, administrators, and everyone who benefits from scientific discovery.