Primary Aims of the Program
Research Leadership
For college and university personnel seeking to lead research offices, the pathway to achieve this goal can be daunting. Aspiring senior research officers at institutions of higher education must develop expertise in an ever-expanding range of competencies, including management of sponsored programs offices and pre- and post-award processes, compliance with institutional and funder regulations, Institutional Review Board (IRB) and Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) oversight, and familiarity with patenting and licensing agreements, just to name a few.
Although professional development opportunities such as national conferences exist for those seeking this specialized knowledge, many colleges and universities lack financial resources needed for registration and travel. Furthermore, personnel who would benefit from additional training often face prohibitive time constraints, especially those working for institutions with limited research office staff. However, creating a robust pipeline of senior research leaders is critically important, not only for continued research productivity at colleges and universities, but also the larger impact of external funding on the economic growth of the region and nation.
To address these issues, the SHARE program will target individuals from a range of higher education institutions, including those with R1 status (highest research designation), emerging research institutions, and/or urban, rural, public, and private colleges and universities, who are interested in research leadership to create the first cohort for the Ohio-based Research Leadership Regional Community of Practice (RCOP). Lessons learned in developing the OH Leadership RCOP will be used to develop the other Leadership RCOPs.
The RCOP will include two types of interactions:
1. Every-other-week knowledge transfer calls; and
2. An annual in-person conference/site visit.
Compliance
For institutions with limited resources, investing in resources that ensure compliant research in areas such as human and animal participants, federal regulations and contracts, and export controls presents seemingly insurmountable barriers. Full-time personnel in each area of compliance are prohibitively expensive and difficult to justify with reductions in overall support for higher education, including shrinking budgets and reduced staffing. Even without financial constraints, finding, training, and keeping research personnel with the needed expertise is challenging, especially for smaller colleges and universities. An integral part of the SHARE Program, Compliance Regional Community of Practice RCOPs will allow for inter-institutional sharing of resources to provide the research compliance infrastructure needed while lowering indirect (facilities and administrative: F&A) costs.
Compliance RCOPs will test a model of swapping compliance expertise among participating institutions of higher education. In Year 1 of the SHARE Program, the University of Cincinnati will build upon an existing regional network to develop an OHbased Compliance RCOP and serve as the Coordinating Center.
In Year 2 (and beyond), Compliance RCOPS will be refined and expanded; in Year 3, a Texas-based Compliance RCOP will be formed and joined with the Texas-based Leadership RCOP to complete the Texas Regional Research Network (RRN). Compliance RCOPS will be refined and expanded; in Year 3, a Texas-based Compliance RCOP will be formed and joined with the Texas-based Leadership RCOP to complete the TexasRegional Research Network (RRN).
At the beginning of each fiscal year, member institutions of each Compliance RCOP will receive consulting hours in the form of tokens evenly distributed across institutions in the first year. Any member institution may use tokens for research compliance areas in which expertise is needed. As data on institution usage is collected, Compliance RCOP leads will reallocate tokens proportional to the need, stabilizing institutions against changing institutional circumstances and fluctuations in funding, staffing, and regulations.
This model distributes regulatory burden while also developing the knowledge base and expertise among constituents. Although the need for assistance with regulatory compliance will continue, tokens will eventually be replaced by a tiered membership fee which will cover ongoing costs for the infrastructure and support needed to maintain an established Compliance RCOP.