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I am happy to announce the first ever recipient of the newly established RAMP scholarship: Nana Oye Akuffo. Nana is the Research Development Officer/Coordinator for the Office for Research Support (ORS) and the Post- Doctoral Fellowship Program at the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research (NMIMR).

Nana has achieved a lot at her organization, and I would like to mention some of her contributions below:

• Capacity building of ORS
• Monthly ORS/ACCOUNTS meetings
• E-Administration of project funds
• Training of NMIMR departmental secretaries
• Increased inflow
• Efficient grants submission process
• Increased grants submission and award rate
• Adherence to policies of donor agencies
• Biannual training of research fellows
• Increased external relations
• Expenditure according to budget lines
• Establishment of an Animal Care and Use Committee at NMIMR
• Orientation programs for University of Ghana research development officers
• Organization of the West Africa Research and Innovative Management association (WARIMA) conference
  
  

Nana will be mentored at Yale University’s Office for Sponsored Research to expand her existing skill base. Through further training and observation of their research infrastructure, she will be equipped with the needed skills to become trainers-of-trainees, and strengthen their capacity to effectively manage projects. She will receive intensive training in best practices in research administration, financial management and audit, post-award compliances, effective budget implementation and other statutory requirements of specific funding agencies. This will ensure that key personnel at her organization, Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research (NMIMR), are familiar with all the considerations related to grant administration. She will in turn offer training and educational sessions to communicate NMIMR’s and funding agencies’ expectations for conducting and administering research to supporting staff and research scientists.

We are looking forward to Nana’s first-hand experiences and wishing her all the best! She will be sharing her experience with us in an upcoming Catalyst article when she is done. Congratulations, Nana!

Please don’t miss a new addition to next year’s scholarship. We will be adding a list with institutions that are willing to accept participants in the Fall. This will be a suggestion for SRAI members’ future endeavors in their professional development.

The mission of the Society of Research Administrators International (SRA International) is to develop, define and promote international best practices in research management, administration, knowledge transfer and growth of the research enterprise. This being one of the key drivers identified in the strategic plan of the Society, the membership committee introduced an invaluable opportunity for SRAI members: The Research Administrators Mobility Program (RAMP) Scholarship.

The RAMP scholarship is designed to provide financial support to SRAI members to participate in short-term placements. The goal of RAMP is to ensure funding for excellent and innovative research administration peer engagement. Opportunities for knowledge exchange through cross-border and cross-sector mobility of research administrators can better prepare SRAI members for current and future societal challenges.

For more information on the 2019 cohort, please visit the RAMP Scholarship website and for any further questions, please contact Dilyana Williams at dwilliams@srainternational.org.