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Research Administration Careers| Career Options

Continuing our series on research administration (RA) careers, this month’s Spotlight focuses on the array of professional options available in this diverse field. An RA career can span many areas of expertise that build a well-rounded body of knowledge suitable for a variety of career pursuits. 

Despite the overall title attempting to encompass all aspects of our field, research administration (RA) is actually quite wide-ranging. Those with financial backgrounds can find joy in performing accounting management functions.  Those with great organizational skills can identify with the pre-award functions.  Individuals who are more analytical with a legal mindset can better associate with regulatory functions.  Specialists with research backgrounds can maintain that experience, albeit in an administrative setting. 

While few enter the field with a definitive goal, many begin with learning a survey of research administration.  These “cradle to grave” individuals study the life cycle of contracts and grants, from the initial (pre-award) submission process, moving on to the awarding and regulatory aspects, and then to the financial management functions (post-award). The wonderful thing about this period in one’s career is learning and acquiring a true assessment of all aspects of research administration.  Imagine a buffet of the various aspects of the RA discipline.  While no one can be a master of all tasks, being exposed to these provides a wonderful means to determining where one best fits in this world. 

Pre-award responsibilities are often attractive to those who enjoy organization and administration, are comfortable having frequent and direct contact with investigators, are task-driven, and able to handle very fast and repetitive deadlines. These functions are designed for generalists capable of learning the policies, procedures, legal regulations, and guidelines of proposal submission.  Pre-award positions have great growth potential and life-long learning opportunities.  They are also the most portable type of positions in research administration, as these skills need to be performed in parallel ways at almost every academic institution across the nation. 

For post-award, this traditionally is more of a research accounting function.  One does not need to hold a certified public accountant (CPA) certificate, although being extremely facile with numbers is a definite benefit.  Given a portfolio of accounts, post-award administrators require strong financial and analytical skills, with the ability to learn standard financial reporting and auditing requirements.  While not as fast-paced as pre-award administration the volume of work is usually high, although without the frequent urgent deadlines. 

Regulatory work is an extremely diverse area that opens up many career possibilities. Options here include working with human subject studies (Institutional Review Board – IRB) or with projects involving basic and clinical research with animals (Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee – IACUC). These areas require deep knowledge of federal, state, and local research policies and risk to human or animal subjects.  The work is highly technical, with ongoing training in regulatory requirements.  Other regulatory areas involve radiation safety, environmental health and safety, regulatory affairs, conflict-of-interest, or research integrity. These offices traditionally serve as the central management point for all ancillary aspects of research administration across an institution, ensuring that investigators meet compliance requirements.  All are very narrowly focused but fulfill significant back-end functions necessary to ensure research operations at academic institutions. 

There is also the long-standing question of whether it is better to work in a centralized or departmental unit.  Usually, centralized offices are one step removed from working directly with faculty and are more focused on larger-scale processes.  A more concentrated comprehension of policy and regulatory requirements is essential.  An advantage of working in a centralized unit is an emphasis on less transactional tasks and more policy-driven roles.  Departmental roles are more transactional, work one-to-one with investigators, and have larger volume with tighter deadlines.  Here, however, the immediacy of the work is often more satisfactory to a research administrator in terms of a closer link to the research being conducted.  While none of these are absolutes, e.g., one can move from a departmental to centralized office and back, all of these are pivotal and rewarding roles in the research enterprise. 

How does one decide what role is best and which office is an ideal fit? There is no straightforward guide for this.  It depends on each individual’s career point and work preferences. Many spend their entire careers in pre-award at a departmental level, enjoying the rhythm of proposal development and submission.  Some prefer the precision of monthly financial funding management.  Others enjoy migration through various roles, sampling different functions at different points in their careers.  Many RA professionals grow into supervisory roles in their specialties, attaining deeper experience and enhancing their careers with an area of expertise. 

A career is a life-long endeavor. Current proficiencies must be maintained to learn and progress. One can specialize in a specific area or “try on” different outfits throughout their lifetime.  This is what makes a research administration career so engaging, with the ability to continue to discover and experience different things throughout one’s work life.  Keep in mind that research administrators are a unique community, where, despite various tasks and roles, we ultimately all come together for the common purpose of supporting research that advances knowledge and discovery.

Authored by

Heather Brown, Grants and Contracts Administrator
Duke Human Vaccine Institute

Mark Lucas, Chief Administrative Officer
University of California, Los Angeles, Department of Neurobiology