Building Your Personal Program at an SRAI Conference: Leveraging Your Time to Earn an SRAI Certificate
One of the many benefits of being a member of SRAI is being able to earn a certificate for a specific topic, whether you are new to research administration or looking to learn more about another function within research administration. Currently, SRAI offers ten certificates that can be earned by attending workshops and sessions relevant to that specific topic.
The current certificates offered as part of the SRAI Certificate Program are:
- Clinical Trials Research Administration
- Financial Management
- Introduction to Research Administration and Management
- Leadership
- National Institutes of Health Grants Fundamentals
- Practice of Research Administration and Management
- Pre-Award
- Research Development
- Research Integrity
- Research Law
You can earn a full certificate through both virtual and in-person meetings. For example, you can complete the Financial Management Certificate by attending the Virtual Financial Management Conference and the Financial Management Workshop. The Section and Annual Meetings offer a wide variety of certificates available in full at each, so you can earn a different certificate at each meeting. This year, at the 2024 SRAI Annual Meeting being held October 26-30, the full certificate offerings that will be available are:
Each link will take you to the details about that certificate and a link to download the tracking sheet for that certificate. The tracking sheet is available for you to track all required workshops and sessions needed to complete the certificate at the Annual Meeting. These certificate tracking sheets lay out the meeting format with the required sessions – the session titles, dates, and times so that you can plan accordingly. It is sometimes like a Tetris game! That said, if you cannot complete everything at a single meeting, you have three years to complete the certificate. At each meeting, the tracking sheets will be updated with the new sessions and titles, and you can track the required vs. elective options. This feature makes certificates easier to obtain over the course of time.
In order to complete a certificate, you must attend the required workshop noted for the certificate. For example, the Financial Management Certificate requires a full-day workshop titled “It’s About the Money.” The workshops are either half-day or full-day workshops held in addition to the full meeting and require an extra registration fee. Workshops take a much deeper look into the specific topics relevant to that certificate’s curriculum. It is important to note what workshop you need to complete for a certificate and when it takes place so you can plan your arrival to the conference accordingly. The workshops are typically held in the days leading up to the actual meeting.
Earning a certificate while attending a meeting is also a way to bring home an additional tool to your institution. With the knowledge you will have gained through earning a certificate on a specific topic, you will be able to share that with your colleagues as well as apply the information directly to your roles and responsibilities. Not to mention, these certificates add quite the value to your breadth as a research administrator.
Kimberly Read, PhD, CRA, Assistant Chair for Operations
University of South Florida
SRAI Distinguished Faculty
SRAI Southern Section Immediate Past President
Amanda Seymour, CRA, Manager
Attain Partners
SRAI Southern Section President
#Catalyst
#August2024
#Membership
#2024AM
#ProfessionalDevelopment