Blogs

Future of the Field: Rise and Shine

By SRAI News
Future of the Field: Rise and Shine WE know that YOU know at least one or two (maybe you!)  bright, dedicated, knowledgeable research administration professionals that have chosen Research Administration as their career path and are dedicated to taking the field to the next level. SRAI is introducing the Future of the Field -- aimed at those research admins who are the up and coming leaders of the profession and will take the field in new and exciting directions. We want to show these individuals that we have our eyes on them, and we know that they will be the “movers and shakers” for the next years and decades to come.  The closing dates are just around ...
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Note from the Editor | New Look for Spring

By SRAI News
Note from the Editor | New Look for Spring Just as spring is a time for looking forward, for growth and for new beginnings, the April Catalyst has these same tell-tale signs. First of all, we are proud to present a new look for the Catalyst.  We hope this new layout is more readable and will bring greater focus to our articles in the coming months. We thank the Catalyst committee members for their ideas in helping create the design. Please let us know what you think.  Secondly, growing and learning from our experiences while looking forward to post-pandemic is a thread throughout several articles. Zoya Davis-Hamilton and Sarah Marina offer their thoughts ...
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View from the Top | Travel Memories

By SRAI News
View from the Top | Travel Memories Oh, how I miss travel! One of my favorite things about Facebook is the memories feature. Each morning I check to see what I posted on this day in past years. This time of year is heavy with SRAI travel memories. In the last week or so I was in Boston, Washington DC, San Francisco, and Vegas all for SRAI. I miss the sightseeing – for me it’s always about finding a new museum or historic site, the food, continuing education, phenomenal networking, and seeing my great SRAI friends. In May 2020 I was supposed to be heading to Hiroshima, Japan for the INORMS meeting. Of course, we all know that didn’t happen and it was postponed ...
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Looking Back at the iSRA Financial Management Conference: A Virtual Academy and A Virtual Success!

By SRAI News
Looking Back at the iSRA Financial Management Conference: A Virtual Academy and A Virtual Success! Thank you to everyone for participating in the inaugural iSRA Financial Management Conference! This meeting was a new online training event that served to highlight all things Post-Award. From the fiduciary responsibilities, approaches, processes, to strategies for effective financial research administration – we worked to develop a program that catered to research administrators that worked in research finance and beyond. Our attendance for this meeting exceeded expectations and turned out to be an outstanding event! With over 30 session options, including ...
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Background Noise | How to Zoom When This is Over?

By SRAI News
Background Noise | How to Zoom When This is Over? Background Noise is a column devoted to conceptual ideas of interest to the research administration community. This month, we want to share with the larger community our thoughts on what both synthesis and work-life balance look like in practice, and how we can define the work-balance to which many aspire but only some seem to achieve. If you have an idea for a future Background Noise article, please submit your idea here . A year into the pandemic, we’re finally starting to look toward the future. Amidst all of the fun planning for seeing friends and taking trips, what work will look like in the new normal ...
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Adaptive Work in Research Administration During COVID-19: Part 1

By SRAI News
Adaptive Work in Research Administration During COVID-19: Part 1 Introduction Adaptive leadership is defined as leading change in a time when both the problem and the solution are unsettled, and new learning is required by everyone on the team. 1 An adaptive challenge often requires everyone on the team to change daily activities, workplace strategies, and professional preconceptions in order to adapt, survive, and thrive in a changing world. 2 Does that situation sound familiar? The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) represents perhaps the largest global adaptive challenge humanity has faced in the last century. Many have speculated that COVID-19 has ...
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Conferences: Virtual vs. In-Person – Inside or Outside the Octagon?

By SRAI News
Conferences: Virtual vs. In-Person – Inside or Outside the Octagon? With the pandemic’s arrival and transformation of the way we do business, one aspect has not been addressed: that of professional conferences. While in-person meetings clearly were not recommended, a clear alternative was not evident. We spoke with two SRAI members on the benefits/drawbacks of virtual vs. in-person conferences. With the pandemic’s arrival and transformation of the way we do business, one aspect has not been addressed often, that of professional conferences.  While in-person national meetings clearly were not recommended during this time, a clear alternative was not evident.  ...
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Monthly Poll | Conference Networking: In-Person and Virtual

By SRAI News
Monthly Poll | Conference Networking: In-Person and Virtual We had a fantastic number of responses to last month’s poll about our physical working locations.  While the vast majority of us, 73%, are still working from home 100% of the time, 14% are splitting their time between home and work and 13% have returned to the office 100% of the time.  My team is still working remotely full time and finding it professionally productive and personally rewarding. I know my campus is not the only one considering making this full-time remote work a permanent feature for our departments.  For so many of us the question is no longer when will life return to what it was ...
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Kudos Korner | Catherine Thompson

By SRAI News
Kudos Korner | Catherine Thompson SRA International members rock! As research management and administration professionals, they never stop improving, learning, achieving, or earning new heights of success. We love sharing good news and offering a well-deserved slap on the back for recent personal and/or professional achievement. In keeping with that sentiment, please join us as we congratulate Catherine Thompson on her new position! SRA International is a professional networking community of learners. One way to gain knowledge and expertise is to share our stories of successful achievements with our peers and colleagues. Often research managers/administrators ...
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WFH Tips & Tricks | Sometimes It’s the Little Things…the Snipping Tool

By SRAI News
WFH Tips & Tricks | Sometimes It’s the Little Things…the Snipping Tool In the current COVID-19 world of Work From Home (WFH), Remotely Working offers tips and trick to make WFH easier. If you have an issue you would like discussed or a favorite trick you’d like to share, let us know and we may feature it in an upcoming column. You can submit an article here . Sometimes in our everyday work, a small tool can be a game changer. During the past year WFH in the Catalyst has presented some substantive topics: from dual monitors to Outlook rules and templates, from Gmail filters to work-life balance. Sometimes, though, you discover a small tool ...
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Podcast Series “Shop Talk” Debuts April 29

By SRAI News
Podcast Series “Shop Talk” Debuts April 29 SRAI members have a new perk! Our new podcast series, Shop Talk debuts on April 29, and features SRAI President Debra Schaller-Demers. Podcast Committee Chair Carla Demarco is the host and producer of Shop Talk. You may remember reading about Carla in the Secret Life of a Research Administrator | The Accidental Podcaster: Tuning in and Turning up , which ran in the January Catalyst. A big thanks goes out to the winner of the podcast naming contest and recipient of a LevelUP module , Devin Kreuger ! SRAI Podcasts are scheduled to air the last Thursday of each month. The April podcast will be available to anyone ...
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Join Us at the 2021 iSRA Joint Section Meeting

By SRAI News
Join Us at the 2021 iSRA Joint Section Meeting We are excited to announce the 2021 iSRA Joint Section Meeting! Due to the concern for our members’ health and safety, all sections of SRAI will be meeting virtually. This will be a weeklong conference that makes available workshops, main events, educational sessions, and networking opportunities. Many of these will count toward SRAI certificate requirements. Through these sessions, you can continue to grow professionally and learn new ways to help you on the job. The joint meeting features two great keynote speakers. The first is Dr. Warren Buck, who is Chancellor Emeritus and Professor Emeritus at the University ...
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Call to Apply to SRAI’s Distinguished Faculty

By SRAI News
Call to Apply to SRAI’s Distinguished Faculty SRA International is now accepting applications for Distinguished Faculty, with a deadline of June 1, 2021 . You might be wondering, just who are Distinguished Faculty? Members of SRAI’s Distinguished Faculty enhance the professional development of research administrators around the world by creating and presenting high quality education and training content that adds to the body of knowledge in the field of research administration. Distinguished Faculty serve as “thought leaders” to help the Society develop educational programming that is responsive to the significant events, complex issues and new trends ...
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Developing Research Culture: An Outcomes Perspective

By SRAI JRA
Volume LII, Number 1 Developing Research Culture: An Outcomes Perspective Michelle Mae J. Olvido Cebu Normal University Abstract This paper sought to describe the evidences of the development of research culture from gestation to maturation as a result of the input of human capital and resources. Anchored on the Gestation-Expansion-Maturation Theory of the Development of Research Culture, a narrative inquiry was conducted with key informants from seven reputable teacher education institutions in Region VII. Interview transcripts were coded with the aid of NVIVO 11.3.2. The findings reveal six overarching themes on the return of investments or outputs ...
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Volume LII, Number 1, From the Editor's Desk

By SRAI JRA
Volume LII, Number 1 Author Nathan L. Vanderford University of Kentucky The Journal of Research Administration (JRA) is the premier scholarly publication for the field of research administration and management. We publish timely work that covers all facets of our discipline. The journal is an important education and career development platform. Our authors share best practices and innovative means of performing research administration and management work in our fast-paced, ever-changing environments while also enhancing their own careers through the process of publishing peer-reviewed scholarly journal articles.   In many regards, 2020 was a difficult ...
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Research Administration Around the World

By SRAI JRA
Volume LII, Number 1 Research Administration Around the World Simon Kerridge University of Kent Research is international, so is Research Administration * ! As we start the third decade in the third century of our calendar, I appear to be entering the “third age” of my life (I am hoping for a good few more to allow, perhaps, more time to reflect). While, undoubtedly, research administration emerged over 60 years ago (Kaplan, 1959), probably first in the U.S., it has now developed in many other parts of the world — however, not always by that name. For example, in most of Europe the term “research management and administration” is more common, ...
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Motivating Factors and Obstacles behind Grant Research: The Case of a Teaching-Focused State College

By SRAI JRA
Volume LII, Number 1 Motivating Factors and Obstacles behind Grant Research: The Case of a Teaching-Focused State College Abdelilah Salim Sehlaoui Sam Houston State University Elizabeth Gross Sam Houston State University Pimrawee Ruengwatthakee Sam Houston State University Abstract Faculty motivation to seek external funding includes the ability to conduct research and offer innovative programs and bring prestige and support for universities. However, faculty may decline to participate in the grant-seeking process. In order to better understand the reluctance of faculty to pursue grants, faculty in the College of Education at a Southern state ...
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Development of a Clinical Research Consortium Position Interview Panel within the Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care System

By SRAI JRA
Volume LII, Number 1 Development of a Clinical Research Consortium Position Interview Panel within the Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care System Cyenthia Willis, RN, BSN, CCRP 1 1 VA North Texas Health Care System Kandi Velarde, MPH, CCRC 2 2 VA Salt Lake City Health Care System Karen Bratcher, RN, MSN, CCRC 3 3 VA Palo Alto Health Care System Debra Condon, MSN, RN, CCRP 4 4 Minneapolis VA Health Care System Marcus R. Johnson, MPH, MBA, MHA 5,6,7 5 Durham VA Health Care System 6 Gillings Global School of Public Health, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 7 Department of Public Health, Brody School ...
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Research Integrity Officers’ Responsibilities and Perspectives on Data Management Plan Compliance and Evaluation

By SRAI JRA
Volume LII, Number 1 Research Integrity Officers’ Responsibilities and Perspectives on Data Management Plan Compliance and Evaluation Bradley Wade Bishop, PhD Associate Professor School of Information Sciences, University of Tennessee Robert Nobles, DrPH, MPH, CIP Vice President for Research Administration Emory University Hannah Collier Graduate Research Assistant School of Information Sciences, University of Tennessee Abstract This paper presents findings from interviews with US Research Integrity Officers (RIOs) on their overall responsibilities as well as perspectives on Data Management Plans (DMPs). DMPs are formal documents describing ...
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Research Managers and Administrators in Conflicting Organizational Cultures: How Does Their Human Capital Help Professional Survival in Knowledge-Intensive Organizations?

By SRAI JRA
Volume LII, Number 1 Research Managers and Administrators in Conflicting Organizational Cultures: How Does Their Human Capital Help Professional Survival in Knowledge-Intensive Organizations? Junko SHIMAZOE, Ph.D. IDE-JETRO Abstract Research Managers and Administrators (RMAs) face various challenges caused by conflicting and contradictory organizational subcultures in knowledge-intensive organizations (KIOs), but their human capital, such as skills and personality traits, helps RMAs to maintain job and organizational engagement and professional growth. Focusing on self-leadership of RMAs, the effects of the RMAs’ human capital on their performance ...
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