The Research Development Office (RDO) offers one-stop “concierge” services to connect researchers and scholars with research administrators and other resources; accelerate discovery and innovation by supporting collaboration, creation, and proposal development; and minimize the administrative burden of research on faculty and staff.
“As the landscape for research and scholarship support becomes ever more competitive, our faculty need assistance as they develop creative, bold, and collaborative strategies for discovery and innovation.
We’re here to help them do that.”
-Dan Reed, Vice President for Research and Economic Development (2012-2017)
What is Research Development?
The Office of the Vice President for Research and Economic Development launched the Research Development Office (RDO) in spring 2017. So, what is research development? As a professional field, research development is relatively new. In 2010, the National Organization of Research Development Professionals (NORDP) was founded as the first professional organization devoted to research development. NORDP’s definition of research development encompasses, “a set of strategic, proactive, catalytic, and capacity-building activities designed to facilitate individual faculty members, teams of researchers, and central research administration in attracting extramural research funding, creating relationships, and developing and implementing strategies that increase institutional competitiveness”. While the term research development may be new to some, the concept and its activities are closely related to research administration; therefore, research development may be familiar to many.
Research Administration and Research Development
Research administration is likely a more familiar term than research development to many. While research development may be a relatively new concept, it overlaps with research administration in support of researcher success (see Figure 1). Research administration focuses on pre- and post-award support that enables the research to be conducted. Research development focuses on the activities that catalyze research teams and their activities. Using the spectrum of pre- and post-award activities, some have described research development as the activities before pre-award, or PRE-pre-award. In other words, research development supports setting the stage for research with the development of people, resources, and ideas. For example, research development includes providing grant writing workshops, creating a resource library for grant proposals, and ideation and networking opportunities for researchers. Together, research administration (e.g., enabling the conduct of research) and research development (e.g., enabling teams and ideas) support the culture of research and knowledge discovery at universities.
The RDO is building a network of research development professionals that will meet throughout the year and discuss research development ideas and opportunities.
Research Development Network
Meeting: Research Development Network Meeting
Date: Monday, July 9, 2018
Time: 10:00 AM - 1:00 PM (lunch provided)
Place: W401 Pappajohn Business Building (PBB)
Registration deadline: Monday, July 2 (see below)
Agenda (pdf)
Do you engage in research development activities? Not sure if you do, but want to learn more and/or network with other research development professionals on campus? If so, you are invited to attend the first University of Iowa Research Development Network meeting on Monday, July 9.
The goals of this meeting are to:
- Introduce research development activities on campus and off
- Share strategies and best practices for research development at the levels of proposal review and the promotion of collaboration
- Network with other campus research development professionals
Please register to attend here by Monday, July 2 and share this information with any colleagues who may be interested in learning more.
Contact Aaron Kline (aaron-kline@uiowa.edu / 319-335-4142) in the Research Development Office with questions.
RDO Services
Funding Opportunities
RDO coordinates the ISU-UI Partnership Seed Grant Program, which provides seed funds to support UI and ISU researchers in developing innovative, ambitious, interdisciplinary programs that have the potential to synergistically advance both institutions’ research profiles, as well as lead to sponsored funding from government agencies, corporations, and/or foundations. Seed funds may be used to develop new initiatives or expand existing collaborations.
RDO coordinates the Limited Submission Opportunities process for grant applications to funding agencies that restrict the number of submissions allowed from an institution. An internal selection process has been established to make sure that multiple applications to the limited program do not render each other ineligible by the sponsor.
RDO coordinates the Arts & Humanities Initiative (AHI), an internal funding program within the Office of Research and Economic Development that encourages leading edge scholarship, creative activities, and interdisciplinary research.
RDO works closely with the Division of Sponsored Program (DSP) which informs campus faculty about the latest funding opportunities and requests for proposals through the Grant Bulletin.
Proposal Development
The resource library, requiring HawkID authentication, contains examples of successful proposals for various funding agencies including federal agencies and private foundations. In addition, the resource library contains examples of various components required for proposals including budget justifications, resource sharing plans, and data management plans.
The resource library will continue to grow as examples of successful proposals are identified. The Research Development Office is asking for campus assistance in building out this library to help University of Iowa researchers prepare successful proposals. If you are willing to share a copy of a successful proposal or sections of a successful proposal, please email the Research Development Office with your contribution.
Note: These examples and resources are meant for University of Iowa researchers and staff and should not be shared outside of the University of Iowa. Further, these are examples and should be updated and/or customized to reflect the needs of the proposal.
Research Communications
Promote OVPRED's Communicating Ideas, a summer workshop that trains faculty to talk about their work in language non-experts can understand.
Research Education and Training
RDO promotes outreach activities such as workshops and training sessions available to the campus community.
NIH R01 Writing Boot Camp 2018
The Office of Vice President for Research and Economic Development’s (OVPR&ED) Research Development Office is conducting a faculty grant writing boot camp during the Spring semester led by OVPR&ED Faculty Fellow, Dr. Chris Cheatum (Associate Professor, Chemistry). Dr. Cheatum is a an NIH-funded investigator who has also served on the Macromolecular Structure and Function B Study Section.
This boot camp will focus on those writing their first NIH R01 proposal (or a resubmission) providing guided writing and peer feedback through a structured process. For session topics and tentative timelines see the table below. Please note: the final dates and times for this boot camp will be determined based on the participant's common availability during the semester.
Session Topics
- Discuss NIH process and Specific Aims page
- Specific Aims - Peer Discussion of Aims Documents
- Significance, Innovation, and Aim #1 - Peer Discussion of Drafts
- Discuss Supporting Documents
- Mock Study Section with Peer Panel
- Responding to Reviewer Comments
- Mock Study Section with Guest Panel
- Individual Meetings to discuss Final Revisions
University-Industry Demonstration Partnerships (UIDP)
Session 6: Managing Intellectual Property (IP) Issues, Wednesday, April 25, 12-1:15 p.m. 351 IMU – Adwin Hesseltine, Senior Sponsored Research Specialist, DSP, and Marie Kerbeshian, Assistant Vice President and Executive Director, UIRF
- To watch a complete recording of this webcast, please visit https://budurl.me/cg23t (The recording will begin playing automatically. It will be available for 60 days and WILL NOT BE ONLINE after Sunday, June 24, 2018.)
Session 7: Benefiting from University-Industry Collaborations with Government Engagement, Wednesday, May 2, 12-1:15 p.m. 345 IMU – Patricia Cone-Fisher, Compliance Specialist – Export Control Coordinator, DSP
- To watch a complete recording of this webcast, please visit https://budurl.me/tyswl (The recording will begin playing automatically. It will be available for 60 days and WILL NOT BE ONLINE after Sunday, July 1, 2018.)
Contact: Aaron Kline, Research Development Coordinator, Research Development Office, 319-335-4142
Sparking New Collaborations
Topic: Opioid Ideas Lab
Topic: UIMF Speed Networking: Make the Connection!
Events
Science on Tap
Science is brewing at Hancher's Stanley Café! Science on Tap is an informal forum for UI researchers to engage the campus and the local community in a discussion of science in a fun and inviting atmosphere.
Stay tuned for details about future presentations.
Contact us
| Aaron Kline (319) 335-4142 |
Marta Gomez (319) 384-1291 |
Cheryl Ridgeway (319) 384-3332 |
