The Management of Metrics: Globally agreed, unique identifiers for academic staff are a step in the right direction.

The Metric Tide report calls for research managers and administrators to champion the use of responsible metrics within their institutions. Simon Kerridge looks at greater detail at specific institutional actions. Signing up to initiatives such as the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA) is a good start. Furthermore, by mandating unique and disambiguated identifiers for academic staff, like ORCID iDs, links between researchers, projects (and outputs) will become more robust

Hitting the QR sweet spot: will new REF2021 rules lead to a different kind of game-playing?

Today marks 999 days until the expected deadline for submissions to REF 2021. Universities' preparations are already well under way, with additional guidance published last autumn in the form of new REF rules designed to reduce game-playing behaviours among institutions. However, as Simon Kerridge observes, the rule changes may have introduced, or rather enhanced, some hidden dangers around universities' FTE and impact submissions. Projections in funding allocation demonstrate why submitting institutions might be given pause for thought, with the driver for excluding staff to stay below an impact case study threshold possibly even higher than last time

Is Research Management and Administration (RMA) a Profession?

With the recent launch of a new academic journal it is timely to reflect on the content and scope of the subject that the journal will serve.  JoRMA is the Journal of Research Management and Administration – but what is Research Management and Administration (RMA) and why might it deserve your attention

Electronic Research Administration Reflections on Research Management and Administration (RMA) in UK universities and in particular on Electronic Research Administration (ERA) and its perceived effect on the quality and quantity of research

Research Management and Administration (RMA) is a developing profession. Many RMA staff work in Universities and other Research Organisations, but they can also be found in agencies that fund research; in fact anywhere where research is undertaken or managed. RMA can be defined as “the leadership, management or support of research activities” and one area of endeavour that RMAs are involved with is Electronic Research Administration (ERA): “IT system(s) designed specifically to support research management or administration”. The aim of my professional doctorate is two-fold: to show my contribution to the development of RMA as a profession in the UK; and to demonstrate my practical contribution to advancing ERA systems including undertaking research to address the question: “is it perceived by RMAs and academic staff that ERA can affect the quality and quantity of research?” Over the years (1997-2011) I have been involved in and led many initiatives that have helped to shape RMA, such that it is now recognised as a profession in the UK. I chart my role in the development of RMA in the UK through the growth of the professional Association for Research Managers and Administrators (ARMA) and other related initiatives. The second strand of this doctoral work reflects on the specific ERA developments that I have introduced at the University of Sunderland; collectively known as GRS On-line. In particular it highlights how and why the various Sunderland GRS systems were initiated, developed, enhanced and sometimes superseded. Two elements of GRS On-line are discussed in detail and reflected upon as case studies: Costing & Pricing, which underwent a number of major changes; and Publications Information, which evolved in a more organic way. The impact of both areas is considered in terms of benefits and detriments to research endeavour. A mixed methods study of the perceived effects of ERA systems across the UK on the quality and quantity of research undertaken is also conducted. This report presents the results of the Sunderland case studies which are complemented by the analysis of a series of national questionnaires looking at the perceptions of research managers and administrators, and academic staff regarding ERA systems. From the evidence presented it is shown that both RMA and ERA are perceived to have a positive impact on both the quality and quantity of research undertaken. Furthermore, the evidence base for the value of research management and administration as a profession is advanced; not only for individual RMAs, but also to the research community as a whole

Open Access and the REF: Issues and Potential Solutions Workshop

This report provides a summary of the discussion and findings of the Open Access and the REF: Issues and Potential Solutions workshop held as part of the End-to-End Project. The workshop was highly interactive and feedback received indicated it was considered an excellent event, and that it was vital and useful to bring together various key stakeholders to discuss problems and procedures and develop ideas

Open Access and the REF: Issues and Potential Solutions Workshop: Executive Summary

This report provides a summary of the discussion and findings of the Open Access and the REF: Issues and Potential Solutions workshop held as part of the End-to-End Project. The workshop was highly interactive and feedback received indicated it was considered an excellent event, and that it was vital and useful to bring together various key stakeholders to discuss problems and procedures and develop ideas

Who are the professionals at the interface of science working at research funding, science policy making, and similar organisations?

The scientific endeavour involves not only those working in research performing organisations-but also those in science funding, policy making, and think tank organisations, among others. The workforce in all these entities is composed of researchers, policy decision makers, managers, administrators, technicians, and other supporting staff. Within this community, professionals working at the interface of science (PIoSs) can be defined as those working in the research management and administration (RMA) domain, including varied areas such as science strategy and policy support, research funding procurement, project management, facilities management, communication and dissemination, knowledge and technology transfer, valorisation and impact, and related areas. Researchers have been often studied, namely regarding their job satisfaction, entrepreneurial spirit, and migration patterns. However, the PIoS community has seldom been studied, with only a few reports existing, for example on their profile and roles. Specifically, the PIoS community working at non-research performing organisations has not been explicitly addressed in the literature. This paper reports on the results of an ongoing project aimed at studying the profiles, roles, and functions of PIoSs working at organisations such as research funders, policy makers, and think tanks. The corresponding specificities of these professionals are highlighted and their involvement in professional associations is addressed. It is argued that they are intrinsically part of the wider PIoS (often called RMA) profession and that their full engagement in this community would benefit these individuals and the research and innovation ecosystem at large.José Santos is grateful to the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT, Portugal) for financial support through national funds FCT/MCTES (PIDDAC) to CIMO (UIDB/00690/2020 and UIDP/00690/2020) and SusTEC (LA/P/0007/2021).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A Framework for Agreeing Standard Terminology

This document outlines a process that can be followed to reach agreement on standard terminology for a community or topic

The research administration as a profession (RAAAP) survey

Oliveira, C., Fischer, M., Kerridge, S., & Dutta, M. (2023). The research administration as a profession (RAAAP) survey. In S. Kerridge, S. Poli, & M. Yang-Yoshihara (Eds.), The Emerald Handbook of Research Management and Administration Around the World (pp. 113-123). Emerald Group Publishing Ltd.. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-80382-701-820231011 --- We would like to thank the thousands of research managers and administrators around the world who took the time to complete the survey. In particular the authors would like to acknowledge the various RAAAP-3 champions and their respective associations in INORMS and beyond for disseminating and promoting the survey.In this chapter, we look at survey responses from the third Research Administration as a Profession Survey (RAAAP-3) conducted in 2022. We examine some demographic attributes of Research Managers and Administrators (RMAs) such as gender identity, age when entering the profession, age in the current role, and other personal characteristics such as birth country and current country of employment. We also explore the types of institutions where RMAs are employed, the type of work they do, their highest academic qualifications, whether they obtained professional accreditations, and their affiliation with any RMA professional associations. Each topic is investigated both globally and by geographic region to highlight similarities and differences. Overall we find the profession to be global, female-dominated, highly academically qualified, and mainly working in the higher education sector.publishersversionpublishe