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

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

Rapid and simple comparison of messenger RNA levels using real-time PCR

Real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) constitutes a significant improvement over traditional end-point PCR, as it allows the quantification of starting amounts of nucleic acid templates, in real-time. However, quantification requires validation through numerous internal controls and standard curves. We describe in this paper a simple protocol which uses real-time PCR to compare mRNA levels of a gene of interest between different experimental conditions. Comparative real-time PCR can be a relatively low-cost method and does not require sequence-specific fluorescent reporters. Moreover, several genes from a set of experiments can be assessed in a single run. Thus, in addition to providing a comparative profile for the expression of a gene of interest, this method can also provide information regarding the relative abundance of different mRNA species

Research Information Management System (KRIMSON) at Kent

This paper is a case study describing the implementation of an integrated research information system (CRIS), using the Converis v5 system, at the University of Kent, branded locally as KRIMSON – Kent Research and Innovation System Online. It reflects on the lessons learned for the implementation as a whole, and, in particular, the experiences with the various integrations and interfaces that were developed to other existing University IT systems: user authentication, HR, Finance, Institutional Repository, and the, student records system

Research Administration around the World

The purpose of the Research Administration as a Profession (RAAAP) project was to obtain a snapshot of the research management and administration (RMA) profession around the world. This included collecting basic demographics, which is the focus of this paper. Here, we present the results of a worldwide survey of RMAs conducted in 2016. We compare and contrast the demographics of RMAs across different regions of the world. Findings from previous national surveys, such as those by Roberts & House (2005), and Shambrook et al (2015), are upheld and expanded in an international context—for example, that the profession is predominantly female. In addition, a high level of academic attainment is also reported, in line with findings from D’Agostino et al. (1991). There are some significant differences in responses between regions of the world which reflect the differential maturity of the profession. For example, the U.S. has by far the highest number of respondents with over 20 years’ experience in research administration as compared to the other regions. The reasons for joining and staying in the profession are also explored, with positives including working with faculty, the challenging work, and the fun. The extensive datasets are not fully explored in this paper and others are invited to use them for their own research and analyses. Overall, we conclude that research administration is becoming a global profession and argue that in some regions it is more advanced than in others, as reflected in the composition of the workforce and the availability and uptake of certification