Month: March 2017

#NORDP2017 starts Monday, May 8 in Denver, CO. Keep checking back here at the blog and on our Twitter feed (@NORDP_official) for live conference updates. Register here: http://www.nordp.org/conferences.
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A Research Development Professional’s Guide to Community-Engaged Research

Have you wondered what you need to know to assist faculty with engaging the community and developing competitive proposals that include community engaged research?

Have you been approached by a researcher who needs to include community input on a grant proposal but has no idea where to start to engage the community?

Do you wonder if your institution has the necessary expertise and infrastructure to support community – engaged research?

The 2017 NORDP Pre-Conference Workshop entitled:  “A Research Development Professional’s Guide to Community-Engaged Research” will provide research development professionals (RDPs) with an opportunity to increase their working knowledge about community engaged (CE) research.  Presenters will focus on five community engaged research topics including: partnerships, budgets, resources/tools, training and institutional considerations.  A pre-conference survey will assess CE research knowledge, perceptions, and current activities and will help shape workshop content. A collective SWOT analysis will frame CE research from a RDP perspective, highlighting areas where RDPs can make significant contributions and where furture professional development opportunities could be most beneficial.   Case studies will illustrate examples of community engaged research and resources / tools that facilitate community engaged research and community engagement.

About the Facilitators:

Tiffany L. Israel, MSSW, is the Translational Research Coordinator/Community Navigator for the Vanderbilt Institute for Clinical and Translational Research.  In this role, she manages the implementation of the Community Engagement Studio model, a forum for community members to better inform research practices.  She serves as a co-instructor for the Vanderbilt Medical School and supports the development of community engaged research by conducting institutional seminars and guest lectures on best practices for partnering with community to improve the field of research.  Prior to joining Vanderbilt, Ms. Israel, a trained facilitator, gained more than 15 years of experience working in and with the Nashville community most recently as the Director of Programs and Resource Development for the Neighborhoods Resource Center and the Associate Executive Director for St. Luke’s Community House.

Ms. Israel has a Master’s degree in Social Work and Community Practice from the University of Tennessee and a Bachelors of Social Work from Middle Tennessee State University.

Yvonne Joosten, MPH, has an extensive background in population and community health, with expertise in community and patient engagement, community outreach, community development and building academic-community research partnerships. As the executive director of the Office for Community Engagement in the Vanderbilt Institute for Medicine and Public Health she provides input on the institution’s community and public health strategic initiatives related to education, research, outreach and service. Since its inception in 2007, Ms. Joosten has led the creation and management of the Meharry-Vanderbilt Community Engaged Research Core, part of the Vanderbilt Institute for Clinical and Translational Research. She has overseen the creation and implementation of infrastructure and resources to support the planning and implementation of robust community engaged research and mutually-beneficial, sustainable academic-community research partnerships. Ms. Joosten’s work in the academic setting is informed by over 30 years of experience with community based providers and advocacy organizations that serve diverse populations impacted by health disparities. She maintains strong relationships with local community leaders and has developed an extensive network of academic partners, resulting in a unique ability to effectively broker academic-community research partnerships.

Ms. Joosten has a Master’s Degree in Public Health from the University of Tennessee Knoxville and a Bachelor’s in Anthropology from Prescott College in Prescott, Arizona.

Kim Littlefield, Ph.D., currently serves as the Assistant Vice President for Research Development and Learning (http://www.southalabama.edu/departments/research/rdl/) at the University of South Alabama (USA).  In addition to the other responsibilities of this role, Dr. Littlefield facilitates the creation of collaborative research partnerships.  She is a Co-Investigator on USA’s Translational Research Services Center (TRSC) award, which established USA as a partner institution in the eleven member partner network associated with the University of Alabama at Birmingham CTSA award – the Center for Clinical and Translational Science (CCTS).  As a Co-Investigator on the TRSC project, Dr. Littlefield serves on the national CTSA Collaboration / Engagement Domain Task Force and on the Metrics/Evaluation working group.  In this role, her partnership building efforts have gravitated towards local and regional community engaged research activities.  As a university administrator, Dr. Littlefield’s community engagement research partnership building activities focus on developing institutional infrastructure to connect community and academic partners and showcase community-academic partnerships and projects in searchable, dynamic, and real-time ways.  Dr.  Littlefield’s goals for future community engaged research work include finding creative ways to translate university compliance infrastructure to the community, including human subjects training, IRB review, and grants management capabilities.  She brings an institutional perspective to the evolving discussion about how research development professionals can best apply their expertise and resources to facilitate community engaged research activities.

Click HERE for full information and to register.

Stay tuned for more workshop previews! In the meantime, you can see full descriptions of each workshop HERE.

Each workshop takes an interactive, hands-on approach, introducing new tools, techniques and training to incorporate these tools into your research development activities. Workshops will also provide opportunities for networking through small group discussion and interaction.

Workshop sizes are limited, so please register early. For questions or additional information, please contact Kari Whittenberger-Keith. We hope you to see you in the workshops!

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We hope to see you at the 2017 NORDP Research Development Conference, which will be held May 8-10 in Denver, CO. For more information about the conference program or to register, visit http://www.nordp.org/conferences. Follow @NORDP_official on Twitter for all the latest #NORDP2017 updates.

#NORDP2017 starts Monday, May 8 in Denver, CO. Keep checking back here at the blog and on our Twitter feed (@NORDP_official) for live conference updates. Register here: http://www.nordp.org/conferences.
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Who: Kimberly Eck, Director of Research Development
Where: University of Tennessee
Number of years in research development: 8
Length of NORDP membership: 2
Number of NORDP conferences attended: 2
How do you unwind? Taking my Boston Terriers for a walk.

As a first-generation college student, I would have never predicted that I would one day have a PhD and be serving as an administrator in an institution of higher education. Like many research development professionals, my understanding of and career in research development have evolved greatly since I started. I am thrilled to share more about my background and the value I found in NORDP.

I started working in research development in 2009 when I joined a small consulting firm whose clients came from the health care and public health arena. I was able to leverage my academic background (my PhD is in epidemiology) while working with diverse clients from federally-qualified health centers, to state departments of health, to multi-hospital health systems. It was an intensive introduction to grants, federal funding, and more.

In 2013, I joined the Research Foundation for the State University of New York (SUNY). I worked across all disciplines and with even more funders. I was excited to work outside of my comfort zone. As a part of this role, I convened and actively participated in faculty-led workshops and other meetings.

During one of these workshops, a guest speaker – Michael O’Rourke – scribbled five letters on a piece of scrap paper. He handed it to me and asked, “Do these letters mean anything to you?” “N-O-R-D-P,” I read. No, they didn’t. Of course, I quickly googled NORDP and was ecstatic to find this fantastic group of research development. Finally, I found my people!

I attended my first Annual NORDP Conference in 2014. It was incredible! Everyone I met was genuinely interested in learning, sharing, and advancing and legitimizing the field of research development. I had never felt so welcomed by a professional organization before. I started the conference knowing 1 person and left the conference with meaningful contacts at more than 30 institutions. My 2015 conference experience was even better.

Now as the Director of Research Development at the University of Tennessee, I’ve encouraged my team and others to attend the 2017 Annual NORDP Conference. I am most excited to share early results from a research project sanctioned by the NORDP Board of Directors to characterize the field of research development. (Be on the lookout for our brief survey!)

If you are new to research development or to NORDP, my advice is to join the group dinners and breakfast discussions. You never know who you’ll meet. Just make sure to bring extra business cards!

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We hope to see you at the 2017 NORDP Research Development Conference, which will be held May 8-10 in Denver, CO. For more information about the conference program or to register, visit http://www.nordp.org/conferences. Follow @NORDP_official on Twitter for all the latest #NORDP2017 updates.

If you’d like to be featured in a Conference Cameo, let us know at rdconf@nordp.org. 

#NORDP2017 starts Monday, May 8 in Denver, CO. Keep checking back here at the blog and on our Twitter feed (@NORDP_official) for live conference updates. Register here: http://www.nordp.org/conferences.
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Crowdfunding and Social Media: New Paths to Raise Funds and Visibility for Research

As traditional sources of research funding become more and more competitive, faculty members are seeking new ways of raising funds for their projects. Scholars and universities alike have become interested in harnessing the crowd to raise both funding and visibility for their initiatives. But it is difficult to know where to start in this uncharted terrain! Participants in this workshop will learn how to develop and run a crowdfunding campaign for academic research, and will learn the mechanics and skills necessary to teach faculty this emerging form of research funding.

About the Facilitators:

Jai Ranganathan

Jai is a Senior Fellow at the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, UC Santa Barbara, and Director of #SciFund Challenge, a nonprofit organization that empowers scientists to shrink the gap between science and society. He has taught classes on research engagement and crowdfunding, outreach, academic poster design, video production, and social media for scientists at universities and colleges across the country.

Barbara Louise Endemaño Walker

Barbara has been the Director of Research Development for the Social Sciences at the University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB) since 2007. She is responsible for catalyzing research innovation and excellence among social scientists and interdisciplinary teams, as well as strategic planning for campus diversity initiatives. She is also the co-author of a forthcoming book from Routledge Press on strategic research proposal writing for the humanities and social sciences.

Click HERE for full information and to register.

Stay tuned for more workshop previews! In the meantime, you can see full descriptions of each workshop HERE.

Each workshop takes an interactive, hands-on approach, introducing new tools, techniques and training to incorporate these tools into your research development activities. Workshops will also provide opportunities for networking through small group discussion and interaction.

Workshop sizes are limited, so please register early. For questions or additional information, please contact Kari Whittenberger-Keith. We hope you to see you in the workshops!

_______________________________________________________

We hope to see you at the 2017 NORDP Research Development Conference, which will be held May 8-10 in Denver, CO. For more information about the conference program or to register, visit http://www.nordp.org/conferences. Follow @NORDP_official on Twitter for all the latest #NORDP2017 updates.