Month: October 2021

Virtual pilot short course for early career RD professionals

November 8, 2021 – December 17, 2021 • Seats are limited!

REGISTER NOW

What is research development (RD)? How is it done? Even professionals who have worked extensively with funded research and researchers throughout their careers may feel like they only understand their specific jobs and responsibilities. Because RD roles in organizations and institutions vary (and units are often siloed), it can be hard to get a full picture of RD as a field and how it fits into the research enterprise. RD101 will help you understand the field, expand your existing skill set, and explore new ways to support research at your institution.

NORDP is once again offering a pilot virtual short course, RD 101, which introduces the field of RD. This 12.5-hour course (not including readings and other coursework) presents a framework for understanding who RD professionals are, the skills that make them effective in their roles, the hows and whys of what they do, and the resources they rely on.

There are no prerequisites for RD 101; it is intended for new RD professionals (those with fewer than two years of experience in RD) or those considering becoming RD professionals. The instructors are experienced RD professionals from a range of institutions (e.g., centralized and decentralized, R1s, PUIs) and have designed the course around the skills and information they wish they’d had when they first entered the profession.

Course topics include:

  • What is RD? Who is the RD Professional?
  • Components and Elements of the RD Process—Institutional and Professional Cultures and How They Affect the Work of RD
  • RFPs and Proposals: Requirements and Constraints
  • Helping Researchers Produce Effective Proposals

In addition to the weekly meetings, you will have additional activities to contextualize yourself and your position within the RD profession. The course will help you to develop a personal career development plan.

General sessions: Mondays 1:00pm – 2:30pm ET (November 8, 15, 29, December 6 & 13)

Breakout sessions (choose one per week):

  • Thursdays 12:00pm – 1:00pm ET (November 18, December 2, 9, & 16)
  • Fridays 12:00pm – 1:00pm ET (November 12*, 19, December 3, 10, & 17)

* Two break out rooms will be hosted on Friday, November 12 to accommodate the Veteran’s Day Holiday

This pilot will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis. Please confirm that you will be able to attend ALL course meetings and one breakout session prior to registering. There will not be a waitlist. There is no charge for this pilot workshop, but registrants must be NORDP members. Future RD 101 offerings will have a registration fee. Future offerings will be announced in early 2022.

Registration is limited to 25 participants. Registration closes Tuesday, November 2, 2021.

For questions or more information, please contact Joanna.Downer@duke.edu or Faye.Farmer@asu.edu.

Registration link HERE.

Facilitators:

Paige Belisle, Harvard University – While pursuing a MFA in Writing at the University of New Hampshire, Paige Belisle discovered her career path by serving as a graduate student intern in UNH’s Research Development Office. Through NORDP, she met the members of Harvard University’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences Research Development Office and joined their team in 2016. She serves faculty members by identifying funding opportunities and providing proposal development support. Her current specialty is in providing Research Development outreach to new faculty members in the arts and humanities, as well as assembling monthly funding opportunities newsletters.

Katie Shoaf, Appalachian State University – Katie Shoaf is the Associate Director for Grants Resources and Services at Appalachian State University. She holds an M.A. and M.L.S. from Appalachian State. She has been a NORDP member since 2017 and serves on the Mentoring Committee and the Professional Development Committee. In the Office of Research at Appalachian, she administers limited submission competitions, internal competitions, and the internal peer review process. She is also charged with developing the international research process and opportunities for the Office of Research.

NORDP fosters a culture of inclusive excellence by actively promoting and supporting diversity, inclusion and equity in all its forms to expand our worldview, enrich our work, and elevate our profession.

Announcing NORDP Annual Conference 2022 Call for Abstracts

We are pleased to announce the launch of the NORDP Annual Conference 2022 Call for Abstracts. Click HERE to access the full competition in InfoReady. Thank you!

  • Internal Submission Deadline: Friday, November 19, 2021
  • Award Cycle: NORDP 2022

Abstracts are now being accepted for the 14th Annual Research Development Conference, hosted by the National Organization of Research Development Professionals (NORDP) the last week in April 2022.

Please note that the final format of the conference has yet to be finalized due to the evolving public health situation around COVID-19.

Several different conference session formats are available, as described below. Regardless of the session format, proposers should consider how their presentations and workshops will:

  • Demonstrate ways in which research development professionals support, encourage, and empower researchers to try new things—to create and mobilize knowledge, to respond to new funding mechanisms and pursue multi-disciplinary grants, or to participate in campus think-tanks or networking events.
  • Explore new approaches used in research development programs.
  • Explore creative resources for personal and career development.
  • Emphasize the innovative roles and value of research development within the broader research enterprise.
  • Contribute to strategic research planning at the institutional level.

Format Options

Workshops
FOUR HOURS / 2 to 4 presenters (recommended)
Allow participants to interactively explore a topic in-depth, led by teams of two to four facilitators (two is the minimum). Facilitators should use the long format to allow for more holistic discussion, to facilitate interactive activities, and/or to involve participants fully in the session. Audience size at these sessions is anticipated to be around 30 participants; however, facilitators can choose a size appropriate for their topic. Applicants should provide a clear rationale for the need to have four hours to accomplish the goals of the session; how they will provide intensive, interactive learning activities and/or professional development opportunities; and how they will deliver identified learning objectives and take-home materials. Preparatory and developmental coaching around adult learning will be available for all teams developing workshops, and a stipend will be provided for facilitators to compensate for the time spent developing a workshop. Applications require description of:

  1. Proposed learning objectives, workshop competencies, and/or tangible outcomes;
  2. Format, lesson plan, and curriculum overview;
  3. Learning environment and connection to inclusive excellence (i.e., description of how the facilitators will develop a positive learning environment and support NORDP’s inclusive excellence goals);
  4. Target audience(s), i.e., RD roles and positions, levels of knowledge/experience, academic disciplines, institution type;
  5. Facilitator expertise and qualifications (related to workshop content and delivering interactive sessions).

Oral Presentations
Intended for individual or group presentations, and are most effective when they address a significant overarching issue, problem, or hot topic in research development and/or showcase data, solutions, and programs from an array of institutions or perspectives. These sessions should be informational and may be accompanied by supplementary materials.

  • TWENTY-MINUTE sessions / up to 3 presenters (recommended)
  • ONE-HOUR sessions / up to 4 presenters (recommended)
  • NINETY-MINUTE sessions / up to 4 presenters (recommended). Ninety-minute sessions allow presenters to discuss a topic with more depth and interactively; proposals should therefore describe why ninety minutes are needed for the presentation.

Please avoid presenting case studies from a single institution or program; case studies are more appropriate for a poster or lightning talk.

Lightning Talks
FIVE-MINUTE presentations / 1 presenter (recommended)
A fun and fast-paced opportunity for individuals to share new and creative ideas for fostering research development. Based on Ignite (http://www.ignitetalks.io/), presentations are limited to five minutes and <20 slides. Please consider aligning with one of the following themes: Faculty Development; Interdisciplinary Research; Funding & Funders; RD Professional Development. If these do not apply, please indicate “Other.”

Lightning Storm
ONE-HOUR presentations / up 6 presenters total (recommended)
If you would like to propose a series of lightning talks (i.e., a “lightning storm”), please reach out to the conference organizers directly at rdconf@nordp.org.

Roundtables
ONE-HOUR sessions / up to 3 presenters (recommended)
A discussion focused on a specific RD issue. Roundtables encourage networking and sharing of individual experiences. Applicants should provide a description of the topic and its relevance to NORDP members and be willing to lead the discussion.

You may submit more than one abstract. Each submission should be for one type of session; if you are submitting separate/distinct abstracts, then multiple applications are required.

For each submission, please identify the audience for whom the content is targeted:

Fundamental: The session is aimed at providing knowledge and content fundamental to RD. Content may be appropriate for individuals interested in or new to RD, individuals already in RD but whose job responsibilities do not currently include the indicated topic, or those who want a refresher.

Intermediate: Content in these sessions is fundamental to RD but most relevant to individuals who have been involved in RD (or the given topic) for more than one year. This information can also be useful to individuals thinking about the next steps in their career or skills/responsibilities they want to gain.

Advanced: Content in these sessions is relevant to and aimed at individuals who already have significant skills in the given topic, who have or are working toward leadership roles in RD (including those who are “offices of one”), and/or who have an institutional leadership role or advise institutional leaders. This information can also be useful to experienced individuals thinking about their next career steps or skills/responsibilities they want to gain.

To view the full competition and submit your abstract, click here: View competition

NORDP fosters a culture of inclusive excellence by actively promoting and supporting diversity, inclusion and equity in all its forms to expand our worldview, enrich our work, and elevate our profession.

A Quick Chat about Peer Mentoring Groups (PMGs)

To all members, as we begin a new year of mentoring, the NORDP Mentoring Committee offers Peer Mentoring Groups (PMGs). The seven PMGs are formed based on the corresponding Research Development pillars and provide an ideal platform for NORDP members to network with and learn from each other. We invite you to join a PMG! PMG sign-up is currently open at Wisdom Share.

Recently Melissa Li, Program Manager, Joint Institute for Translational & Clinical Research, University of Michigan joined the Leadership & Management PMG as a co-lead. Melissa interviewed the other co-lead, Katie Shoaf, Associate Director, Grants Resources & Services, Appalachian State University, about her PMG experience.

Melissa Li (left) and Katie Shoaf (right).

Melissa: First of all, what is the scope of activities of the Leadership & Management PMG? 

Katie: We cover everything from managing up to growing an RD office, supporting career development, and navigating conflicts. Anything that the group wants to chat about is on the table. Naturally, we spent a lot of time last year debriefing about the impacts of COVID on our workplace interactions. 

Melissa: What prompted you to join the PMG? Could you share a couple of PMG highlights since you joined the group? 

Katie: I have been involved with PMGs since the beginning. I serve on the Mentoring committee and the MESHH (mentorship, expertise, support, helping hands) subgroup that developed some of the tools to support the PMGs as they got started. Mentoring is so important, and I love the atmosphere of a support group clustered around an area of passion for folks. The Leadership & Management PMG has been a great fit. I’m in a quasi-leadership role as an Associate Director, but am very interested in professional development around leadership, so it’s been great to learn from my peers in this group. I’ve developed some really amazing relationships with my PMG cohort. It’s a different vibe than other committee work and other mentoring relationships, and has allowed me to grow alongside people I greatly respect. 

Melissa: Your PMG experience sounds great. How has the experience impacted your professional work? 

Katie: As with most mentoring and NORDP-related things, I learn so much from my peers and it is all translatable into my daily work. I get ideas about how to work better with others and positively impact research culture on my campus. There are also a lot of aspirational things that we discuss in these groups that spark discussions in my own office about long-term goals for RD on our campus. 

Melissa: The PMGs are currently open for sign-up. Any words to those who are considering/debating to join? 

Katie: Do it! It has been so great to build relationships in these types of groups. We support each other, share ideas, discuss our fears and areas of growth. It is a great, low-stakes way to get involved, meet new people, and leverage your NORDP membership. 

Melissa: Thank you so much for sharing your PMG experience and encouraging notes, Katie.

An overview on PMGs is available here. PMG sign-up is currently open at Wisdom Share. See this blog for more information on signing up for PMGs this year.

Please join us for a PMG Orientation on October 21 at 2:30-3:30pm EST. The Zoom link is https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81529400705.

NROAD is on the LMS

Have a new RD colleague you need to onboard? Has a postdoc reached out to you interested in interning in your office? Are you worried about how you will help them make inroads into RD?

Fear not! 

NROAD to RD is here to help!

The NORDP Resource for Organizing and ADapting a Training Program toward Developing an RD career (N-ROAD to RD) was developed to do just that! NROAD to RD is a resource that provides RD offices with a framework to 1) develop their own training/apprenticeship/internship programs, and 2) to employ that framework to introduce, recruit, and train individuals interested in a RD careers. NROAD to RD was first developed in 2019, has been accessed by over 100 RD offices, and has been very well received, used mostly for onboarding new team members. 

NROAD can now be accessed through the NORDP Learning Management System. You can reach NROAD directly by clicking here. You will have to Register to use it.

It can also be accessed through the LMS here: click on Course Categories at the top and then on the Career and Professional Development tab.

Kimberly Patten, Assistant Vice President of Research Development at  University of Arizona was one of the first adopters of NROAD and says this about NROAD:

“At the University of Arizona we’ve been using core components of the NROAD document as part of our onboarding process. The two components that have been most beneficial are the curated reading list and the job-shadowing and mentorship component. The reading list is concise enough that it provides a nice overview of research development for our new hires, especially those that are brand new to the field. We call the job-shadowing and mentoring component co-review and frankly, that extends beyond new hires to all of our large proposal efforts. While we do try to have consistency in our review process, human nature is such that we all have areas of expertise and skill, and leveraging the experience of two research development professionals only improves the proposal for the faculty (or team). I truly believe that research development professionals need to be responsive to a number of personalities and learning styles; building a toolkit of tips and techniques that work for a variety of situations takes time to develop and is only improved when there’s the opportunity to work collaboratively with other research development professionals. It’s why I appreciate the NORDP community so much.”

We hope NROAD meets all of your internship, training and onboarding needs!

Nominations for 2022 NORDP Awards due Dec. 1

NORDP offers a number of member-nominated awards to shine a spotlight on the outstanding accomplishments of individuals making exemplary contributions to the organization as well as the profession and/or field of research development.

Each year, NORDP members are invited to submit nominations for the Innovation Award, Leadership Award, Rising Star Award, and NORDP Fellow designation. These awards honor NORDP member’s commitment to excellence and impact and recognize the contributions member-leaders make to the research development community. 

Consider nominating someone you know who is moving the needle on:

  • strategic research advancement;
  • communication of research and research opportunities;
  • enhancing research collaboration, team science, or research leadership capacity; or
  • proposal development. 

The deadline for submitting nominations for NORDP Awards to be given in 2022 is 8:00 p.m. EDT/5:00 p.m. PDT on Wednesday, December 1, 2021. Nominations must be submitted via InfoReady.

An informational webinar about the NORDP Awards process featuring an overview of award types and the nomination preparation and review processes will be held on Friday, October 29, at 2:00 p.m. EDT/11:00 a.m. PDT.

Registration is required and may be completed here. For more information about member recognitions, visit the NORDP Awards website.

NORDP fosters a culture of inclusive excellence by actively promoting and supporting diversity, inclusion and equity in all its forms to expand our worldview, enrich our work, and elevate our profession.