[Occasionally, we like to revisit posts from days gone by that either (1) are always relevant, or (2) are the subject of recent questions received by our office.  In today's From The Vault, we look at the issues concerning ownership of materials produced during a research project.]

Originally published January 9, 2013

Don’t forget to visit NCURA’s YouTube page for even more instructional and helpful videos!

In one of the more landmark decisions in recent memory, the Supreme Court held that your genes belong to you and no one else.

The potential impact of MOOCs expands to a faculty member’s intellectual property.

NIH has released an updated fact sheet concerning the impact of sequestration.

[Occasionally, we like to revisit posts from days gone by that either (1) are always relevant, or (2) are the subject of recent questions received by our office.  In today's From The Vault, we look at the Fundamental Research Exclusion.]

Originally published October 3, 2012

In case you missed them, check out Part One and Part Two.

Julie attended NCURA as a representative of NCURA’s sister society in Australia called the Australasian Research Management Society (ARMS). Julie has been an active member of ARMS for over 5 years and was the Convenor of the ARMS national conference in 2011. Julie’s attendance at NCURA was two-fold.  First, it was focused on understanding the finer details of NCURA in terms of their professional development, publications, conference management and member marketing initiatives and reporting this back to ARMS. Secondly, it was to learn further knowledge about the US research management system and take this knowledge back to her workplace at the University of New South Wales. Attending NCURA was extremely insightful and was a great career opportunity that she hopes can be reciprocated with more NCURA members attending the national ARMS conference in Australia.

Sue originally started life as a research scientist but saw the light and moved into a career in research administration. Having spent 5.5 years as a grant-maker managing the National Research Program of the charity the Leukaemia Foundation of Australia, she moved into the university sector two years ago when she commenced at the University of Queensland. As Manager of the Sponsored Research (Health and Biomedical Initiatives) team in the central research administration of the University of Queensland, NCURA was a brilliant opportunity to learn as much as possible about the NIH. It was excellent to attend sessions where other ‘foreign’ institutions shared their experience of administering NIH grants, in particular the new FCOI regulations. The post-conference NIH workshop was a terrific way to get a very practical overview of how the NIH works from application to post award, and she would highly recommend this to anyone embarking on NIH programs in their institution. The University of Queensland has had small but steady success in both lead and sub-award grants from the NIH, but, as a result of NCURA, Sue is now working with her team to present seminars across campus to educate researchers in the mysteries of the NIH system and to encourage more collaborations with US institutions to improve success rates for future applications.

Bryony, having attending the 50^th NCURA annual meeting in 2008 when then working at the Australian National University, was eager to attend the meeting, focusing on the Senior Management and International sessions. Bryony’s attendance was part of a Cornelius Regan Trust Award and followed her visits to University of British Columbia (UBC), University of Washington in St Louis, and Vanderbilt University to examine university research strategy and best practices in research administration, particularly in medical and health research. NCURA provided a wonderful opportunity to catch up with people she met at these institutions and further discuss common issues; it also got her hooked on NCURA’s You Tube Tuesday.

To wrap up, sometimes we may use different words but we still speak the same language. For example, the term ‘Faculty’ in America refers to academic staff but in Australia it refers to a discipline, i.e. “There are 600 researchers in the Faculty of Medicine”. We have Chief Investigators, you have Principal Investigators. You have sub-awards and we have sub-contracts. This can be confusing in conversation but we get there eventually!

Every so often, we think it’s a good idea to inform our new readers (and remind our existing followers) of just who we are and what we hope to accomplish.  So, without further ado. . .

First, the “we” is the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (SPH), and specifically the Office of Research Administration (ORA).  Most of our visitors know what we do, but for the benefit of those who ended up here looking for a particular Dreamworks character – We are the administrative end for all of SPH’s research grants and contracts.  What that means is that, if they want money to focus on a particular project, a researcher will invariably have to utilize the resources of our office to procure the funds.  Not surprisingly, our personnel perform numerous tasks on behalf of the School and its faculty, and in the past two years you’ve been treated to scribblings and policies related to our efforts.

As you can already tell, these scribblings cover a wide variety of topics, from grant-related concerns to contractual tips, to upcoming events hosted by our office and our colleagues. While we obviously focus first on assisting our Hopkins brethren, the substantive issues discussed are likely similar to those encountered by ORAs spanning the country.  Consequently, we hope that this blog will, at least in part, help to facilitate discussions amongst institutions that perhaps wouldn’t ordinarily communicate.

That, ultimately, is our goal moving forward.  Yes, this will serve as a one-way conduit of certain pieces of information, but we’re hopeful that it will largely provide a forum for the exchange of questions, answers and ideas. We encourage you to leave comments, and to reach out to us and others through our Facebook page and Twitter feed.  In the end, our primary aim as research institutions is to ensure that the work of our PIs is disseminated as widely as possible, so the more we can all help each other accomplish our goals the better!

So. . .we hope you stick around and contribute, not just here but through our other social media outlets.  We figure that you’ll be able to find something interesting and engaging from among our various platforms, but we’re not above shamelessly catering the whims of our constituents.  To that end, if you have questions, suggestions, concerns, or even simply want to acknowledge our presence, please don’t ever hesitate to an email to admin@bloggingora.com.

Additionally, if you’re interested in contributing to our corner of the internet universe, we would love to feature you as a guest blogger! Contact our main email address (admin@bloggingora.com) or Mary Marcenelle (mmarcene@jhsph.edu) for information on how to get published.

We’re glad you found us, so click around, take advantage of our search function and category listings and stay awhile!

In case you missed it, check out Part One.

Part Two of Three

In the United States, there are over 1800 private and 600 public universities. Comparatively in Australia, there are only 5 private and 37 public universities. All Australian universities function as both teaching and research institutions. It took us a while at NCURA to work out what a PUI was!  (Ed. It stands for Predominantly Undergraduate Institution.)

Like the USA, Australia has two major government funding organisations – the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), which is similar to the NIH, and the Australian Research Council (ARC), which is similar to the NSF.  Also like the US, according to NIH, both our national funding systems have an overall success rate of a mere 18% when it comes to grant funding from our national funding bodies. Despite this relatively low success rate, an enormous effort goes into the preparation and submission of applications to funding bodies by both researchers and research administrators, regardless of their institutions. In different ways, all three of us were interested in, and curious to share and learn from, the large wealth of knowledge and information generously shared by the speakers and those attending the conference – particularly when it came to navigating the US system for applying for grants.

In different ways, all three of us were interested in, and curious to share and learn from, the large wealth of knowledge and information generously shared by the speakers and those attending the annual meeting – particularly when it came to navigating the US system for applying for grants.  A highlight for all three of us was the workshop by David Mayo and David Richardson, entitled “Introduction to Working with US Sponsors and Institutions.” The three of us had each came to the conference with different aims and perspectives and walked away with a wealth of information and opportunities for collaboration.

Overall, NCURA provided us an opportunity to better understand international issues surrounding research administration – from best practices in pre and post award to human capital.  The annual meeting also provided us with different environments to learn and network; from chatting over breakfast, to workshops, to specialised streams of presentations to the international dinner and the regional hospitality suites!

[Stay Tuned For Part Three!]

Social Media has added another avenue by which faculty may measure the impact of their research.

NIH has published a great resource for faculty and administrators alike entitled “Ten Steps to a Winning R01 Application.”

And they’re moving closer to electronic submission of multi-project applications, too.

Bob Dylan would be proud. . .finally, a way to eat that allows your hands to continue working on that last-minute grant proposal.

With the arrival of this fantastic weather, we can now pack up our winter-wear and spend our weekends lounging by the pool, taking out the boat, and sitting OUTSIDE at all of our favorite lunch spots. Nothing is better than ending the week knowing you will get to spend some quality time outdoors. However, with the sweet, sweet summertime comes something we all fear- the dreaded sunburn.

Most of us find that summer has arrived only after we feel the hot sting and tightness of the never-forgiving sunburn. So, as part of the School of Public Health, we feel that it’s necessary to remind everyone that it’s better to be safe than sorry. Whether you’re walking home from work, taking a long drive, or enjoying a beverage on your deck, put on sunscreen! More importantly, use sunscreen properly and be sure to pick the right kind. You don’t want to end up like these folks:

Have a wonderful (and safe) Weekend!

Part One of Three

A small contingent of Australians attended the National Council of University Research Administrators (NCURA) annual meeting in Washington, DC, in November 2012.  Though we have all worked in research management for some time, the three of us had not previously met, as we all reside in different states along the east coast, working in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria. Not only was NCURA a great platform to meet fellow Australians and international colleagues, but it also sparked many a conversation regarding the similarities and differences between Australia and the USA – in both everyday life and our working lives.  Consequently, we thought being guest bloggers for JHSPH would be a great way to share our Aussie perspective.

We’ll start with the similarities:  The USA and Australia have roughly the same land size; are both English speaking nations; use the term ‘$’ for currency; are democratic nations with multi-cultural populations; have major resources in agriculture and mining; and have numerous plants and animals that are unique to our nations. And, both were once settled by the English and used to exile convicts from England!

Then there are the differences, some minor, some more significant:  In Australia, we drive on the left hand side of the road (which we say is the ‘right’ side!) and use the metric rather than imperial measuring system. The US is a republic whilst Australia is a constitutional monarchy, and voting is compulsory in all Australian local, state & federal elections. Whilst our countries are roughly the same size, our populations are dramatically different. In America, there are over 313 million people, in Australia a mere 23 million people – that’s around the population of the State of New York! Due to our geographic locations in opposing hemispheres, we have opposite seasons. And, unlike in the USA, Australians for the most part reside in coastal regions with vast tracts of the ‘centre’ (as we call it) almost completely uninhabited.

Despite these differences, we share much mutual ground in our working lives in the higher education sector, as we found out at NCURA. We each take pride in our higher education systems and have equivalent national funding streams (though very different independent funding streams). Both nations also produce world class researchers and research. And behind the scenes at our Universities is ‘us,’ the research administrators.

As research administrators in both countries, we are all seeking to achieve the same outcomes: best practice in pre and post award administration, strong governance and integrity in policies and procedures, accurate financial and government reporting, adherence to legal and ethical requirements and of course, whole-heartedly supporting and promoting our researchers and their research.

[Stay Tuned For Parts Two And Three!]