The ARMA Induction Workshop: An introduction to research administration

Aston Conference Centre, Birmingham

29/30th September 2011

Target Audience

This annual two-day workshop is aimed at Research Administrators who will probably have a maximum of one year's experience in university research centres/institutes or central offices, or in the NHS, or in the offices of funders of research.

Programme content

The programme covers the policy environment (including people issues and ethics and integrity), pre-award areas (funding sources and information, costing and pricing, project planning), post-award areas (contracts, project management), and reach-out and exploitation. It is deliberately structured to cover the full research life-cycle, and is relevant to research administrators in all areas because it gives an overview of research administration, rather than focusing on a single area such as pre or post-award.

Participants will complete the workshop with a clearer understanding of the relevant policy, legislative and funding frameworks, research governance issues, and the sources of funding available for research.

Approach

The course is intensive and sessions include a mixture of formal presentations, discussions and group activities. Course members will be encouraged to learn from each other as well as from course leaders, and there will be ample opportunity for informal discussions and interchanges of information.

Objectives

to equip participants with the basic 'body of knowledge' covering a variety of areas of research administration;
to give participants a good overview of the core elements of research administration, including those elements in which they are not directly involved;
to enable participants with more experience to consolidate knowledge gained to date, and develop an understanding of the links between different elements of professional practice
to allow participants to consider their current role and how it might develop in the future;
to provide participants with an opportunity to meet other members of the profession and extend their professional networks.

Course team:

Juliet Bailey, University of Leicester

Stephen Conway, University of Oxford

Marie Garnett, Professional Development Framework Manager, ARMA

Jill Golightly, Newcastle University

Peter Hedges, University of Warwick

Simon Kerridge, University of Sunderland

Sue Mitchell, Newcastle University

Pauline Muya, Birkbeck College, University of London

Programme
Price
Venue
Travel
Queries
Booking

Programme

Day 1: Thursday 29 September
08.30	Coffee and Registration
09.15	Welcome and introduction: The Professional Context and the Organisation of Research Jill Golightly and Marie Garnett The opening session will address two areas: what is research, and what is research administration. It will consider the Frascati definition of research, some reasons for undertaking research (including economic benefit and improving quality of life) and who carries out research and in what organisations. It will then consider the nature of research administration - who we are, what we do and where we come from, and look at some typical ways of organising research administration functions. Participants will have an opportunity in small groups to compare their workplaces and their roles. This session will also consider the skills required to be an effective research administrator.
10.30	Coffee
11.00	Research Policy and Funding Jill Golightly This session will look at the organisational context for research, especially the national funding environment. Particular attention will be paid to the dual support system and the funding of research.
11.45	The Research Excellence Framework (REF) Simon Kerridge This session follows on from the previous one and will provide details of the forthcoming REF. It will provide a background to research assessment, details of the REF itself, the new impact requirements and will provide an insight from a REF Panel Secretary as to the work of panels.
13.00	Lunch
14.00	Funding and Development Sue Mitchell The focus of this session is the funding of individual research projects. We will give an overview of the main groups of funders and the types of research they prefer to fund. Time will also be given to a discussion of funding information systems, both the commercial systems that are available, and the internal systems used to disseminate information effectively.
15.30	Tea
16.00- 17.00	HR Issues in Research Sue Mitchell The success of research activity is dependent on the people undertaking research, whether they be graduate students, research assistants, early career researchers, newly established independent researchers or current or future research stars. An understanding of some of the key 'people issues' in research is essential for research administrators and ths session provides an overview of issues affecting graduate students, research staff and investigators.
19.00	Dinner at 20:00 at the Conference Centre and informal networking
Day 2: Friday 30 September
9.00	Costing and Pricing Pauline Muya This session will provide an introduction to financial matters with particular reference to building a project budget on a Full Economic Costing basis. there will be a practical costing exercise as well as consideration of the different costing systems available to assist with this process.
10.30	Coffee
11.00	Research Contracts Stephen Conway This session provides a basic understanding of the issues relating to research contracts, giving an overview of the key elements of a research contract and the use of standard agreements.
12.00	Research Exploitation Juliet Bailey As a research project reaches its conclusion, there is work to be done in disseminating and exploiting its findings, and it is critically important to manage the research organisation's intellectual property well. This session will introduce a range of exploitation activities and will provide a brief introduction to intellectual property issues.
13.00	Lunch
14.00	Project Management: finances, systems and workloads Juliet Bailey This session covers a number of key areas in the management of successful research projects: financial management of projects and systems and data management for research administration.
15.00	Afternoon Tea
15.15	Research Integrity: Ethics & Governance Peter Hedges This session will look at the increasing importance of having good Research Governance practices and procedures in place within institutions that undertake research and how they are implemented in practice. Research Governance in this context will cover ethics, research integrity and quality assurance of all research (both funded and unfunded). The session considers the principles of research ethics, the policy and regulatory environment and the implementation of policies and procedures in managing research ethics in universities, in particular the role of university research ethics committees and the role of the administrator in relation to such committees.
16.30	Review Jill Golightly This final session provides an opportunity to identify what has been learned and how it can be applied in the workplace. We will also present information about future training and support opportunities available to participants.
17.00	Close

Price

	Member	Non-member
29-30September non-residential	£465	£534

Prices include morning coffee, lunch and afternoon tea on each day of the workshop, dinner on evening of 29th September and a full conference pack. Course fees do not include overnight accommodation, which should be booked directly with the conference centre (please see below).

The higher rate for non-members will include annual membership of ARMA for the period until 31st March 2012. For tax reasons, ARMA events are open to members only. If you are not yet a member, you will be able to join in the course of making your booking. If you are already a member, you will be required to use your membership number when booking.

Venue and Travel

The Conference Centre is located on the green, self-contained campus of Aston University in Birmingham city centre. Whether you are travelling by road, rail or air, all major transport links are just minutes away. New Street, Snow Hill and Moor Street train stations are just minutes away. There are also a number of pay and display car parks just minutes from the venue (the closest is Millenium Point). For map/directions please click here.

Aston Conference Centre offers 160 luxurious ensuite bedrooms, catering for a variety of budgets. All bedrooms offer colour TV, ensuite shower or bathroom, tea/coffee facilities and free internet access. Room service is avaialble for residential guests until 9 p.m., Sunday to Thursday. Click here for full details. To make your reservation, please telephone 0121 204 3011.

Sports and leisure facilities are currently undergoing expansion and refurbishment but are due to re-open in August 2011.

Queries

The contact for general queries is Anne Roker. For queries related to course content, please contact Jill Golightly.

Booking

Booking is open now. This workshop is extremely popular and demand for places is always high, so early booking is recommended.

ARMA reserves the right to limit the number of participants from any one institution. If you wish to make a large number of bookings, please contact the ARMA Office before doing so.

Terms & Conditions of booking

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