Early Career Research Managers (ECRM) often enter the Research Management (RM) sphere without previous knowledge of the processes and actions involved in the Grant Management (GM) function. This collaborative project seeks to develop practical tools and resources in Research Management for (ECRMs) with a focus on GM, both pre- and post- award, as an essential function within a Research Office. It will increase knowledge and capacity in this function and strengthen cultural understanding and collaborations between UK and African universities. Access to this toolkit will build the capacity of ECRMs. The online toolkit will provide ECRMs with guidance on the support required by researchers when they apply for national and international grants. It will include online resources, guidelines, practical tools and learning offerings (such as workshops, webinars and/or podcasts) around key areas of support throughout the pre-award and post-award processes. 

Our team will focus on the effective communication of research outcomes to lay audiences, specifically focussing on policy makers, and engagement with industry.  We will create resources for academics, research managers and other university colleagues that will support them to communicate research out to non-academic audiences. We believe that the effective communication of research will increase dialogue with key stakeholders, such as policy makers, funders and industry.  It will also help to demystify research activity to local communities and lay audiences. The project builds on work already carried out by the University of Nairobi and EARIMA on their policy brief platform.
 

The purpose of this project is to encourage and improve the shared language, process and resource use of pre-award services between UK and Zimbabwean institutions to ensure that our dialogues are more equitable, effective, and efficient. Language is a foundation for effective communication so our project will develop a matrix of pre-award terminology, best practice guidance for implementing monitoring of pre-award terms and the recommendations on software to undertake these activities. It will allow institutions to better engage other research offices for ongoing research applications and encourage stronger relationships between research managers. Having knowledge of applications within and across Zimbabwean universities and their devolved units will allow managers to make connections between potential collaborators and communicate them easily with UK partners. In delivering this project, our team will engage with UK and Zimbabwean universities, research management associations and funders to connect the language of research development across our networks.

Research Managers and Administrators play an important role in facilitating global health research. There is however a significant gap in their professional development to meet the demands of the dynamic research environment. Limited training and collaboration opportunities impacts their professional development and career trajectory. Tailored capacity building and structured collaboration opportunities are needed to address this gap. This joint project aims to develop a competencies tool-kit using a human centred design approach in the respective institutions. The team will work collaboratively, exchanging knowledge, experiences and best practice to put together information and resources for selected competencies and provide guidance on pathways to acquire the recommended competencies. The tool-kit will be a resourceful reference and learning source for research managers and administrators to find information on various competencies that are needed to be an effective manager.

The SANTHE-GCRF GROW team will develop and run five workshops hosted at the University of Leeds and the Africa Health Research Institute and/or the Botswana-Harvard AIDS Institute Partnership covering the research grant lifetime from design to postimplementation. The workshops will examine:

• Similarities and Differences in the Research Funding Landscape: Case study of the UK versus Southern Africa – 
• Designing a Lasting and Equitable Research Legacy: - 
• Pre-Award Project Design and Post-Award Implementation: Case studies of programme design pitfalls 
• Collaborative implementation, reporting and close-out – 
• Measuring the Impact of Staff Secondments and Tracking Skills Development 

We will invite 30-50 participants from our respective institutions, programmes and funding cohorts. The aim is for this cohort to engage in all five workshops, sharing knowledge and best practice in the above areas and forming the basis of an international network of research managers that will go beyond the IRMSDP initiative.
 

By bringing together research development and research management expertise this project will address the barriers to conducting north-south and south-south collaborations. Recognising the operational and infrastructural challenges faced by research managers and administrators (RMAs), it will develop their capacity to build and deliver research partnerships professionally and fairly across countries and continents. Primarily focused on competency-based training and resource/best practices identification and development for African RMAs it also targets donor country RMAs, where a better understanding of the local context in which their partners operate is vital in order to strengthen collaboration and impact. Short term outcomes include a knowledge/skills gap scoping study, a staff visit module/framework, a virtual knowledge exchange workshop and a draft training curriculum. Through further development of e.g. curricula, shared resources, improved networks, increased institutional knowledge and evidence-based practices, this will enable the longer-term impact of increased capacity of African institutions to sustainably deliver research programmes