Grants Symposium Offers Professional Tips

Dr. Christy Ahn, research administration program director for Dr. Victor J. Dzau's cardiology research laboratory, walked into the newcomer's breakfast at Duke's Symposium for Research Administrators and immediately began to make connections.

Walking up to the resource tables, she glanced at the name tag of Steven Abels, research administration manager in Duke's Office of Research Support.

 "Oh, I know your name," she said with a grin. "I think I'll have a bunch of questions for you soon."

Ahn had plenty more opportunities to connect names and faces and get to know her peers during the free, day-long symposium on May 11. More than 400 employees who administer grants at Duke attended the session to learn tips and tricks about grant administration from each other. Duke employs more than 1,000 grant managers - individuals who support faculty researchers in submitting proposals and managing sponsored program awards. 

The symposium, sponsored by Duke's Research Administration Continuous Improvement (RACI) initiative, began with opening remarks from President Richard H. Brodhead recognizing the important role that research administrators play in a university that gets more than 40 percent of its operating budget from grants. He pointed out that when the media reports on research breakthroughs, they generally mention only a few prominent names. "But you and I know the truth," he said. "Those people are just the top of a pyramid made of all kinds of other people like you whose work is necessary to actually support the research."

Dr. Mike Merson, founding director of the Duke Global Health Institute, gave a glimpse of the rapidly changing landscape of research during his keynote address describing the importance - and inevitability - of Duke's increasing involvement in global health research.

"Be proud that Duke is going global," he said. "Be excited about it, and don't be afraid of it."

Merson cautioned that successful global research partnerships require grants administrators to be aware of different cultures and contexts in which research is done. This often requires learning to do basic tasks in different ways. "Believe me, communicating with a bank in Russia is nothing like communicating with SunTrust," he said.

Following the keynote address, participants had the opportunity to attend 15 different breakout sessions, featuring a broad variety of topics. These were led by Duke employees, and focused on Duke policies and procedures.

Ahn, the research administration program director, said that the tailored workshops gave her more confidence in her role as the resource person for her lab when it comes to questions about grants.

"The three breakout sessions I attended - budget justifications, surviving an audit, and payroll changes -  brought together so many concepts that I can take back to the lab as best practices," Ahn said. "It was an amazing opportunity - a whole day of professional education to help make things move more smoothly."