Compoent (overall progress) | Institution 1 | Institution 2 | Institution 3 | Institution 4 | Examples of innovative practices and problem-solving |
Research strategies and policies (little/no progress) | University-level strategy being approved but college level not yet developed. A new university-wide research database now in place. A small university research fund has been set up. | Consultation on the strategy has taken place. A draft document is being written to submit for management approval. New research management software has been installed to manage the research database. | A research grant office is planned for early 2016 and a research database will be created within this office. | Strategy is on hold as wide-scale institutional constitutional change is under way. (Post-project note: Strategic plan 2017–2022 was approved December 2016.) |
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Institutional support services and infrastruc-ture (moderate progress) | Work is ongoing to coordinate inputs to proposals and grant management by principal investigators (PIs) and finance staff. Workshops took place in 2015. | The first Memoramdum of Understanding (MoU) and standard operating procedures (SOPs) are in development for grant-related activities. ICT policies for marketing and staff engagement are being developed. Sustainability planning for lab resources and budgeting is under way. | A new high-speed internet (DSL) has been installed at the Department of Biology, the PhD-dedicated space and the faculty library. Steps towards formal accreditation of quality assurance processes and certification for the department labs have begun. | Progress has been made in establishing a research support office (grants unit) with administrators and financial staff appointed. |
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Supporting funding applications (good progress) | A university-wide database has been implemented. The finance office is now involved in proposal development and joint training has taken place. | A new system for disseminating information about the research support services has been instigated. ‘How-to’ guideline on developing research proposals with a budget framework and checklists has been launched. A research careers development webpage has been developed by the institution with materials for fledgling researchers. | Implementation of a new research grant office and recruitment of a research coordinator has been agreed. | Administrators from the research/grants office have started assisting the PIs in proposal development, registering projects and tracking implementation and management. The Grant office has been newly registered with several ‘calls application portals’ and a database of researcher interests is being created. |
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Project management and control (good progress) | Contract review, sign off and risk management procedures have been strengthened with contracts signed off by provosts or deans of colleges. Need for in-house training for admin to support PIs identified. | New systems for pre-award and post-award management have been developed. A new policy for compulsory post-award ‘Grants Management’ inductions for all successful principal investigators is available. A grants administrator has now been appointed. A new legal unit has been set up as part of research support services. | SOPs for expenses and account management have been developed and validated with PIs, finance and administrative officers. | Project management procedures are now overseen by an administrator who manages the grant and liaises with the PI on the implementation of the project. A new financial management system PASTEL is now being used but staff need training to upload project data. |
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Human resource management for research (moderate progress) | Human resource recruitment policies and procedures for project staff have been reviewed and developed. A new staff development programme has been launched. Ongoing meetings are continuing to discuss the need to develop a postgraduate programme. | A new training needs assessment for research support staff has been completed and training plans developed. Procedures for hiring post doctoral fellows have been established and terms and conditions of service defined. | The introduction of project management training courses and cross-site visits for administrative staff and early career researchers have strengthened human resource management. Staff needs for personal development have been identified but there is yet to be a plan to address these. | A team has been formed to develop a research scale based on a national scale for researchers. Postdoctoral programmes are not yet institutionalised. |
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Human resource development for research (moderate progress) | Work is still ongoing to plan a formal research-based induction process for project staff and fledgling researchers. Mentorship training and pairing has taken place. | Work has begun towards a comprehensive competency-based capacity building programme for junior and senior researchers. A research capacity gap validation workshop and a training needs assessment for research staff have been conducted. A new annual research training calendar has been developed. | Progress made towards adaptation and institutionalisation of the doctoral research courses for researchers. An external funder is working with the institution to plan personal development and leadership courses. | The role of human resource teams in research staff development has been reviewed and defined. More work needs to be done to build a structured programme of capacity development for new and existing staff in research skills. |
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External promotion of research (little/no progress) | Limited training and mentoring in research communication provided by an external agency has started. Some improvement of the research projects on the college website but more needs to be done to encourage researchers to add their details. The academic board are to incorporate research uptake and the management of research outputs, into the university’s centralised research policy. | Research profiles of faculty are being introduced onto their webpages. A separate research office website is under construction. There are plans for a Knowledge Management Unit to help achieve better visibility of research activities. | The Faculty of Medicine website has been updated with current research projects. The recruitment of a communication officer is planned, who will be responsible for supporting the publicising and dissemination of research activities and uptake. | The institution has an ongoing strong external collaborative network including an annual PhD symposium. The planned new research strategy will embed research dissemination and uptake as a high-priority area. Work is ongoing to restructure the website. |
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National research engagement (little/no progress) | Mechanisms still need to be established at college and departmental level to promote, monitor and record communication and to share opportunities for engagement between projects. Continuation of institution’s work with multinational partners on national research engagement to feed into the college’s research strategy. | Key national health policymaking forums have been targeted with specifically designed materials. A local travel grant system is being established to support researchers to attend national meetings. A template has been developed for annual research reports, to highlight successes, failures and opportunities for policy engagement. | Ongoing participation in national tailored monitoring and evaluation training courses for medical district officers and health supervisors where research results and experience will be shared. | Researchers continue to attend a national research conference (eg, in 2015) to disseminate their projects. Promotion of their research into policy and practice is not yet stated in the research strategy as a core element of a researchers' responsibility. |
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