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Executive Forum
Monday 16 June 2008
The Forum will take the form of a facilitated, interactive discussion. Participants will contribute to a detailed discussion on two selected topics, following a short presentation of the relevant key issues. In order to ensure that the discussions are open and constructive,, they will take place under the 'Chatham House' rule, namely that no comments will be reported or attributed outside the meeting in a way which can identify the source. Participants will be reminded of this on the day.
Target audience
The meeting is aimed at Directors/Heads of Research Offices of university or other public sector organisations and places are limited. The programme will allow networking opportunities over coffee and lunch.
Discussion topics
Two topics will be discussed during the meeting:
- Exploring the complementary roles of the Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research and the Director of Research Services
- Measuring our performance: KPIs for those involved in research support
Exploring the complementary roles of the Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research and the Director of Research Services
In most universities, there will be a senior academic with lead institutional responsibility for the research agenda, and a senior administrative manager with responsibility for the support and development of research activity. The content and extent of each role is in itself interesting, as they may include or exclude a range of potential areas of relevance, and the two roles may not cover the same profile (e.g. institutional strategy and policy, research assessment, postgraduate students, knowledge transfer and commercialisation, regional activities, partnerships, governance, pre-award project development and support, post-award financial administration, and so on).
The relationship between the two (or occasionally more) individuals can be one of the most important in a university in terms of developing and delivering the institution's research and innovation strategy. What are the sorts of expectations one should have of the other? What are some examples of success criteria? What happens when a university opts not to have an academic leading on research?
Measuring our performance: KPIs for those involved in research support
It is now becoming more common for institutions to use key performance indicators and benchmarks for their activities, and this extends to indicators for research support. Targets against departmental indicators can inform individual objectives and success criteria. This can provide some clarity of mission and direction, but can also be constraining and threatening. More often they tend to relate to research activity itself or the actions of academics. To be truly relevant (and useful?), the research support office needs to be able to affect the outcome of any indicator.
What sorts of indicators are appropriate for research support operations, and how might they vary based on centralised versus devolved structures? What is the role of external indicators, such as peer benchmarking? How should the indicators relate to institutional strategy, and how often should they be set and reviewed and by whom?
Indicative Programme
Cost
ARMA members: £100.00
Members of INORMS societies: £100.00
Non-members: £157.00
The lower rate for members applies to members of ARMA and of any other INORMS member society: ARMS, CAURA, DARMA, EARMA, NCURA, SARIMA, SRA International, WARIMA and the Global Research Management Network.
The higher rate for non-members will include annual membership of ARMA for the period until 31st March 2009. 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.
If you are booking for more than one event at the same time, the non-members supplement is payable once only per person.
The contact for general queries is Rosemary Hatch. For queries related to programme content, please contact Ian Carter, i.carter@liv.ac.uk.
Booking is now open for ARMA members and for participants who are not members of any INORMS society and wish to join ARMA. Members of other INORMS societies will shortly be able to book at the reduced price.