Brian,
Your frank thoughts on this type of position and the set of issues it
raises are incredibly helpful to me. Thank you so much for taking the
time to share them.
Best wishes,
Alpha
-----Original Message-----
From: Research Administration List [mailto:xxxxxx@HRINET.ORG] On
Behalf Of Brian Gladue
Sent: Wednesday, June 29, 2005 2:33 PM
To: xxxxxx@HRINET.ORG
Subject: [RESADM-L] Specific Comments on Grant Writer / Research
Facilitator
Alpha,
Since you raise a specific point, I'll address this you alone and not
the entire list.
I like the term "research therapist" or "research coach", but I worked a
lot with psychologists and they are very picky about the term therapist
(plus, a lot of non-psychologists might think we were making statements
about other issues and not just their granting activity). So, we went
with the generally neutral (bland?) term "Facilitator"...which in many
respects is the best descriptor for what such a person does.
And your observations and insights are right on the nose, and...well, I
guess the tricky part isn't just figuring out how much one should be
paid for such work...the tricky part is convincing central
administration (or whomever needs this person on staff) to step up and
pay, following the dictum, "you get what you pay for".
When I was Research Facilitator for an Institute within the University
of Cincinnati, that position started out at $70K (1994) and with raises
(the usual low-level increases state universities are known for), it got
up to $93K by 2004...plus full university benefits package. Typically,
for a doctoral level person with 10 + years experience in senior
researchg activitry and management, you should expect to recruit and pay
at a level comparable to senior associate professor/starting full
professor in that given discipline...especially if you want that person
to manage pre-award proposal and IRB application refinement,
wide-ranging negotiations with sponsors, facilitation of internal and
external collaborations, training of junior faculty, outreach and
grant-writing seminars, etc. AND be credible with the faculty and staff.
Where institutions falter, is when they try to recruit and hire someone
to do all of this "on the cheap" (starting someone at $30-40K), because
that's exactly what happens - a lot of low-level guidance, non-credible
interactions with researchers, and generally weak or bad advice, much of
it pretty obvious and taken off internet websites ("How to Write Winning
Grants") and not derived from years of practical real-world experience.
Anyone in that $30-40K salary range in their field post-PhD isn't going
to be much help, or have much expertise on what works (wins) and what
doesn't in grant-writing/application development, collaborative team
building, IRB issues, proposal reviews, future directions in funding,
science policy, compliance issues, etc.
So, the practical bottom line is...What is the organization willing to
invest (and it IS an investment) and how seriously do they want their
researchers to be "facilitated"?
One other aspect that often gets overlooked is how the faculty/PIs
perceive the seriousness of institutional commitment, which is very much
based on the sort of person hired to fill such a slot. If someone
entry-level shows up fresh out of post-doc or grad school, that sends a
very low message to the "we-need-help" faculty...that their organization
isn't really serious about any of this.
Conversely, if they get a savvy experienced "been there-done that"
doctoral-trained grant-awardee with a wide range of skill sets and who
knows the turf, AND knows how to work with a wide range of
researchers...well, then the faculty may rightly perceive a stronger
commitment from the powers that be...and this often has a keen impact on
researcher retention (especially the good and productive - i.e. funded -
ones!) as well as organization morale and reputation.
Anyway, hope this helps. Bottom line? Where possible hire the best
person you can afford and aim high!
Cheers,
Brian Gladue,PhD
Research Facilitator
INSTAR Research Associates
Maineville, OH
Chairperson, IRB-S
University of Cincinnati
>
> From: Alpha Anderson Delap <xxxxxx@U.WASHINGTON.EDU>
> Date: 2005/06/29 Wed PM 04:12:35 EDT
> To: xxxxxx@HRINET.ORG
> Subject: Re: [RESADM-L] Grant Writer? or Research Facilitator?
>
> I really appreciate the time everyone has taken to respond to my
query.
> I think *research facilitator* comes closest to what I think would be
> most useful to my unit. Unofficially I have used the term *research
> therapist* instead, however this position's purview covers pre-award
> proposal and irb application refinement, wide-ranging negotiations
> with sponsors, facilitation of internal and external collaborations,
etc.
>
> Now comes the even more prickly/complicated question, how much
> does/should one get paid (if one holds a doctorate in similar field)
> for doing such work?
>
> Alpha
>
> ________________________________
>
> From: Research Administration List [mailto:xxxxxx@HRINET.ORG] On
> Behalf Of Mike McCallister
> Sent: Wednesday, June 29, 2005 12:30 PM
> To: xxxxxx@HRINET.ORG
> Subject: Re: [RESADM-L] Grant Writer? or Research Facilitator?
>
>
>
>
> The demand for a institution-funded grant-writer usually comes
up
> when some senior faculty members are convinced that they are too busy
> to be bothered with the "mechanics" of grant-writing and if they only
> had someone who could take their "big" ideas and rough out 90% of the
> application and proposal, the Great Thinkers could then edit in a few
> details, send off the grant (under their name, of course) and reap
> huge awards to the institution. I call this the "Coupon Template"
> approach to grant writing. Almost always, such grant applications
> fail to be funded, since reviewers are confounded by two different
> styles of writing and a whole lot of critical details and concepts are
> missing or confusing.
>
>
> Your name for this lame practice is better than mine, which is
> unprintable. Research offices are for supporting the work of
> talented, creative, motivated people. We are not in the salvage
> business, we do not raise the dead.
>
>
>
> On the Plus side is the notion of a grant editor or greant
> application advisor. THIS approach is extremely useful and
productive.
>
>
>
> I try not to be a facilitator, although the word is apt. It's a
> timeworn word that has lost any meaning other than the warm fuzzy it
> might give us. One must remember a crutch is a facilitator, too.
>
>
>
> In some institutions, some of this gets handled by "pre-award"
> personnel......not every university or college is willing to recruit
> and retain such a person.
>
>
> It's because we don't know how to evaluate them and show positive
> impact for money spent. This is a persistent and thorny problem.
>
> Spanky
> Mike McCallister, Ph.D.
> Office of Research and Sponsored Programs University of Arkansas at
> Little Rock
> 2801 South University
> Little Rock, AR 72204-1099
>
> (o) 501-569-8474
> (c) 501-590-5609
> (f) 501-371-7614
> http://www.ualr.edu/orsp/
>
> :-} Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of
> :-} arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but
> rather to :-} skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, beer in the
> other, body :-} thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming...
> What a :-} ride!!
>
> "A sense of humor is a measurement of the extent to which we realize
> that we are trapped in a world almost totally devoid of reason.
Laughter
> is how we express the anxiety we feel at this knowledge." Dave Barry
>
>
>
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