Research and Grant Projects

SRAI builds the knowledge, tools, and community that strengthen discovery and elevate research administration as a vital, respected profession.

Advancing the Research Enterprise

Across the nation, SRAI is helping define what it means to be a research administrator, through vision, collaboration, and federally funded innovation. Primarily supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and in partnership with leading universities, these projects showcase how SRAI turns insight into action: strengthening the research enterprise, professionalizing the workforce, and shaping a future where research management is recognized as essential to discovery itself.

SRAI builds the knowledge, tools, and community that strengthen discovery and elevate research administration as a vital, respected profession.

Filling the Gap: Building a Research Administration Minor Concentration (UAB–NSF)

SRAI and the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Office of Research, through funding from the NSF, are reimagining how the next generation enters the profession. Filling the Gap seeks to establish the nation’s first undergraduate minor concentration in Research Management and Administration - integrating academic learning with the skills that power the research enterprise. Building on SRAI’s experience developing the LevelUP micro-credentialing program, SRAI is leading curriculum design for more than 16 modules that will form the foundation of five prototype courses within the concentration. The first students were enrolled in August 2025 at UAB and James Madison University, with plans to expand to more than 25 partnering colleges and universities as the project enters its second and third years. Explore more at the UAB project website. View NSF Award Search: Award # 2400002

Status: Ongoing through August 2028

National Job Classification System for Research Administrators (Pitt–NSF)

In partnership with the University of Pittsburgh, SRAI helped lead a national initiative to address inconsistencies in job titles, responsibilities, and compensation across the research administration profession. Under the direction of Jennifer Woodward, Ph.D., Associate Vice Provost for Research at Pitt and SRAI Board Member, this NSF-funded GRANTED conference project united experts, institutional leaders, and SRAI members nationwide. Through focus groups, a national survey of more than 2,400 research administrators, and a workshop held during the 2024 SRAI Annual Meeting in Chicago, participants identified the structural challenges facing the profession and charted a shared path toward equilibrium and standardization. Guided by the insights of SRAI experts and the collective voice of the community, the project established the foundation for developing a national job classification system—one that supports workforce stability, recognizes professional value, and strengthens the research enterprise itself. For more details, visit the project website.

Status: Completed March 2025

Conference: RRSP: Responsible Collaboration through Appropriate Research Security (Rice–NSF)

Working with Rice University, SRAI supported development of a national conference funded by the NSF to explore the evolving field of Research on Research Security. The initiative convened national and international experts across science, engineering, intelligence, and social science disciplines to examine the balance between safeguarding U.S. research and sustaining global collaboration. SRAI played a key role in coordinating activities, recruiting participants, leading focus groups, and supporting both data analysis and report development. The workshop’s findings helped shape guidance for NSF’s Research on Research Security program, advancing a shared goal: ensuring research remains as open as possible and as secure as necessary. View final project report 

Status: Completed August 2024

Research Security Training: The Importance of Research Security (UAH–NSF)

In partnership with the University of Alabama in Huntsville, SRAI contributed to a multi-agency initiative funded by the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, Department of Energy, and Department of Defense to strengthen research security across the U.S. research enterprise. SRAI experts led the design and content development for one of four national training modules: “Introduction to Research Security: It’s Everyone’s Responsibility.” Through storyline creation, instructional design, and subject matter expertise, SRAI helped produce an engaging, accessible, and interactive online learning experience that introduces key federal guidance, highlights the shared responsibility of all research stakeholders, and promotes the core values of openness, accountability, and integrity. The training is now part of the NSF Research Security Training series, a national resource that equips universities, research organizations, and federal agencies with foundational tools to strengthen awareness and compliance under NSPM-33 and the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022.

Status: Training launched January 2024

RM Framework: Creating a European Framework for Research Management Training and Networking

The RM Framework project, funded by the European Union’s Horizon Europe programme, seeks to strengthen and harmonize research management across the European Research Area (ERA). Led by a consortium of European universities, EARMA, funding agencies, and research networks, the project is developing scalable training programmes and a shared framework to support professional development, interoperability, and sustainability within the research management community. By gathering perspectives from national clusters, policy leaders, and practitioners across nine pilot countries, the initiative tailors learning approaches to diverse institutional and cultural contexts while fostering alignment with open science, research assessment, and AI integration. SRAI’s Executive Director, Evan Roberts, serves on the project’s Advisory Board, contributing expertise in training and workforce development for the global research management community. View Project Website

Status: Ongoing through 2027