Research Administration
The Office of the VPR acknowledges and values the critical role that research support staff in departments, units and central offices have in advancing research at the University of Texas. Their expertise in proposal support, grant administration, and compliance policy is essential to launching and maintaining successful relationships between the university and the many agencies, foundations and industrial partners that fund research.
We encourage individual research administrators to pursue opportunities for professional development through:
- membership and participation in national and regional research administrator organizations such as the National Council of University Research Administrators (NCURA) and the Society for Research Administrators International (SRA International)
- enrollment in grant management seminars and workshops
- professional certification as a Certified Research Administrator (CRA), Certified Financial Research Administrator (CFRA), and Certified Pre-Award Research Administrator (CPRA)
- timely information sharing made available through the Research Administrators Network (RAN)
- familiarization with university policy detailed in the Office of Sponsored Project’s Department Research Administrator (DRA) Handbook
Perhaps the easiest way to jump in is through membership in UT’s Association of Research Administrators. Launched in early 2017, the ARA aims to unite and strengthen research administration at UT through networking, information sharing, and training. To receive notifications about ARA meetings, please contact ara@austin.utexas.edu.
Research Administrator Awards
To show our continued support of the efforts of research support staff at UT, the Vice President for Research sponsors annual Research Administrator Awards in two categories:
The nomination cycle for 2018 is now closed. Winners will be announced at the National Research Administrator Day Celebration on September 25th.
Next year’s cycle will be announced in Spring of 2019.
CRA Exam Preparation
OSP hosts CRA study groups in the spring and fall for those preparing to take the Certified Research Administrator exam. Please visit the OSP CRA Study Group page for details.
If you are already certified, and would be interested in participating as a mentor, please contact Catharine Corder.
Look for more announcements in the future with more details as they become available. In the meantime, if you’d like to get a jump start on studying, the RACC Body of Knowledge is available on the RACC website, and The Guide to Managing Federal Grants is available via OSP’s subscription to Thompson Grants (login: utaustin; password: bernier).