Greetings, colleagues! As current professionals in the field of research administration, I'm sure we all knew from the time we were toddlers research administration was our future. No? Actually, most of us were probably unaware we were working in the field until we were several years in. If you have ever wondered how you ended up here, whether there are similar values or attitudes amongst your colleagues, and if people with certain personality traits are more drawn to this work than others, join the club!
With thanks to NCURA for funding our research proposal, José Santos, Simon Kerridge, and I are pleased to announce we are investigating and attempting to develop an identity scale for research administration. The Research Administration Professional IDentity values Scale (RAPIDS) project launched July 1, and will run for a year. With the help of our international advisory board: Abiodun Akindele (Nigeria), Salim Chalela (Colombia), Madhuri Dutta (India), Caz McNamara (South Africa), Susi Poli (Italy), Jennifer Ponting (USA), Makiko Takahashi (Japan), Bry Wakefield (UK), Deb Zornes (Canada), and Virág Zsár (Hungary); we will develop the first ever identity scale for research administration. This will then be tested with NCURA members via a survey (anticipated to go live December, 2023) to see if there are certain traits that we have in common. Building on that, we will produce a tool that we hope will inform those considering a career in research administration. It could also potentially allow professional societies and institutions interested in creating professional development opportunities to fine-tune their programs.
Please watch the Collaborate forum, LinkedIn, and Twitter for regular updates and news of the launch of the survey. You can also visit our website for more information: bit.ly/ncurarapids.
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Melinda Fischer
Manager of Office of Research Services
Clemson University
Clemson, SC
(864) 656-2683
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