Office of Research
Summary–Strategic Plan 2006
June 1, 2006
Background
The Office of Research (OR) will be a key player in the implementation of the UCI Strategic Plan over the next five years. OR includes the Offices of Research Administration (ORA), Technological Alliances (OTA), University Laboratory Animal Resources (ULAR), Federal Government Relations, and Research Development. Each of these units will contribute to the overall objective of facilitating campus research activities in a variety of ways. As its primary activity, OR will work with other campus units to “foster an environment for research and artistic activity that facilitates the discovery and dissemination of knowledge in many forms to all levels of society.”
OR provides central campus administrative support for UCI’s research programs. It coordinates the management of contracts and grants; compliance with policies and regulations that govern research integrity, human subjects, and animal research; sponsor terms and conditions; intellectual property, including licensing and material transfer; and campus federal relations.
The Office of Research Administration (ORA) consists of Sponsored Projects, Research Protections, Conflict of Interest, and export control. ORA is the office of record for extramural proposals and awards supporting research, education and public service activities of UCI faculty, staff and students. ORA staff members are expert resources for policy and program information and act as administrative contacts with external regulatory agencies, higher education organizations and professional societies, and other universities to discuss regulatory changes, institutional policy developments and overall awareness of regulatory requirements and enhancements.
The Office of Technology Alliances (OTA) fosters research collaboration and transfers of technology between UCI and industry, striving for rapid commercialization of research results for the public benefit. It plays an important role in linking faculty and new technology with companies that can collaborate in both the further development of new inventions and the commercialization of research results.
University Laboratory Animal Resources (ULAR) manages the housing, feeding and care of all research animals housed in UCI facilities. It fulfills four main functions: veterinary services, animal husbandry, transgenic mouse facility, and business & purchasing administration.
The UCI Office of Federal Government Relations works with the Chancellor, the DC-based lobbyists in UC Office of the President and national organizations such as the Association of American Universities (AAU) to inform Congress of UCI’s needs and priorities in appropriations, authorization and regulatory legislation.
The Office of Research Development is complemented by research development staff assigned to specific schools, departments, and research units, and contributes significantly to faculty success in the submission of grant proposals.
Specific goals and planned Office of Research actions over the next five years are described below.
Goal: Increase levels of grant-supported activity among the faculty, increase support for grant-writing and liaisons with foundations and government agencies. Provide support for large multi-investigator proposals for research and training.
- Assist UCI researchers with the discovery of funding opportunities and all phases of proposal preparation from narrative editing to budget preparation to operating submission software. Foster large multi-investigator center proposals, training grants, and construction/equipment projects. Develop appropriate administrative support structure for these complex activities.
- Provide dedicated research development, including opportunistic forward planning, creation and maintenance of campus resources such as funding databases, and flexibility in the provision of services. Support may include strategic advice and institutional memory of successful approaches.
- Monitor faculty need and maintain appropriate levels of staff during the coming decade, when the combination of UCI faculty growth and the national trend toward more intense competition will create more demand for research development support.
- Foster the development of interdisciplinary campus research centers. Support the continued development of existing campus centers and organized research units. Provide advice to faculty proposers and coordinate review and approval process for new research organizations. Assist in the development of new funding sources for organized research efforts and provide ongoing management assistance to faculty directors.
- Develop educational programs for faculty and staff on successful models for managing large multi-investigator, multi-institutional projects. The investigators and administrating unit staff will benefit from focused programs covering fiscal management, subcontract monitoring, and program management best practices.
- Continue to attract research funding from companies tied to the further development of early stage inventions by UCI faculty. Include more aggressive pursuit of UC Discovery Grants and increased promotion of UCI involvement with companies as subcontractors on federal Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer Research (STTR) grants.
- Sponsor or cosponsor workshops and other training to facilitate winning and managing funding opportunities such as UC Discovery Grants and federal SBIR and STTR grants.
- Work with major federally funded programs that have a technology emphasis to assess and pursue potential opportunities for engaging the private sector in sponsored or collaborative research or industry consortia.
Goal: Increase investment in campus research infrastructure.
- Develop new funding sources to build additional shared research facilities for such areas as imaging and stem cell research.
- Continue to invest in core research facilities and services supporting animal and human subjects research, clinical research, and interdisciplinary research projects.
Goal: Bring more federally supported research institutes to campus and University Research Park. Establish a stronger presence in Washington, D.C. to promote the UCI research agenda.
- Continue to cultivate relationships with legislative representatives, reminding them of UCI’s substantial educational, economic and social benefits to their constituents. The coming decade of concomitant growth in the population of the surrounding region will result in more Congressional Districts, creating even more opportunities to communicate with members of the federal legislature.
- Inform elected officials of the benefits of sustained federal investment in research and training.
- Establish contacts within the award management offices of government agencies to provide open communication and establish a level of trust.
- Continue to advocate merit-based peer review in awarding federal funding.
Goal: Expand transfer of innovation from the campus to the community.
- Strengthen the working relationship between Sponsored Projects and Technology Alliances to facilitate early communication regarding university-industry intellectual property involvement and university principles related to university-industry partnerships.
- Expand the Office of Research Administration website and provide knowledgeable staff to assist faculty interested in federally-supported Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer Research (STTR) programs.
- Continue to increase the number of invention disclosures. The total portfolio of 700 inventions includes 160 new cases in 2005. To support this rate of increase, at least one Licensing Officer will need to be added each year.
- Bundle technologies to make them more attractive to industrial licensees. Eight biological sciences and 14 engineering/physical sciences UCI technologies have been identified for participation in a sponsored technology alliance program.
- Aggressively market UCI’s technologies with the addition of several dedicated Business Development Officers.
- Create a Technology Development Fund to support prototyping, animal studies and proof of concept activities for promising embryonic inventions to bring them to a stage where companies would find them more licensable.
Goal: Expand and strengthen training efforts in research administration and continue to foster a culture of integrity involving faculty, staff and students.
- Retain full accreditation of the Human Research Protection Program and the Animal Research Program.
- Develop educational programs in core areas related to research administration and management for new faculty and new investigators. Recent federal audit findings increasingly reflect a national need for institutional training programs on the Responsible Conduct of Research.
- Establish a resource within the Office of Research Administration to respond to audit concerns and reports of noncompliance.
- Establish expectations for written departmental operating procedures that document internal controls within an office in order to augment campus policies and procedures and provide interpretations based upon the unit’s specific activities.
- Identify and implement innovative methods to educate staff to support research and other activities and create an environment that rewards ethical behavior.
- Continue the certificated Research Administration Management Program (RAMP) at no cost to staff. Develop additional training programs for senior administrators and RAMP graduates.
Goal: Develop and support network and other information technology services at a level comparable in scope and quality to those offered at the best research universities in the country, and scale them with campus grown objectives.
- Implement electronic applications for all proposal and award management actions. Most universities are following the lead of federal agencies to eliminate paper submissions and develop a system-to-system submission process for proposals.
- Implement, within five years, electronic applications for all ORA processes requiring faculty and staff preparation, including regulatory committee applications, subaward requests and monitoring actions, and final close out.
- Develop a disaster management plan to address disruptions to research administration support caused by a major disaster at the campus. The plan should include provisions for continuation of sponsored projects and regulatory review activities post disaster, remote access to sponsored project records, electronic coordination of campus review for submissions of proposals, award establishment, purchasing and payroll actions, and financial management.
Goal: Enhance UCI’s role in economic development.
- Devote more effort and resources to fostering the development of start-up companies founded on UCI technologies. Continue to apply the virtual incubation model developed by OTA to assist new companies during the earliest stages when funding is limited. Support may include sponsored research, material transfers, clinical trials, and active participation by the inventors.
- Help attract technology oriented companies to Orange County and encourage their location in University Research Park.
- Work with regional economic development groups as a partner in their activities and programs.
- Expand the Office of Technology Alliance’s partnership with OCTANe to help bring more venture funding to Orange County. Current goals include 5 to 8 new SBIR proposals granted to Orange County companies directly as a response to a recent program presented with OCTANe@UCI.
Goal: Develop through the University Laboratory Animal Resources (ULAR) a broad capability to support animal research at UCI, including completion of appropriate facilities, recruitment and retention of outstanding personnel, and maintenance of national accreditation.
- Complete the building and renovation of vivaria to accommodate the demand for new animals due to faculty recruitment and the expansion of existing programs.
- Continue to grow our administrative capabilities to provide outstanding support as campus animal research programs expand. UCI has recently hired a new ULAR Director and a new supervisor of animal husbandry staff. We hope to hire a third veterinarian as well as a facilities manager in the near future
