A Project Lifecycle Approach Designing and Delivering a

A Project Life-cycle Approach; Designing and Delivering a Research and Enterprise Service Rachael Mold, Head of Research, University of East Anglia Deborah Mc. Guchan, Senior Research Development Officer, University of Sussex ARMA Conference Liverpool June 2017

The session • About UEA and Sussex’s approaches to service design • Time for Q&As • Time to share your experiences of different structures with those you are sitting next to

Some background • Major re-organisation of many of the university services in 2010/11 including research and enterprise • Managed process that affected ~400 staff Began autumn 2010, completed by August 2011 Consultation with Trades Unions Set up of new structures Engaging with and informing academic areas Managed process for all individual staff – meetings, internal applications • Human Resources support • • •

Research and Enterprise • 2010/11 – 7 separate groups of staff involved in supporting research and enterprise 4 x Faculty Research Offices Dedicated Research Finance Team IP Business Support Team in Registry Research team in Registry • Supported detailed bidding, • Authorised to approve applications, • Liaison with Registry when bids successful, • Supported School and Faculty research meetings and activities including REF submissions • Reviewed expenditure and submitted financial claims to research funders • Managed IP via patents, licence and spin outs • Managed UEA Consultancy • Involved in business development • Supported UEA Enterprise meetings • Developed policies • Negotiated and authorised contracts, • Liaised with Faculty Research Offices • supported UEA Research meetings • Co-ordinated REF submission • Developed policies • Implemented ethics review, RCUK Quality Assurance visits etc.

New structure • What structure was needed to support research and enterprise going forward? • series of internal discussions that included academic roles • at a later date, briefings with staff about making new division work in practice COMMUNICATION IS CRUCIAL • KEPT – point of contact for each academic School • FOCUSED – on project life-cycle • REMOVED – separation of pre and post award • INTEGRATED – all research and enterprise functions in a research and enterprise service, all responsible for making things work together

New Division Created • Part of new Research and Enterprise Division Research and Enterprise Services Careers Service (1 year later) PGR Service (2 years later)

How it works Academic School (x 19) • Each School has a Project Officer as a point of contact. Project Officer and team support academics with applications AND setting up contract and award. Also signpost to other specialist services as needed. • Each School has a Research Finance Administrator to review project spend and submit invoices Academic Faculty (x 4) • Each Faculty has a Research Manager as a point of contact who is line manager for project teams and who works with Associate Deans (Research) • There is also a Relationship Manager for a number of sectors who are also Faculty aligned and who work with Associate Deans (Enterprise) Research and Enterprise Specialist teams • Director Support • EU, International & PGR Funding • Student Degree Apprenticeships Intellectual Property Open Access Management Information Contracts Marketing Consultancy Impact Research Integrity

Staffing numbers Administrative Assistants (7 people) • support the work of the teams Administrators (25 people) • handle majority of team queries and progress the work Officers (19 people) • take the lead in supporting academics with individual queries Managers (17 people) • lead teams, advise school/faculty issues working on relevant issues and projects as needed, introduce and update policies, provide leadership for specific specialist area, develop relationships in target sectors Heads of Service (2 people) • provide leadership and oversight of research and innovation services within UEA, lead on strategic initiatives and undertake horizon scanning Director of Division (1 person plus administrator and officer support) • provides senior leadership and management across UEA for the services within the Division

Talking to others Faculty Structures Senior Faculty Managers School Managers Faculty Finance Norwich Clinical Trials Unit Human Resources Finance Division Library Information Services Learning and Teaching Admissions, Recruitment and Marketing Norwich Research Park Local NHS Trusts

Project lifecycle • Robust evidence to justify • Budgets • Contracts/agreements • New staff approach • Identifying funding opportunity where relevant • Planning programme of work • Developing relationships with collaborators and/or users Applying Setting Up Completion Live Project Research AND innovation lifecycle • More publication • Decide on next steps • Delivery of programme of work • Analysis and publication • Thinking about what next – more research or need to progress innovation

Interlinked project lifecycles Proof of Concept Research Project 2016 Programme Impact Research Project 2012

Some benefits we’ve had Single point of contact Minimised transaction costs across project lifecycle Resolving problems within the teams Awareness of range of issues affecting project lifecycles Establishing consistent standards Internal training and promotion Efficient expansion when growth or new areas

K We keep working at… Academic interface – vital to maintain academic support Managing application deadlines Making sure we do resolve problems efficiently Sticking to documented procedures Managing larger teams Working with other services (at times)

Case study 1 ESRC award set up by Project Officer as external monies for dedicated purpose and Research Finance Administrator to submit invoices to ESRC ons Report li il M g in s is M : Electoral Reform o. uk/impact/ c t. o ll a b e th e it b / http: / Relationship Manager works with ESRC board to allocate funding to projects ESRC Impact Accelerator Account IAA projects that focus on impact from research also monitored by Impact Team who feed into discussions involving academic managers and Research Managers around impact readiness Childhood Disability in Kenya: https: //w ww. resea rchgate. ne Working-w t/project/ ith-SElf-h. E lp-groupscaregivers for-of-childre n-with-dis 0 -15 -years abilities-in-rural-K enya-Proj ect-SEEK Research Integrity Manager establishes framework for ethical review of UEA funded impact projects

Case study 2 Supported by Project Officer and project team to develop costs, liaise with partners and to ensure UEA peer review. Has input on generating impact from Impact Team. Requires advice on management of IP from IP Team. Bids for £ 1. 4 M from NIHR EME for trial recruiting 330 participants to investigate treatment of pulmonary fibrosis using antibiotics. Has support from Contracts Manager on main contract, collaboration agreements and site agreement Queries to UEA as Sponsor by sites and funder dealt with by Project Officer and Contracts Manager involving CI and Clinical Trials Unit as needed Academic bidding to NIHR for project funding Requires new staff to be appointed which project team liaise with CI and PIs to progress. Generates output so supported by Open Access Team Generates impact from research so supported by Impact Team NNUHFT Sp for recru onsor, 40 NHS sites itment https: // www. ue a. ac. uk/ eme-tip ac/ home Has potential for further work to promote findings for use in practice that would be supported by IP Team, Relationship Managers and/or Consultancy Team

Case study 3 Initial conversation by NHS consultant about idea leads to joining up with UEA academic team managed by REN Head of Enterprise proposes that both apply for an internal proof of concept fund application managed by the IP team ade Developing the relationship If successful, project has potential to result in a device that will help eliminate causes of dizziness the benefit of which would be supported and tracked by IP team, impact team and Research Managers 0 K m 2 £ g in ll a t o t 2 awards Pilot data generated encourages academics and organisation to successfully bid to MRC for ~£ 400 K development funds supported by project team, IP team and Contracts Manager

A Project Life-cycle Approach; Designing and Delivering a Research and Enterprise Service Deborah Mc. Guchan, Research and Enterprise, University of Sussex, June 2017

Research and Enterprise Services Director of Research and Enterprise Doctoral School (12) Research Development (21) Research Finance (11) Contracts and IP (6) Governance & Ethics (1) Quality and Impact (7) PGRs PDRAs Research funding Business/consultancy Award management Agreements Finances / budgets Licences Company formation School Research and Enterprise Co-ordinators Information Systems (3)

How it works Research and Enterprise Main support for the University’s research and knowledge exchange activities 7 teams – 64 personnel, majority full-time Director of R&E plus administrative support - 2 Research Development – 21 (2 clusters with team leads, 10 RDOs, 3 administrators, also Economic Development, Sussex Research, Consultancy Manager) Research Governance – 1 plus support from other Schools Contracts & IP – 6 Research Finance – 11 Doctoral School – 13 Research Quality and Impact – 7 Information and Systems Manager - 3

Research Funding Landscape R&E in 2016. The funding landscape was changing faster than we were. First step was to identify key challenges. • Breadth of support and fitness for purpose • Impact and added value of existing activities • Workload allocation • Resource allocation • Project life-cycle process • Productivity • Skills set and gaps

Action stations… Commissioned Rob Johnson from Research Consulting to help undertake a review, which started Autumn 2016, ending January 2017. 2016 got busy. • Engagement across the teams at all levels • Different types of engagement • Focus groups, divisional meeting to share ideas, survey, facilitated meetings • Reports…. iterations…. consensus and collaboration • Skype benchmarking interviews with other universities, many thanks to any colleagues who might be here today, very informative and helpful • Wide range of support models, all different • January 2017 – report published

Survey results • Team work • Workload (out of scope) • Variety of work • Systems (out of scope) • Professionalism • Clarity of roles • Processes • Prioritisation • Handover • Project management

Review Outcomes • Quick wins • • • Visibility of new projects Knowledge e. g. VAT Clarification over contracts Low value vs. high time Complex high risk Early engagement Res. Dev handover to Res Fin Responsibilities of PI and R&E staff Data gathering and exchange of information Research Development Contracts and IP • Systems developments • Project tracking and information recording • Structural considerations for further investigation • • Breadth of remit of research development team Professionalism Project management over whole lifecycle Integration with other functions Research Finance

Focus on Research Development and academic support • Horizon scanning • Funder relationships • Strategic relationships • Funder visits • Research Professional • Workshops • Surgery sessions • Limited submission • Strategic schemes Proposal support • Costings • Standard and complex bids • EU proposals • Clinical trials • VAT • Governance • Ethics Business development • Commercial funding • Strategic commercial partnerships • KTPs • Consultancy • Some services Award acceptance and handover • Award acceptance negotiation and recosting • Contracts instruction, basic information • Contracts instruction, detailed information gathering • Execute simple contracts • Sub-contracts Systems • Costing tool, p. FACT, testing and training • Access • Funder platforms • Research Professional

Where are we now? • Quick wins • • Most underway – focus on interactions between the teams Delivering change by empowering teams How to make headway Project tracking and information recording Keep up contact with other universities Detailed process mapping • Ongoing discussions • Systems developments • Structural considerations

Thank you

What different structures exist? Talk to your neighbour for 5 mins • • Does your institution separate pre and post award support? Do you have local and/or central teams to provide support? How much of the project lifecycle does your service support? What functions/teams would you like to bring together and/or separate in your institution and why?

Final Q&A Thank you