CARDEA (the Roman goddess of hinges) aims to  leverage the project team's experience to introduce policy and career practice guidelines for Research Managers in the European Research Area.

PIoS is defined as a professional performing broad activities in research management and administration; science communication; knowledge and technology transfer; laboratory management and other areas, working at all types of research-performing institutions.

For the purpose of this study we aim at the PIoS as an individual who performs the above tasks in government related ministries, agencies and institutions dedicated to science and technology funding and/or policy making. We target individuals worldwide.

The NCURA funded RAPIDS project aims to address the lack of objective tools to measure the professional identity of Research Administrators (RAs) worldwide, hindering the recognition and consolidation of the profession. By developing a Research Administration Professional IDentity Values Scale (RAPIDS), this endeavor seeks to provide insights into the core values and professional identity of RAs, benefiting current practitioners, prospective career seekers, professional associations such as NCURA, and policymakers. Through a mixed-methods approach, including literature review, expert interviews, focus groups, and surveys, the project aims to create and validate RAPIDS, enabling individuals to understand their professional identity in research administration and fostering the profession's growth and impact. Ultimately, RAPIDS will contribute to global efforts in advancing the field of research administration and nurturing a collective professional identity among practitioners. 

The RAPIDS Tool was formally launched at the NCURA Conference in Washington DC on 7th August 2024.  It is free and completely anonymous to use.  You simply take the survey and then see your responses plotted against the "normal range" of responses from the 1,095 research administrators who took part in the data collection part of the project.  Try the free tool here: https://bit.ly/RAPIdS 

The Research Administration Stress Perception Survey, headed up by Jennifer Shambrook has collected longitudinal data about the stress levels of Research Administrators.  There is no dedicated website, but the RASPerS: Prevalence of Occupational Stress and Associated Factors in RMA Professionals chapter also cites previous work in the series.

RM Roadmap will create a roadmap for the future of research management (RM) in Europe and a community to support its delivery. The aim is to identify and adapt the research management capital base of the EU, including the widening countries, of its current and future research management workforce to emerging needs to improve the EU's competitiveness and sustain its economic performance. A state-of-the-art pan-European network of research managers can support the establishment of strategic, cross-border partnerships between research managers in industry, Research Funding Organisations, higher education and research institutions. RM Roadmap connects European networks towards an unprecedented co-creation process in research management in the world. This co-creation process will gather the existing communities and expand upon them to reach two main objectives: create and inform a bottom-up consensus on the future of RM in a roadmap and inform the community about existing training, networking, funding and mobility opportunities.

A follow on / companion project to RM Roadmap, RM Framework project aims to support the development of an European qualification system for research management (RM), enhancing interoperability and improving RM within the European Research Area (ERA). The Framework is designed to guide policy makers, training and networking providers in empowering individual research managers through standardised professional development programmes. By offering a common framework yet maintaining a flexible approach, the project acknowledges the local and national differences across Europe and aims to develop training that raises awareness, improves quality, and supports sustainable RM careers.

This National Science Foundation GRANTED Conference award, Creation of a National Job Classification System for Research Administrators. The long-term goal of this initiative is to establish standardized job titles, roles, and salary structures across research institutions in the United States.

Throughout 2024, the project has focused on gathering insights into the needs and challenges faced by the research administrator workforce. They engaged with various stakeholders, to collect data and develop strategies and best practices for addressing these challenges, which will inform the development of a national job classification system.