Research Facilitationat Oxford

Thorsten HaulerResearch Facilitator, DPAG

Tuesday, 21st July 2015

• A brief history of Research Facilitation at Oxford

• The John Fell Fund

• A selection of job titles

• The current landscape

• What is ‘facilitation’?

• Supporting and facilitating – reflection

• Discussion

A brief history of ResearchFacilitation at Oxford (1)

• Initiated by Prof. JR Ockendon and Dr Chris Breward in 2001 (MI)

• Started as a 1/3 post (dept.-funded + postdoc) out of a need to boostresearch overhead income (was £100k at MI)

• Important mix: subject knowledge & admin skills. Initial JD:

• Seeking out funding from all relevant sources

• Matching funding opportunities to expertise in the dept.

• Assisting with writing proposals; ensuring highest poss. quality

• Ensuring all relevant bureaucratic requirements are met

• Member of Research Committee; designing information systemsand management reports

A brief history of Research Facilitationat Oxford (2)

• Bid for divisional support (38%) for a 50% post

in 2002 with extended responsibilities:

• Increase pool of applicants

• Prepare appropriate costings

• Liaison between dept. and funders

• Development of an internal peer review system

• Creation of funding web pages

• Annual discussion of research groups’ future plans

• Managing research incentive scheme

• First University-wide interest in 2003, next RFs 2006/7 (JFF)

The John Fell Fund

• Established in 2005/06

• Annual budget of £5m

• “The John Fell OUP Research Fund will also provide [support for]'research facilitators' to help identify sources of external funding andprovide expertise on how best to tap into external resources. Again,this is an idea which has already worked for departments in the past.”(from the news item on the launch, 10th February 2006)

• Funded the first Research Facilitators in 2006/07

• Total funding for Research Facilitators 2005/06 – 2013/14: £3.5m(10% of total funds available)

A brief history of Research Facilitationat Oxford (3)• A Research Facilitators network was initiated in 2007, which, over

the years, developed into ORFN

• Growing research (and research overhead) income is proof of the RFsuccess story (other indicators?); MI overheads c.£1.8m in 2008

• Increased competition and shrinking budgets require diversificationand new approaches

• Additional responsibilities include:

• Recording impact; identifying potential case

studies; REF support

• Open Access; research data management

• Knowledge exchange activities

• Where does the role go from here?

A selection of job titles

• Research Facilitator (several

different ranges of duties)

• Research Development Manager

• Business Development Manager

• Finance and Grants Officer

• Research Administrator

• Research Grants and Projects

Administrator

• Research & Collaboration Officer

• Research Coordinator

• Research Grants Manager

• Deputy Administrator (Research)

The current landscape

• Humanities Division: RF team at divisionallevel (5 staff); additionally, 3 departmentshave dedicated support

• Social Sciences Division: RF team at divisional level (3 staff); 14dedicated staff across departments

• Medical Sciences Division: 15 staff listed across 9 departments,plus 5 others (BD, BHF CRE, Division)

• MPLS Division: Mathematical Institute, Physics, OeRC (dedicatedteams of 3 each); 22 staff listed across all departments, plus 5 atDivisional level

• Others (Begbroke, Isis Innovation, etc.): 9 staff listed

What is ‘facilitation’?

• to assist (a person); toenable or allow (a person) todo something, achieve aparticular result, etc., moreeasily

facilitate, verb:

• to make (an action, process,etc.) easy or easier; to promote,help forward; to assist in bringing about(a particular end or result) or

Supporting and facilitating – reflection

• Based on these definitions, are ‘administrators’ really‘facilitators’, should they be, do they have to be?

• Roles are increasingly interlinked and more specialized

• How have your roles changed over the past 5 years?

• Has the training element kept up?

• We are all experts – are werespected for that?

MANY THANKS TO SHARON LLOYDAND CHRIS BREWARD

YOU CAN CONTACT ME AT:THORSTEN.HAULER@DPAG.OX.AC.

UKEXTENSION 82654

THANK YOU!