NSF Award
2420719
Societal shifts in work, along with the aging of the higher education workforce, are exacerbating already existing challenges in the research enterprise workforce. Emerging research institutions (ERIs) frequently need additional research enterprise infrastructure, including research staff. The purpose of Research Administration Capacity Heightening in South Carolina (REACH-SC) is to identify ways to grow the research administration workforce in SC and to build a network among research administrators across SC that can enhance human capital, information and knowledge transfer, and support for research staff across SC. By addressing the unique challenges faced by SC and leveraging its strengths, REACH-SC can serve as a catalyst to bolster research, innovation, and academic prowess across the state, as well as serve as a model for other states. REACH-SC will also expand the extant research on growing the research enterprise within ERIs, contributing to knowledge across multiple disciplines (workforce development, higher education, research administration, and industrial/organizational psychology).<br/><br/>REACH-SC focuses on two critical elements of enhancing the research environment: (a) identifying needs of ERIs to ensure knowledge network support resources meet those needs and (b) creating new pathways to identify and build the research enterprise pipeline. The project will conduct a needs assessment with SC ERI research administrators and staff focused on identification of research strengths, challenges, infrastructure gaps, and opportunities to enhance knowledge transmission and mentoring. It will establish the SC Statewide Research Enterprise Knowledge and Mentoring Network (KnowNet), which will be comprised of a moderated listserv, monthly Zoom meetings, a LinkedIn group, and an annual day-long conference. KnowNet will bring together research administration staff across SC to enhance knowledge transmission. To create new pathways to expand the research enterprise pipeline, REACH-SC will conduct skills mapping to identify other occupations where research administration skills are prevalent. By identifying adjacent job types that will yield pathways for identifying individuals who could viably transition into research administration positions, REACH-SC will help expand the research enterprise pipeline. Human resources (HR) collaborators will help translate the skills mapping results into usable formats easily understood by HR departments and research administration divisions. An external advisory board will provide feedback and guidance to the project.<br/><br/>This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
