NCURA Virtual Workshops and Webinars

Our projects frequently include collaborations with others. These collaborations can vary in the level of involvement and face-to-face engagement. While we may be adept at navigating these partnerships when the other entity is another US-based institution of higher education, what do we need to consider when we collaborate with other types of entities? What might differ in our approach? Using a scientific example as our guide, we will develop a thorough approach to collaborations that helps us develop a plan for success.

We will talk through various aspects of potential collaborations, the related things to keep in mind, and potential questions to ask. For example, will the collaborator need to be on our campus, will they need access to our systems, are they subject to the single audit requirements? This session focuses on the questions to ask to get a full picture of the involvement of the collaborator. In some cases, we will have tried-and-true methods to share, but in others, we aim to help participants develop an approach for decisions that rely more on institutional policies and risk tolerance.

View the recorded webinar: NCURA: Considerations for Collaborations  (requires MIT authentication)

Navigating the complexities of post-award grant management can be challenging for both grant recipients and administrators. This webinar will provide a clear understanding of post-award allowability requirements, ensuring compliance with federal, state, and non-governmental funding policies while maximizing the impact of grant funds.

View the recorded webinar: NCURA: Navigating Post-Award Allowability  (requires MIT authentication)

Attendees will gain insight into how they can best support the lifecycle of research grants and contracts, including overall project management, timeline tracking, and compliance with reporting and terms. We will discuss tools and strategies that research administrators can use to support Principal Investigators (PIs) in understanding award obligations and ensuring successful project execution. Key topics will include navigating award terms and reporting requirements, managing deadlines, and working with central offices, funding agencies, and other key internal stakeholders.

Learning Objectives

• Participants will understand the research administrator’s role in managing award terms and deliverables.
• Participants will learn how to navigate key reporting requirements, ensuring compliance with sponsor guidelines and institutional policies.
• Participants will discuss tools and strategies for monitoring progress, managing deliverables, and troubleshooting common challenges in research project management.

View the recorded webinar: NCURA: The Research Administrator’s Role in Project Management & Reporting  (requires MIT authentication)

The term "Research Compliance" has become an integral part of research management vocabulary. Research compliance requirements cover a myriad of federal, state, local, and international regulatory and ethical rules and standards as well as institutional and funder policies that govern the entire life cycle of a research project.

A successful compliance program is made stronger and more effective when the compliance requirements are seen as a "shared responsibility" where all individuals involved life cycle of a research project (i.e., the inception of the project; proposal preparation and submittal; acceptance and management of the awards; the conduct of the research and reporting of its finding; and close-out), clearly understand their role and the importance "doing the right thing" to ensure compliance with regulatory and ethical requirements seamlessly.

To navigate this ever-changing environment, it is important for institutions to focus on developing a "culture of compliance" by creating an organizational environment where following regulatory and ethical obligations is a highly valued expectation. In this webinar we will discuss this concept in greater detail and discuss practical ideas on how to achieve a true "Culture of Compliance".

Learning Objectives

By the end of this webinar, participants will be able to:

• Understanding what is a culture of compliance, and how is it different from a culture of complying.
• How is such a culture developed?
• What are the roles of leadership in establishing a culture of compliance?

View the recorded webinar: NCURA: Culture of Compliance: What is it and How to Develop One (requires MIT authentication)

This session will go through an actual Progress Report (RPPR), section by section in detail explaining the requirements that NIH will review. The session will address:

• common errors/warnings, and how to avoid the common pitfalls that result in a late submission or a non-compliant RPPR
• difference between SNAP and Non-SNAP RPPRs
• multiple component RPPRs
• completion of the Budget Section H for applicable activity codes
• HSS/ASSIST for Human Subjects reporting requirements
• Annual, Interim, and Final reports 

View recorded webinar The RPPR Matrix: Decoding and Problem Solving the NIH Progress Report System (requires MIT authentication)

In times of national or institutional crises, your communication skills are critical for leadership. Communication skills underscore the critical role that people play in ensuring your success as an effective research administrator. Join this insightful webinar to learn from the collective wisdom of our panel of seasoned research administrators, who have navigated numerous challenges and emerged stronger. Their experience and strategies will provide valuable lessons on how to lead effectively and foster a resilient team. 

Learning Objectives

1. Participants will gain an appreciation of the role of a leader in research administration and how successful leaders evolve to adapt to new challenges and opportunities. 
2. We will discuss the need for clarity of communication and conciseness when addressing complex concepts both internally and externally to your office.
3. We will address the importance of communication in building a cohesive team and how to unlock the potential of every team member by being persistence in the pursuit of common goals.
4. We will discuss how to place people first by empowering your team by encouraging autonomy and growth while creating a sense of community and purpose. 

View recorded webinar The Art of Leadership, Communication Skills, and the Importance of People (requires MIT authentication)

During this webinar, we will discuss recent updates from different agencies, as well as key legislative developments, enforcement activity, and their potential implications for our institutions. We will discuss common compliance challenges and explore what steps institutions may consider as they prepare themselves to establish a robust research security program. This session will be facilitated by both institutional leaders from large research institutions as well as outside counsel and higher education consultants. 

Learning Objectives

By the end of this webinar, participants will be able to:

1. Gain an understanding of recent legislative, regulatory, enforcement activity, and policy updates
2. Share information about their experiences tackling potential research security risks with funding agencies
3. Explore ways in which institutions are developing their research security programs

View recorded webinar Research (In)security: Preparation for the Elusive Final Rule(s) and the (Im)balance of Agency Implementations (requires MIT authentication)

In this webinar, participants will learn how to develop complex budgets for large research center projects. Topics covered will include a presentation on how different costs can be supported through campus-wide policy development and resource planning tools. The presentation will end with a deep dive by building a sponsor budget task-by-task and aligning that budget to schedule milestones and tasks.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this webinar, participants will be able to:

1. Effectively engage your sponsored programs office and other campus stakeholders to develop institutional policy around direct costs.
2. Understand different ways to budget complex proposals and justify different types of allowable costs under University guidelines, eg provisional Service Centers, electronic Systems, Capital expenses, and administrative effort.
3. Gain proficiency with factors that impact the budget, including by-task or milestone driven project budgets.

View recorded webinar Building Complex Proposal Budgets - Proposal Preview and Tips on Direct Cost Budgeting (requires MIT authentication)

Borrowing from this popular phrase with origins in Southeast Asia, this session will explore the similarities and differences between research administration offices of all sizes whether central or departmental. While our research volumes are drastically different, the workloads, per capita funding for staffing, and stressors are quite similar. Join us as we provide our perspectives from our different vantage points. We will discuss staffing challenges, remote/hybrid workforces, and dealing with last minute proposals along with the challenge of being all things to all people.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this webinar, participants will be able to:

1. Recognize the similarities and differences faced by leaders of small medium, large and massive research administration portfolios.
2. Understand how to leverage connections to network in solving problems
3. Identify common and unique challenges faced by these types of institutions.

View Recorded Webinar: Same Same, But Different: Departmental Challenges and Successes  (requires MIT authentication)

This session will provide a broad overview of the proposed NSPM-33 program requirements. We will discuss which requirements are least likely to change and which have the greatest potential to change before the final guidance is released. We will host a dialogue about what participants are doing at their own institutions to prepare and where they are holding off. Finally, we will offer some ideas for how to start or keep the conversation going at your home institution.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this webinar, participants will be able to:

1. Participants will understand which NSPM-33 requirements are least likely to change versus those still in flux.
2. Participants will build an understanding of how to engage with key stakeholders despite the uncertainty of the final guidance.
3. Participants will learn from colleagues about what they are doing in these spaces.

View Recorded Webinar: NSPM-33 Compliance (requires MIT authentication)

This workshop provides a primary basis of understanding of proposals to and awards from the National Science Foundation (NSF). The program is perfect for someone new to research administration, as well as for research administrators seeking to expand their knowledge of federal funding agencies. The curriculum provides an overview of the policies and procedures essential to preparing successful proposals to and managing grant awards from NSF.

View recorded webinar:  NSF Fundamentals Virtual Workshop (requires MIT authentication)

This webinar will explore the internal controls framework for subrecipient monitoring based on federal regulations. By close examination of the rules, this session will break down the requirements (must!") vs. the nice to haves ("should!") and how to create a compliant institutional framework.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this webinar, participants will be able to:

1. Explore subrecipient monitoring federal requirements 
2. Discuss industry best practices

View recorded webinar: Get Control over Subrecipient Monitoring Controls  (requires MIT authentication)

How do Pre-Award actions affect Post-Award success? This session will incorporate multiple perspectives including those from central offices, departments, and principal investigators, to review common and preventable Post-Award issues and best proactive strategies on how to prevent them in the Pre-Award process.

Learning Objectives
By the end of this webinar, participants will be able to:

• Provide examples of common post-award issues. 
• Determine potential solutions in the pre-award process to avoid the common post-award issues. 
• Describe different perspectives to the proposal to award lifecycle to increase collaboration and understanding.

View recorded webinar:  Better Together: When Pre-Award Becomes a Post-Award Activity (requires MIT authentication)

In Research Administration, we talk about cost sharing as a real cost to our institutions and we recognize what is at stake if we don’t meet a cost share commitment. We often wish we could redefine commitments that were made in the proposal because they are difficult to track, and we find ourselves scrambling to resolve shortages or recovery from internal sources at the very end. Join us as we go beyond the basic definition of cost share. Webinar hosts will discuss their experiences and share how they tackled cost share challenges throughout the life of the project. Case studies will be used, and best practices shared as you consider how to alleviate some of the administrative burden.

View Recorded Webinar: NCURA Cost Share: Tackling the Challenges (requires MIT authentication)

Budget justifications have taken on increasing significance in recent years, moving from explaining to reviewers the basis of cost calculations to persuading them that the items are critical to the success of the project. In this webinar, you will learn how to craft a budget justification that not only conforms to Uniform Guidance expectations but also effectively establishes the credibility of the proposed project. Infrastructure supports will also be explored, including sample questions, templates, and automation. Inserting a few more specific details in targeted places in the narrative and budget justification can earn the essential benefit of the doubt points that elevate your projects into the “Funded” category. 

View Recorded Webinar: NCURA: Developing Compelling Budget Justification  (requires MIT authentication)

Participant support costs require special treatment and clear communication throughout the award life cycle. This webinar will help you understand what participant support costs are and why they are special. We will discuss the rules and regulations governing participant support costs.  We will talk about how to budget, set up, and manage participant support costs. We will also touch on audit considerations. So if there have been instances where you’ve struggled to confidently validate the allowability of participant support cost or if you could simply use a refresher on the fundamentals, then the Participant Support Costs webinar is for you. No matter if you reside in pre, post, or the department, this webinar will provide you with the knowledge and fundamental framework needed to manage participant support costs going forward. 

View Recorded Webinar: NCURA: Participant Support Costs  (requires MIT authentication)

Successful proposal submission requires research administrators at both the central and departmental levels to have a solid understanding of sponsor guidelines. Efforts to minimize the risk of receiving a proposal as “returned without review” are essential to achieving the goal of getting a complete and compliant package out the door on-time. As proposal development can be a labor-intensive and often frustrating endeavor, having a strong comprehension of an agency’s requirements is an important job skill. 

Join us as we delve into a robust discussion on one of the best tools you can utilize in your quest for success – the Request for Proposal (RFP). Topics to be discussed will include the importance of the RFP and its requisite components. We will review a diverse pool of RFPs and highlight similarities and identify those components that are unique to specific agencies. 

View Recorded Webinar: Avoid “Returned without Review….” An In-depth Look at Agency RFPs  (requires MIT authentication)

Everyone loves flexibility, nuance, and individuality until it comes time to make a decision. Research administrators spend a lot of time navigating the gray, interpreting vague regulations, accommodating non-standard situations, and considering special requests for exceptions. In this webinar, we’re going to discuss strategies for coping with the vagaries of our profession. We’ll consider why different institutions establish different rules, why central offices sometimes make “inconsistent” decisions, and why project-specific needs often confound our best efforts to routinize. Registrants will be polled prior to the webinar to identify any specific issues that they would like to discuss. 

View Recorded Webinar: Navigating “It Depends…” (requires MIT authentication)