July 2, 2015

Research Impact to the UW, our State and our World

I recently had the opportunity to address a committee of the National Academy of Sciences. The focus of this presentation was to outline the challenges we face in maintaining strong compliance of federal research regulations and reporting, while supporting the key goal of reducing the heavy administrative burden on our researchers and administrators. Our challenge as an administrative unit is daunting; to fulfill the sometimes heavy burden of research compliance, while at the same time fulfilling our mission of creating a climate for our researchers to do great research. One way we are taking on this challenge is to develop systems and processes to save time for our researchers. Through data-driven decision making, we seek to have the flexibility to respond to both internal and external factors while meeting the diverse needs of our campus community. Our goal is to give researchers time back to do research!

In our July newsletter, we articulate the impact to our research community at the University of Washington and align with the UW goal to “Be the greatest public university in the world, as measured by our impact on students, our state and the world.” Our holistic approach includes creating systems and training so we have a well-trained and knowledgeable workforce and removing requirements that do not add value. We make strategic decisions in a systematic approach addressing training (Collaborative for Research Education), and systems integration.