Research Partner

Location - This role is hybrid with a mix of remote and in-person. Work primarily takes place at North Campus, Edmonton.

Under the leadership of a Senior Research Partner (SRP), working directly with researchers as intellectually engaged colleagues, the Research Partner (RP) provides institution-wide, portfolio-focused research development support. The incumbent draws on a broad understanding of best practices in research proposal crafting, requirements related to external funding organizations, research application/proposal development, and all aspects of the research development and administration continuum, with the overall goal of increasing success of research proposals and in turn increasing the external research funding that comes to the U of A. The work of the RP also supports the role of the SRP in identifying opportunities for streamlining, policy and procedure improvement, and in reaching strategic research goals.

Strategic Advisor

• Assists researchers in all aspects of research proposal development.
• Provides professional level advice to vice/associate deans research, faculty general/academic department managers, other senior administrators (i.e. Chairs, Centre and Institute directors, etc.), researchers and their staff, within assigned areas on a variety of research administration matters including research policy interpretation (both UofA and external bodies including funding organizations and research regulatory bodies), managing exceptions, and/or exceptional situations, and issue resolution.
• Helps faculties to develop, implement, and manage research policy-related procedures (e.g. handling of indirect costs of research, managing eligibility exceptions, managing internal pots of research funding, etc.) at the unit level leveraging institutional best practices as applicable.
• Coordinates, promotes and/or delivers training on research development and administration related best-practices, policies and procedures (both UofA and funding organization related).
• Leading and/or involved in development of the training material as required.

Issue Resolver

• Provides requested research administration-related data and analytics used for key decision making by area leadership.
• Plays a role in resolving research administration and research development related issues (including research policy and one-off exceptions, procedure, and funding organization related) and concerns brought to their attention within their assigned areas.
• Due to the breadth of research administration and the interconnections with other administrative areas, the partners will work collaboratively with partners from other networks, research administration specialists, senior research partners, external funding organizations, and central staff in VPRI and other COEs as required.
• Proactively identifies potential issues and offers creative, researcher-focused solutions where possible and within the appropriate policy/best practices framework.

Relationship Manager

• Develops and maintains positive working relationships within assigned areas.
• Facilitates the development of research partnerships and connection between faculty/department/researchers and potential collaborators.
• Maintains productive relationships with colleagues in VPRI Centres of Expertise and other UofA units responsible for supporting researchers.
• Proactively establishes, develops and maintains productive relationships with key stakeholders including external funding organization and industry sponsors, in order to, among other things, assist in enhancing the profile and scope of research initiatives with assigned areas.

Researcher Support

• Provides strategic advice, coaching and hands-on assistance for the development of grant applications/proposals to researchers from idea through to submission, including strategizing on how to leverage funding and take advantage of other opportunities to bring in more research funding at the individual researcher level.
• Develops and maintains an in-depth understanding of the research capacity and expertise that exists within assigned areas.
• Proactively develops and provides educational opportunities and materials related to sponsorspecific grant-crafting success for researchers, by identifying needs for additional or new research supports based on interactions with researchers within assigned area, or according to requests from researchers, faculties, other units, or sponsors.
• Targets distribution of funding opportunities to individual researchers and recommendations for research partnerships/collaborations (with research institutions, government organizations, not for profits, and industry) based on a thorough knowledge of researchers areas of expertise within partners assigned area in support of increasing awareness and proactively generating additional opportunities for researchers to apply for funding.
• Provides expert research proposal development support to researchers, individually and in cohorts, to improve quality of applications submitted to funding organizations.
• The Research Partner works closely with the faculty Vice/ADR and senior research partners to assess and proactively anticipate researchers’ needs, and coordinates, facilitates, designs, develops, and /or delivers both faculty-specific and institution-wide, competition-specific research proposal development support designed to increase institutional success rates.
• Coordinates Research Partner Network proposal-development supports with opportunities and resources provided by the COEs within VPRI and other units across the UofA campuses.

• A Graduate degree required. Equivalent combination(s) of training and experience may be considered.
• Minimum five years of relevant work experience, ideally in an academic research environment.
• Detailed knowledge of the integrated research enterprise model and research administration continuum.
• Experience in developing, writing, and/or editing research funding applications/proposals and a solid understanding of federal and provincial research funding environment and funding agency mandates, culture, opportunities and guidelines.
• Experience in identifying, developing and delivering training opportunities. Computer/IT skills relevant to today’s work environment (e.g., Microsoft Office, PeopleSoft, Google Suite, Zoom).
• Excellent active listening, oral and written communication skills.
• Ability to work under pressure in a high volume, fast-paced environment.
• Excellent time management skills with the proven ability to manage and prioritize multiple tasks and competing deadlines.
• Ability to apply problem solving and critical thinking skills to analyze problems, identify alternative solutions, assess consequences of proposed actions, choose the most appropriate solution and implement successfully.
• Experience working independently within a large institutional environment and demonstration of effective collaboration with a variety of individuals and groups.
• Fluency in French, both spoken and written is an asset.

Application Instructions

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This position has a comprehensive benefits package and an annual salary range of $75,585 to $125,973.

The terms and conditions of this appointment are governed by Schedule F of the collective agreement between the Board of Governors of the University of Alberta and the Association of Academic Staff of the University of Alberta.