Abstract

Universities are under increasing pressure to implement changes in order to adapt to the evolving context and enhance their performance in a sustainable way.
Research Management professionals (RMs) with different profiles can play a role in these efforts supporting the design of new policies, structures, services, and roles and the cultural shifts needed for systemic change.
In the table we will ask participants to share the experience of RMs in participating in institutional change. We will start the discussion by briefly presenting concrete case studies experienced at the Research Division of the University of Bologna, related to:
(i) the development of institutional policies in different fields (e.g. Child Protection, Open Science, AI)
(ii) the definition of shared inter-institutional processes of collaboration with the local ecosystem’s actors (development of guidelines for the collaboration between university researchers and Bologna research hospitals).
These examples highlight how close collaboration between the university’s governance, researchers, administrative professionals, and other ecosystem actors is essential for successfully navigating and implementing a more sustainable institutional change.
Our aim is to investigate with participants the perspectives of RMs involved in institutional change processes. We will focus on the existing and new skills they require, how these changes are making their daily work more engaging—offering greater connection to real-world impact, increased variety in content and career perspectives, and enhanced adaptability to rapid change—and how these changes can positively and sustainably impact the performance of the institutional ecosystem.
The investigation will be conducted through a dynamic interaction with the participants, using engaging techniques to leverage the discussion.
The discussion will shed light on a facet of the RM role that has not been investigated so far, i.e. how they can support complex institutional processes of organisational change, using their research management expertise, acquiring new skills through the engagement in these processes and exploring how these processes can be made sustainable.
We aim to raise awareness on these unexplored aspects within the community of RMs thus contributing to the acknowledgment of the added value and unlocked potential of RM skills and expertise.
This takeaway will be helpful and hopefully encouraging for those who have not been involved in institutional change processes yet, but also for those who are already facing these procedures to be inspired by colleagues’ experience.