Abstract

The university of Bologna has largely broadened its administrative staff increasing the recruitment of Research Managers, to fulfill the fast-growing participation to competitive Grants, as part of its institutional goal to became a top research university.

The Competitive Projects Office for the Medical Area, created in January of 2020 is composed of 8 RM that service the Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences and the Department of Biomedical and Neuromotor Sciences, with more than 200 active projects. Our main role is to give support to researchers from pre-award to post-Award phase, managing projects that come different type of calls; from National Government Grants, European and International (public and private) Grants to Health Research Foundations, and Private Society Grants.

The critical aspects when managing a project in the medical field arise early in the life of the project, starting from the publication of the call. One of the most complex aspects is the dual role of our researchers: medical and academic. Most of our researchers are MD Professors in the Department and Physicians at the University Hospital or scientists working at the University Hospital with a University contract. Due to this duality and in order to choose the most suitable Host institution to apply with (University or University Hospital); the RM must evaluate carefully every call and every participant. The nature of the activities proposed as well as the type of studies involved (clinical studies, pre-clinical, lab-experimental or data analysis) and the use of laboratories; become the key decision parameters. Since a thorough evaluation is required and the process could be long depending on the number of participants, the RM must learn to administrate deadlines with the need of establishing internal pre-deadlines.

In addition, most of our projects involve partnerships with healthcare research centers (IRCCS), Hospitals and Departments from other disciplines. The negotiation of partnership agreements could vary in complexity, depending on the nature of the proposed project activities. If the project involves clinical or animal studies, the use of patient databases, and/or the collection of biological samples; we get the opportunity to seek transversal support: our legal office for the privacy and data processing aspects, the material transfer agreement support office, and the Ethical Committee support office. Negotiation of the agreements, give us also the opportunity to lean from different RM approaches from other administrations.

In conclusion, the role of the RM in the medical field is complex, requiring the management of multiple cross-cutting aspects that makes our everyday job dynamic with new challenges that can only add value to our career.

Learning outcomes: How RM cross-cutting activities in the medical field improve our skills enriching our career