Administrative Support for LargeScale Funding Applications –
Session 2: Communicating
Project Goals and Objectives
Click to edit Master text styles
Office of the Vice-President Research & Innovation
Second level
Third level
Fourth level
Fifth level
Sarah Whitaker, Sr. Research Officer
August 22, 2012
1
Goals
• To offer professional development for research administrative staff,
enabling continuous improvement in the quality of support for
research funding applications.
• To increase the number of research support personnel on campus
who have the skills and knowledge needed to support the
development of large-scale research applications.
• To increase the University’s overall capacity to support a growing
number of large-scale applications for external research funding.
2
Session 2 – Communicating
Project Goals and Objectives
Topics to be addressed include:
3
•
Project Summary writing for large scale applications
•
KMb strategies and writing formats
•
Writing about outcomes/outputs/deliverables
•
Balancing partner/stakeholder interests
•
Effective communication of feedback to researchers
•
Common challenges and strategies for success
Project Summary Writing
Be sure to address:
4
•
the need for the research
•
what is new, what is different, what is better?
•
why is it critically important to pursue the opportunity at this
time?
•
the quality of the research, team, partners, etc.
•
the methodology
•
the expected project outputs
•
target audiences, policy, etc.
•
the objective – what will be different once this project is
complete?
•
the benefits to Canada, as appropriate
Project Summary Writing con’t
Other items may include:
•
alignment with institutional strategic research goals
•
how the proposal aligns federal and/or provincial research
strategies
• E.g., the Government of Canada’s Science & Technology
Strategy four target areas.
• E.g., the Ontario Innovation Agenda
5
•
alignment with funder mandates
•
governance structures, if significant to the funder
•
sustainability of the project and/or project outputs
•
information specifically requested in the guidelines
KMb Unit at York University
York University is a recognized leader in Knowledge Mobilization
(KMb) in Canada and internationally. KMb is a suite of activities that
enhances the two-way connection between researchers and research
users. It provides services to maximize the impact of research and
employs dedicated knowledge brokers to support:
• Researchers in all disciplines by matching them with an
organization to enable the impact of their work on policy or
professional practice
• External organizations in seeking research expertise and
collaboration from York
6
KMb Plan
Activity
Targeted
Rationale
Audiences
Key
Outcome Desired
Outcomes Indicators Impacts
Forums
Municipal
Leaders
Generate
Awareness,
Behaviour
Change
Social
Media
7
Project
Team
Members
Political
Engagement
Tools for
Generate
Collaboration
Behaviour
and
Change
Communication
# Meetings
# People
Satisfaction
# Blogs,
Comments
Klout Score
Awareness of
importance of
evidence (1yr)
Informed
decisions (5yr)
Build a
research
culture
amongst
project team
(1 yr)
Writing about outcomes and
deliverables
8
•
What are the project outputs or deliverables? What format are they in?
•
What is the anticipated value of the research?
•
What are the anticipated impacts of the research?
•
On the filed of research?
•
On the policy community?
•
On the public?
•
On the private sector?
•
On the public sector?
Writing about outcomes and
deliverables
Other considerations may include:
9
•
value of new knowledge
•
industrial application
•
potential for economic benefit
•
impact on society
•
impact on areas such as health or the environment
•
impact on the nation’s/province’s economy
•
enhanced global profile for York or for Canadian research
Outputs
What are possible project outputs?
10
Milestones and Deliverables
Project Management Milestones
•
e.g. hire manager, refine governance structure, appoint advisory body
Research Capacity Building Milestones
•
e.g. hire post-docs, engage graduate students, collaborative website
live, etc.
Research Milestones
•
11
e.g. literature reviews completed, data collection completed, data
analysis completed, # of publications accepted, gray literature
produced, etc.
Milestones and Deliverables con’t
Commercialization Milestones
•
What is the commercialization potential of your research and when do
you expect it to be achieved?
•
Identify the financial, social, environmental and/or ethical goals.
•
Outline your commercialization path, including strategy for achieving
your project’s short and/or long-term commercialization potential and
practical application to industry.
•
Address potential for knowledge transfer to the industry.
Other Milestones
•
12
conferences, workshops, visiting faculty, youth outreach, other
publications, exhibits, graduated students, website activity, films, policy
forums, etc.
Outcomes
• How will the research program lead to tangible benefits for society?
• Appropriate measures are in place to transfer the research results
and outputs to potential end users in a timely manner.
• How will we measure outcomes? Is it possible to do so within the
project timeframe?
• Qualitative vs. quantitative
13
Balancing Stakeholder Interests
• How do we balance the interests of large groups of scholars and/or
partners?
• How do we reconcile different timelines between organizations?
• Activism vs. Scholarship
• Industry driven vs. University driven
• How do we balance information requested by funders vs.
information teams wish to provide to a funder?
14
Effective Communication of
Feedback to Researchers
15
•
provide examples from both successful and unsuccessful applications
•
refer to objectives and established assessment criteria for the program
•
refer to specific instructions. Has the researcher addressed the question
directly? Have they answered all parts of the question?
•
investigate the differences between the project and the application for
funding
•
offer “recommendations and comments” for consideration
•
reiterate information on the availability of services
Common Challenges and
Strategies for Success
16
•
strike a balance between technical and non-technical language
•
use language of the funders/funding agency
•
can you name the project outputs and potential impacts?
•
can name the measures for success? And on what timeline?
•
after reading the draft, can you briefly summarize the research?
•
situate the project globally, nationally, etc.
•
encourage peer review from different disciplines or from outside the
academy, if appropriate
•
engage support services on campus (e.g., KMb unit, Faculties, ORS,
others)
Feedback
Please complete the feedback form in your kit as your
recommendations will help us improve subsequent sessions.
Thank you!
17
Up Next…
Session 3 – Budgeting for Large-scale Projects
August 23, 2012 from 10am – 12pm, 626 YRT
18