Conference: Research Analytics Summit: Building Capacity, Empowering Skill Transfer, and Energizing a Growing Community

University Of Kentucky Research Foundation, Lexington KY

Investigators

Abstract

The GRANTED initiative highlights the need to encourage academic inquiry and knowledge creation from a wide variety of higher education institutions, especially emerging research institutions and minority-serving institutions (MSI’s). At Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs) in particular, there is a unique opportunity to support innovative epistemological and ontological frameworks that may offer important insights for dealing with issues like climate change, food security, and environmental change. With opportunities for different kinds of knowledge creation and problem-solving, it is critical to effectively support new models for what counts as basic and applied research. Using data to better understand, support, and identify unique characteristics of academic inquiry would be a unique and valuable outcome of the summit, which would be intentionally inclusive in welcoming diverse institutions into the research administration community. The potentially new ways of creating and apprehending knowledge through research at TCUs should not be seen as competing with traditional modes of academic inquiry. Rather, these frameworks can complement mainstream western science, offering a new lens for inquiry, discovery, and understanding. The goal of this project is to host a national summit that focuses on key areas related to the use of data-informed decision-making within research administration, called Research Analytics. This will be the first of its kind conference dedicated to the field of research analytics and data-practitioners. Research Analytics is in its infancy at major research administration conferences. Many professionals working in this space have taken it on as only a small part of their position duties, and they are often not trained in data analysis or business intelligence systems. Outcomes of the meeting include a professional mentoring framework, professional collaboration, professional development, conference proceeding materials, and possibly identify future funding opportunities focused on research analytics. The summit will include participants from a variety of research intensive institutions including a focus on emerging research institutions, Tribal Colleges and Universities, and other minority-serving institutions. The summit will help build capacity through sharing of best practices, skill development, and building of networks. The meeting will focus on areas related to human capital and technology and skills. These themes will allow for interconnectivity of leadership, culture, governance, and technology—to provide informed and strategic decision-making within the research enterprise. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.