The challenge of research management

Charles Muiriuri

Published March 5, 2009, last updated on March 7, 2013 under Research News

Scientists in sub-Saharan Africa are realizing that they need to acquire not just the know-how to tackle infectious and chronic diseases but expertise in administering a fountain of grants from NIH and prominent foundations.

With that in mind, research administrators working through the Fogarty-sponsored Duke University-Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Center Collaboration in Tanzania recently launched an association to develop an efficient and accountable flow of funding.

Three Fogarty administrators—Executive Officer Timothy J. Tosten, program officer Dr. Jeanne McDermott and grants management specialist Elizabeth Cleveland—traveled to Moshi, Tanzania, to hear what the regional needs are.

“This was their idea, and we jumped on it because it is right in line with the Fogarty strategic plan to facilitate research hubs that would encompass management skills as well as scientific ones,” Cleveland explained. “In lower-income countries, researchers are doing the administration and it takes time away from their research.”

Participants came from Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Center, Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences in Tanzania, Makerere University College of Health Sciences in Uganda, Kenya Medical Research Institute, University of Nairobi, Kenyatta National Hospital and Moi University in Kenya.

Once the Association of Research Administrators in Africa becomes established, planners say it will be open to other institutions in East Africa.

The idea is “to get Africans at all levels to understand the process and be part of the research agenda,” said Kenyan born Charles Muiruri, who works for Duke Global Health Institute and who sparked the organization.

He said individual members of the organization are being urged to gather support and expertise among counterparts at other institutions throughout the region “so that this becomes not a Western but actually an African idea.” This would assist us to understand how to build a sustainable model in this region to be replicated elsewhere.”

An executive meeting is scheduled for early 2009 and another general meeting is scheduled for late summer or fall at Moi University in Eldoret, Kenya.

Elizabeth Cleveland, Dr. Jeanne McDermott, and Tim Tosten sit together at a table.
Grants management specialist Elizabeth Cleveland, program officer Dr. Jeanne
McDermott and Fogarty’s Executive Officer Tim Tosten attend opening
meeting of the Association of Research Administration in Moshi, Tanzania.

Proposed Aims of the Association of Research Administrators in Africa:

  * Advance the understanding of the value and importance of research and the contributions of research administration to the research enterprise.
  * Provide an environment for collaborative efforts to identify, evaluate and disseminate information related to best practices of research administrators.
  * Establish individual contacts and also foster research site collaborations with the aim of achieving common goals.
  * Improve communication among research administrators and investigators in the region.
  * Increase the number of International Extramural Associates Research Development Award recipients in the region.
  * Establish offices of research development in resource-limited settings.
  * Develop a model to be used by other African regions in establishing their own Association chapters.

View the original publication here.

Research administrators working through the Fogarty-sponsored Duke University-Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Center Collaboration in Tanzania recently launched an association to develop an efficient and accountable flow of funding.

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