The Research Lifecycle Programme continues to support Project A – Award Mobilisation to improve the researcher and professional services experience at the point of award mobilisation.​​                                                           

Demands on time for our current service teams at the application and live project management stages mean the complex array of processes that need to be followed at award mobilisation, are unclear for the researcher,  constantly compete with externally driven deadlines which are often prioritised and can take more time than we would wish as a result.​​

With the welcome investment of increased FTE headcount in faculty Research Services teams and Research Finance and the streamlining of award setup processes, we will deliver an improved service across the award mobilisation stage. ​

Recruitment activities have been taking place both in Research Finance and Research Services to provide more focused FTE within the area of awards mobilisation. Three new posts have been recruited to Research Finance, confirmation of the FHUM award mobilization team is underway and four of the nine additional new posts across FBMH and FSE have been filled. A further recruitment round will take place over the summer to fill the remaining posts.

Once all recruitment activities have taken place, an onboarding period will begin to train all staff and get them up to speed.

In addition to the increased headcount, deep dive workshops have been taking place and will continue over the summer months and into the new academic year. Stakeholders across PS have been reviewing the awards mobilisation processes, assigning ownership, recommending system and process changes, and identifying efficiencies to improve the researcher experience.

The project sponsors are Dr Kay Hodgson and Professor Ian Kinloch, and the project has representation from across Research Services including Research Finance, plus P&OD and Contracts but will also liaise with areas such as Ethics. ​

An Academic Advisory Group is in place to ensure the researcher experience is central

FAQs

Who will be responsible for training the new award mobilisation staff?

Training throughout this period will be an important aspect and to a certain extent will depend on the needs of the people recruited. A mix of existing and new training material is anticipated and the project will be developing the training plan over the coming months

Who are involved in the deep dive workshops?

The process deep dives are drawn from the broader pool of Research Services, Research Finance, RBE, P&OD and other PS colleagues and the project team encourages anyone interested in participating to come forward by emailing rlp-projecta@manchester.ac.uk

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