Promoting Diversity in Clinical Trials [May 1, 2024]
WebinarHistorically, clinical trials did not always recruit participants who represented the individuals most affected by a particular disease, condition, or behavior. This has created gaps in our understanding of disease and can impede the quality of health care. Clinicians and researchers should carefully consider the inclusion or exclusion criteria for…
April Misconduct and Ethics Community Call [April 29, 2024]
WebinarOn this Misconduct & Ethics community call, we reviewed key takeaways from the February meeting held at Doris Duke with outside stakeholders on this topic. Using feedback from this community and the February convening, we have developed a draft logic model to guide next steps of this community (see image…
April Grants Administration Community Open Mic [April 17, 2024]
WebinarThis Grants Administration Community open mic focused on sharing tools and tricks (including AI and considerations around LLMs) to make our grants admin lives easier. Participants discussed tools like grants administration system features for automation and post-award management, Smartsheet for project management, and various AI tools for use by both funders…
Benefits of ORCiD for Funders [March 25, 2024]
WebinarThe ORCID US Community team for presented on the benefits of ORCID consortium membership for funders. For example, linking your awards with your awardees’ and reviewers’ ORCID records enables you to: Improve your ability to track the impact of your awards and your awardees, even after the end of the…
March Grants Administration Open Mic: Peer Review [March 21, 2024]
WebinarThis Grants Administration Community open mic discussion was a discussion around PEER REVIEW! We’ve had a lot of pre-and-post-award topic recently and are delighted to revisit one of our favorite and most frequently questioned topics. This can include reducing bias in peer review, best practices for scientific review, the review…
March Research Workforce and Early Career Development Community Call [March 20, 2024]
WebinarIn the past, biomedical research grants were often fiscal activities to advance the science in a specific field or area, acting more as simply a funding source than as a program that engages its grantees. Funders have realized that their impact can be enhanced by creating a holistic approach to…
March AI & LLM Community Call: Patient-Facing AI [March 19, 2024]
WebinarThe March AI & LLM Learning Community discussion centered around AI & LLMs in a clinical context. Jen Hall (American Heart Association) and Craig Giroux (PCORI) lead a discussion around the challenges and responsibilities of funders in clinical trials, patient perceptions of AI, biases in clinical algorithms, the role of…
Innovative Methods for Choosing Among Competing Grant Applications – Spring 2024 Members Meeting [March 14, 2024]
Meeting | WebinarMost HRA members fund grants through competitive applications processes. We must sort through the proposals and make decisions on how best to spend our available dollars to achieve the strategic goals of our organization. Most of us use some variation on the process of peer reviews to rank the meritorious…
The Open Science Landscape: Context & Opportunities for Nonprofit Funders – Spring 2024 Members Meeting [March 14, 2024]
Meeting | WebinarOpen Science is the principle and practice of making research products and processes available to all, which fosters collaborations, reproducibility, and equity. This session will explore the ways in which funders can implement open policies that complement those of federal agencies. The session opened with an overview of current federal…
Measures of Success – Spring 2024 Members Meeting [March 12, 2024]
Meeting | WebinarThis session offers an interactive exploration of the multifaceted nature of success in the context of biomedical and health research funding. Recognizing that the definition of success is not one-size-fits-all, the session will delve into how various funders, ranging from disease-specific organizations to disease-agnostic entities and spanning the spectrum from…
Awardees Choosing a Career in Industry: Can it Advance Funders’ Missions? Spring 2024 Members Meeting [March 12, 2024]
Meeting | WebinarThis session discussed the potential benefits of researchers choosing a career in industry over an academic career. Do funders consider this career choice a successful outcome, and recognize that it can be another equally valuable career path? If so, are there ways funders can facilitate this transition to more effectively…
Partnering with Other Funders – Spring 2024 Members Meeting [March 11, 2024]
Meeting | WebinarThis session explored the intricacies of supporting research through effective partnerships. Through speakers and breakout discussion, we showcased effective models–from ongoing funder collaboratives to one-off partnerships–and identify best practices and challenges. Attendees left the session with insights and tips for exploring opportunities for collaboration. Panelists presented real-life examples of successful…
Health Research Alliance Convening on Bullying and Harassment [February 26, 2024]
MeetingThis convening was generously hosted by the Doris Duke Foundation Bullying, harassment, and toxic research environments can impact all members of the scientific community, including graduate students, early career researchers, and established tenured faculty. Biomedical researchers are more likely than the general population to experience depression and anxiety, in part…
February Grants Administration Community Call [February 15, 2024]
WebinarThe February Grants Administration Community open mic discussion was on Thursday, February 15th, and was an open discussion starting with (1) how to capture the outcomes (publications, further funding, IP, tools, career progress, etc.; including progress report templates) of the research we fund, and then (2) how to report these…
February AI & LLM Community Call [February 13, 2024]
WebinarThis was the first Open Mic call hosted by the AI and LLM Learning Community in 2024! Discussion topics included funder policies related to AI/LLMs, and a discussion of the results from a survey sent to HRA members.
January DEI Community Call [January 29, 2024]
WebinarIn this community call, DEI Community Co-Chairs on gave a recap of the community activities from 2023, and lead a discussion of priorities and new topics to discuss in 2024.
January 2024 Grants Administration Community Call [January 25, 2024]
WebinarThe Grants Administration Community hosted a kick-off call for 2024 to look at the year ahead. Co-chairs and attendees discussed continuing monthly open mic webinars, potential topics for future discussions, the Grants Administration Handbook, and new opportunities for leadership in the Grants Administration Learning Community. Pending continued member interest, the Grants…
December Registry and Biorepository Community Call [December 7, 2023]
WebinarIn the December Registry and Biorepository community call, we shared details from two programs on prioritizing research questions and use cases of Registry data. IBD Plexus talked about their process of aligning programmatic support with the research questions they hope to solve. The PKD Foundation shared details of a recent…
Interactive AI/LLM Learning Session [December 7, 2023]
WebinarThe AI and LLM Learning Community hosted an interactive session on using Large Language Model (LLM) platforms. The session began with a short presentation from Al Towers (Alzheimer’s Association) discussing “the art of the prompt.” Kevin Sia (DDF) showed us how he has used these platforms and shared some cautionary…
HRA Grants Administration Handbook
DocumentIn alignment with HRA’s Strategic Plan, the main priority for the Grants Administration Community has been to spearhead the creation of a grantmaking handbook specifically targeted for use by HRA members—health research funders. Along with leveraging the resources already on HRA’s website and listserv, the Grants Administration Community relies on…
Program Evaluation Community Call: Utilizing Visualization for Program Evaluation Part 2 – Practical strategies for effectively communicating evaluation findings [December 4, 2023]
WebinarAs discussed in our September 2022 Program Evaluation Community webinar, the use of effective data visualization as a component of program evaluation can be a powerful asset in an evaluation toolkit for both internal and external stakeholders. In this webinar, we continued building on this skillset through an interactive and engaging…
DEI Community Call: Grantee Selection Strategies and the SCOTUS Race-Conscious Admissions Decision [November 29, 2023]
WebinarMany nonprofit funding organizations have been observing the United States Supreme Court’s Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College decision regarding race-conscious admissions, and wondering about the ways in which this decision could impact similar processes outside of higher ed, like grantee selection. While the…
AI and LLM News Articles (2023)
DocumentHere are some recent articles about Artificial Intelligence and Large Language Models that may be of interest to the HRA community: SUPPORTING RESEARCH ChatGPT and generative AI: 25 applications to support research (October 2023; Final installation of the Times Higher Education series looking at 100 ways to use ChatGPT in…
Evaluation Tools for HRA Members (2023)
DocumentThe Program Evaluation Learning Community has compiled a list of tools available for various purposes, including measuring outcomes, visualizing data, and bibliographic management. Check out the Google Sheet, linked above, for the full list!