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…
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…
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…
Bias Mitigation in Peer Review Training for Reviewers
DocumentBias in peer review of grants and fellowships can affect funding decisions and lead to inequitable outcomes. To reduce the impact of bias during peer review, the Health Research Alliance (HRA) has developed a Bias Mitigation in Peer Review Training for Reviewers as part of our Inclusive Grantmaking Initiative. This…
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.
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 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…
Listserv Responses: Grant Management and Financial Software [October 2023]
Listserv SummaryThanks to Ryan Godfrey from the Cancer Research Institute for starting a discussion about grants management and financial software systems, particularly financial systems that pair well with ProposalCentral. The document linked above summarizes the discussion (available to HRA members only; you must be logged into the website to download the…
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!
Grants Administration Community Call [November 16, 2023]
WebinarThis Grants Admin Community Call was an open discussion about handling change requests. This includesd NCEs, institution transfers, change of scope, re-budget requests, etc.—how organizations receive, review, and approve such requests, and similar considerations. As a reminder, the Grants Admin Community will hold recurring webinars on the second or third Thursday…
HRA Guide to Collecting Demographic Data
Document | Key IdeasCollecting demographic data consistently, accurately, and respectfully allows funders to monitor the diversity of their applicants, awardees, and reviewers, and assess ways in which their processes and practices may be creating barriers or inequities for certain demographic groups. This guide, developed as part of the Health Research Alliance Inclusive Grantmaking…
Trial Finder Tools: Increasing Access to Clinical Trial Information [November 7, 2023]
WebinarThe Health Research Alliance (HRA) Clinical Trials Interest Group hosted a presentation from the Alzheimer’s Association about TrialMatch, an online tool that helps users find information about clinical trials for which they may qualify. We learned about how the TrialMatch tool fits into other patient engagement efforts, how the tool…
Strategies for Communicating Your Organization’s Impact [October 24, 2023]
WebinarIn this webinar, attendees learned effective practices for how to communicate their organization’s impact to 5 key stakeholder groups, each of which requires a different strategy: (1) Organizational Leadership, (2) Policymakers, (3) Practitioners, (4) Researchers, and (5) the General Community. Publication Academy, Inc. introduced their custom online curricula that has…
Approaches to Track and Highlight the Successes of Our Grantees [HRA Members Meeting, Chicago, Fall 2023]
MeetingTuesday October 17, 12:45pm-1:45pm CT This session discussed the use of alternative measures to track success in evaluating and highlighting the impact of grant funding – both during the grant term and post award. During this session we learned strategies for collecting data from grantees and alumni to tracking research…
AI and LLM Learning Community Session [HRA Members Meeting, Chicago, Fall 2023]
MeetingTuesday October 17, 3:15pm-4:30pm CT Attendees to the AI and LLMs Learning Community session participated in an open mic discussion on the impact of newly established policy topics around AI and LLM (e.g. what is needed in policies to address using AI effectively, fairly, safely, in grantmaking and patient engagement…
How the Research Landscape is Changing [HRA Members Meeting, Chicago, Fall 2023]
MeetingTuesday October 17, 2:00pm-3:45pm CT This session will discuss how biomedical research funding trends and priorities have evolved and continue to adapt. This session will discuss how the rising costs of research impacts what funders are doing, how funders have changed who they are funding in terms of career stage,…
Research Workforce and Early Career Development Learning Community [HRA Members Meeting, Chicago, Fall 2023]
MeetingMonday October 16, 11:00am-12:00pm CT Session Description This session showcased resources that support Early Career researchers in areas such as mental health, leadership and management, financial planning, and dependent care. These areas have been highlighted recently as being critical to recruitment, retention and well-being during the early career stage. Funders…