UAB President Ray Watts, Vice President for Research Chris Brown and chairs of its seven working groups shared a comprehensive update on the Research Strategic Initiative at the Heersink Conference Center on March 19. (Watch a full video of the event on Box; link requires BlazerID login.)
“It is timely that we get together and talk about opportunities and challenges facing us, the progress we have made over the past year, and plans moving forward,” Watts said.
Watts highlighted the extensive collaboration between UAB leaders and Alabama’s congressional delegation, including Senator Katie Britt, who has “continued to be a great advocate” for UAB in awarding and release of federal research funds, he said.
UAB researchers have responded productively, increasing their grant submissions to all sponsors by more than 350, or 28 percent more, over the same date of the previous year. “Everyone is working hard,” Watts said. UAB has invested internal resources and supplemental state allocations into key strategic recruitment and retention efforts, including the Presidential Bridge Funding program. Provost Janet Woodruff-Borden organized online seminars to help faculty with strategies for identifying new funding sources. “And we have put a strong focus on industry clinical trials,” Watts said.
“We have to keep doing our work,” Watts concluded. “I can’t tell you how much we appreciate your hard work every day.”
Brown then offered an overview of the Research Strategic Initiative’s future direction. “We started this with a thorough assessment in 2022 … and really hit our stride in 2024,” Brown said. Between fiscal years 2022 and 2025, UAB has had strong results across all four key performance indicators tracked in the Research Strategic Initiative’s metrics dashboard: Research expenditures are up; the non-federal clinical trials portfolio has grown from $44 million to $59 million; intellectual property disclosures and licensing revenues are climbing sharply; and the number of principal investigators has been stable, thanks to UAB’s recruitment and retention efforts.
“Going forward, we are transitioning into the final phase of implementation,” Brown said. Much of what the working groups have initiated can be continued by departments and units as part of normal operations, he noted: In 2026, “we want to operationalize the remaining Research Strategic Initiative plans, including transfer of ownership to sustaining units.” As that occurs, the working groups will be sunsetted. Accountability for ongoing plans and Research Strategic Initiative goals will be embedded into existing campus governance channels, but the initiative’s metrics dashboard will be continued to measure continued progress and ensure transparency, Brown added.
Following Brown’s presentation, chairs of each of the Research Strategic Initiative’s seven working groups shared key accomplishments and progress reports on each of their plans.
These brief overviews captured the breadth of changes implemented through the Research Strategic Initiative:
- Streamlining research procedures across UAB to reduce administrative burdens, including identifying and remedying common causes of delay; consolidation and reorganization of offices to improve uniformity and efficiency; and fostering a culture of collaboration and service.
- Ensuring that UAB’s technology systems actively support research efforts, including introducing a new electronic research administration platform; reorganizing the clinical trials management system and integrating UAB St. Vincent’s trials into that system; and introducing new AI tools to assist researchers with research processes, clinical trials and contract reviews.
- Coordinating and enhancing research data management services, policies and infrastructure with key input from researchers to prepare UAB for new federal data protection regulations; taking an enterprise approach to research applications; and recruiting for a new Chief Research Informatics Officer position.
- Reviewing and revising employment policies and support to make UAB an employment destination for researchers, including clarifying alternate work options for faculty; developing a research career ladder so that staff can identify growth opportunities; and providing training to help researchers build resilient funding strategies.
- Augmenting and elevating the research administration workforce by strengthening and expanding services to support multi- and interdisciplinary research teams; establishing uniform job titles within all campus-wide units and developing a research administration career ladder; and creating a collaborative community for peer support and strategic collaboration.
- Optimizing and enhancing UAB’s research facilities through research space master planning to define the future of physical plant and equipment investments; reducing energy and consumables usage through the Green Labs program and saving labs money through the Marketplace equipment-sharing platform; and exploring a University of Alabama System-wide space request portal.
- Monitoring, interpreting and communicating new federal guidance efficiently to UAB’s research enterprise to senior leaders to ensure compliance, risk mitigation and alignment with strategic research goals.
“It is very important that we continue to collaborate and communicate how we are approaching the evolving research landscape,” President Watts said in concluding remarks. “You can see there is a lot of work being done by a lot of people across campus. It involves faculty, staff and administration — everyone working together. That is what it is going to take for us to continue to be successful.”
Questions received online that presenters were not able to address during the session are included in an FAQ, available here: uab.edu/research1b/about/faq.