New resource helps investigators avoid common pitfalls of community-engaged research

CHAPEL HILL – The NC Translational and Clinical Sciences (NC TraCS) Institute has created a new resource for investigators and project managers who want to learn more about the pre-and post-award process associated with federally-funded, community-engaged research.

"The challenges encountered...can directly impact the science, and we hope to reduce some of those delays through training and education"
— Lori Carter-Edwards, PhD

The Community-Academic Grants Administration Translation (CAGAT) academic guide and accompanying webinar series provides researchers with valuable advice to help them circumvent the administrative hurdles that often arise during translational research projects involving communities outside academia.

The CAGAT Initiative Webinar Series will conduct its second interactive lecture on Thursday, May 19, 2016, from 12:00 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. The session, which will cover the Post-Award Process, will be available both online and in person at 230 Rosenau Hall.

"The challenges encountered by community-engaged research projects and the time it takes to overcome them can directly impact the science, and we hope to reduce some of those delays through training and education," said Lori Carter-Edwards, PhD, research associate professor in the School of Public Health's Public Health Leadership Program, and associate director of Community Academic Resources for Engaged Scholarship (CARES), a division of NC TraCS. "This resource can help researchers avoid common pitfalls by sharing the experiences of others in similar situations, so they can be better prepared to navigate the process."

CAGAT was initiated in 2012 to improve the grants management infrastructure for community-academic partnered research through the collaborative development and posting of guides, subsequent webinars, and assessments of their utility.

The new webinar will present effective strategies for communicating during the post-award stage of the grants management process with community partners, business office staff, and research administrators. The presenters will provide tips on what information to share with community partners regarding timelines, progress and financial reporting, invoicing, cash advances, and project close-out.

Presenters include:

• Kathy Cheek, BA, Business Officer, Public Health Leadership Program and the North Carolina Institute for Public Health, UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health
• Martha Martin, CRA, Grants and Contracts Administrator, UNC School of Information and Library Science
• Madeline Mitchell, MURP, Associate Director, North Carolina Network Consortium, Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research; Interim Administrative Director, CARES, NC TraCS Institute
• Nora Jones, MA, Executive Director of The Partnership Project, Inc.
• Christina Yongue, MPH, Project Manager of ACCURE, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Carter-Edwards and her team are also developing a community guide, informed by NC TraCS community experts and community advisory board members, to share the same information with community partners so they are better equipped to work with academic researchers as a community subcontractor or independent contractor.

"We hope that this effort can start a dialogue across other CTSAs and universities about common grants administration challenges in community-engaged research in order to develop recommendations for policy and procedure changes across multiple institutions," said Carter-Edwards.

To read about the webinar series or to register for the event, visit: tracs.unc.edu/calendar.

To learn more about the academic guide or download a copy, visit: tracs.unc.edu/index.php/services/cares/community-academic-grants.