Blog
August 25, 2023
Insights from the NCURA 65th Annual Meeting
The Attain Partners team had a wonderful time sponsoring the NCURA 65th Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C. this year. It featured a lively reconnection of longtime research administration colleagues, an exciting opportunity to usher in a new generation of professionals, and a plethora of engaging conversations around interim staffing, professional development, AI, and so much more.
Our experts had the pleasure of presenting thirteen sessions and workshops in addition to cohosting a Beach Bash reception with our longstanding strategic partner, Cayuse.
At Attain Partners, we have a proven track record of serving over 70 of the top 100 U.S. research institutions and 100% of Ivy League schools and offer a variety of tailored research enterprise services to help address issues any institution may be facing. Please contact us—We’re happy to help!
Themes from the NCURA 65th Annual Meeting
1. Networking and professional development are at an all-time high.
The NCURA Annual Meeting is the event of the year for research administration professionals—and this year was bigger and better than ever before. Our entire team, including Laney McLean, Senior Consultant at Attain Partners, reconnected with old friends and colleagues and forged new connections in the field. The conversations around best practices and trends in research administration left her feeling invigorated and excited to help more organizations make improvements to support their teams and advance their missions. For remote team members, the Meeting was especially exciting, as this was the first time many of them had the opportunity to connect in person.
Professional development opportunities like the NCURA 65th Annual Meeting are great for employee engagement paired with ongoing training, balancing workload, and offering flexibility.
Laney McLean
Senior Consultant, Attain Partners
We also had the honor of extending networking hours by co-hosting over 100 attendees at the NCURA Annual Meeting Beach Bash with our colleagues at Cayuse. We’re not sure where we felt more energy— inside where floral-clad guests enjoyed delicious appetizers and vibrant conversation, or outside where the local weather in D.C. threatened its worst.
2. Research administration is a growing field full of opportunity.
With so many new research administrators entering the field, there were a lot of discussions around how to onboard and get new staff members up to speed as quickly and efficiently as possible. Attain Partners’ research administration experts have decades of experience in the field, direct experience working in education, and a successful track record of serving the nation’s top colleges and universities. We also offer in-depth, sponsor-based research administration training tailored to the needs of any institution.
During the NCURA Annual Meeting, we had the opportunity to connect with education institutions hiring new research administrators and share how we work with teams to develop programs that meet their unique needs and allow their research administration operations to get up to speed quickly. Learn more in our case study.
Lindsey Demeritt, Senior Specialist Leader at Attain Partners, did notice “there was a pretty obvious lack of Gen Z’ers” at this year’s meeting, which she feels is unfortunately in line with how the research administration field is aging.
Research administrators are as active as ever, opening doors for young professionals and forging pathways for new graduates to join the field.
Lindsey Demeritt
Senior Specialist Leader, Attain Partners
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3. Interim staffing helps retain great employees and meet understaffed teams where they are.
Throughout the meeting, our team noticed a recurring theme of overloaded staff desperate for solutions.
It was exciting to share my experiences serving on the Attain Partners staffing augmentation team with those who weren’t familiar with how it works. Seeing the moment individuals realized that there was help for teams that are overloaded was rejuvenating. I was surprised by how many people indicated they didn’t know there were companies that could help them.
Georgetta Dennis
Senior Associate, Attain Partners
Always excited to help our community, our experts explained how we share our on-the-job experience with understaffed organizations to fill gaps, build processes, optimize procedures, and help them meet deadlines through our Interim Staffing services. Doing so retains great employees and keeps them engaged and excited about their jobs. As organization reporting requirements and compliance challenges grow, interim staffing is in demand, and our experts are ready to hit the ground running.
4. The future of research administration includes AI.
Attendees at the NCURA 65th Annual Meeting were energized to discuss AI’s future and use cases in research administration.
There were a few great sessions about how we can harness the power of AI to improve research administration operations. It was fun to brainstorm and see how institutions are using ChatGPT for everything from customer service chatbots to poems about research administration.
Kathleen Halley-Octa
Senior Consultant, Attain Partners
5. The vibrant research administration community is strong and eager to welcome new faces.
Gathering with fellow research administration professionals at the NCURA Annual Meeting is always a treat. The Attain Partners team was thrilled to reconnect with familiar faces and meet so many new ones—thank you all for joining us!
We look forward to continuing the conversations and exploring new ways to support each other in staffing, professional development, and innovation.
Attain Partners – Research Administration Experts
Compliance is critical to your organization’s ability to make an impact. Our team provides world-class expertise in navigating the complex and dynamic regulatory environment, implementing industry best practices, and optimizing performance. Learn more about our services, read an interview with industry expert Mark Davis, and contact us here.
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