Leiden Research Support: ‘We aim to be the one stop where researchers get their questions answered’
From forwarding promising calls and arranging budgets to assisting in legal issues and keeping track of important deadlines: to associate professor Roxanne Kieltyka, the research support offered by project managers Inge Rietveld en Christina Schlüpen is fundamental. ‘The combination of our expertise seems to be successful.’
Hi Inge and Christina, what does your work as project managers entail?
Inge: ‘Both of us work at the Leiden Institute of Chemistry, where we support our researchers with financial and administrative tasks from the pre- to post-award phase. My main expertise is projects awarded by the Dutch Research Council NWO, and Christina focusses on European projects.’
Christina: ‘The support we offer is quite varied. In the pre-award phase, we’ll actively search for and share funding opportunities that could be relevant for our researchers. We also inform them of any upcoming deadlines for standard, annual calls. We will prepare the proposal budget and advice for the non-scientific parts of the proposal, if needed. Once a project is granted, we support with the administrative and financial implementation. Every half year, we’ll check to see if everything is on track finance wise, if personnel has been hired as foreseen, and if reports have been prepared according to the grant agreement. We also help with agreements that need to be drafted or signed and assist in any legal issues for which we maintain contact with the university’s knowledge exchange office Luris. And if needed, we refer researchers to other support professionals, like the data steward.’
‘As researchers, there are so many hats that we need to put on these days. So having the right support really is a big help.’
That really is varied. Roxanne, how valuable is this support to you as a researcher?
Roxanne: ‘Very valuable, I’m an associate professor in supramolecular and biomaterials chemistry at the LIC. My research group works on developing supramolecular materials for various biomedical applications. As researchers, there are so many hats that we need to put on these days. So having the right support really is a big help. For all projects, we receive help to arrange the budgets and reporting. For the larger consortia-related projects, there’s also coordination of several partners. Not just at the application stage, when you’re collecting their information and preparing budgets, but also once it’s granted and you’re working on the consortium agreements, and then moving forward in the reporting phases. It’s also extremely useful to have someone who keeps track of important deadlines, because those dates are often escaping us as researchers. All this support is really very essential to keep us focused on science.’
Which grants and projects are you currently collaborating on?
Christina: ‘In the past, Roxanne was awarded an ERC starting grant, for which we will soon start the final reporting. Based on that starter grant, she has also received two ERC proof-of-concept grants. And she is involved as a partner in a Marie Curie COFUND project.’
Inge: ‘Roxanne also has multiple NWO projects running at the moment. There’s a Brazilian-Dutch consortium, a joint transnational call within the ERA4Health scheme, a smaller grant from the ENW-XS Open Competition, and lastly a project with mainly Dutch and non-academic partners as part of the Dutch Research Agenda.’
That is quite a list!
Christina [laughs]: ‘She is a proposal machine.’
Roxanne: ‘Although I predominantly work on biomaterials, there’s other areas that we discuss, because the strategies that my group develops can be valuable in other fields, like sustainability and plastic recycling. Sometimes Inge and Christina reach out to me if there is a call they think may be of interest or something else that needs to be taken care of for the running grants, and then sometimes I have questions that I will reach out about. Our collaboration is really a back and forth.’
Christina: ‘It’s a good collaboration. And projects are granted, so the combination of scientific expertise with complementary administrative and financial support seems to be successful.’
Is there a project that you’ve collaborated on with each other that was a true highlight for you?
Inge: ‘For us, that would be the ERA4Health NanoTecMec project. Roxanne brought together a consortium of European university partners and companies, and Christina was involved in the pre-award phase in the preparations. After being awarded by the EU, this special project was then carried out for the Dutch part by NWO and transferred to me. All project partners were and are very involved in both the pre-award and post-award phase, making it a very pleasant and effective collaboration.’
‘It’s really helpful to have a network that you can reach out to if you have specific questions.’
Lastly: Inge and Christina, in what ways do you work together with other support professionals from the Leiden Research Support Network?
Inge: ‘As the LIC research support office, we really try to make sure that our door is the only one our researchers need to go through to get their questions answered. To do that, we collaborate with numerous other support professionals. For data management plans for example, we work together with the library and the data stewards; for very specialistic grants or calls, we get information from the Grant Support Office; and of course we often work together with colleagues from Luris, if we have agreements that need to be signed.’
Christina: ‘We also have bi-weekly meetings with the network’s Research Funding Community, where we can discuss any questions that we may have, and we are informed of upcoming calls. So that’s a nice way of receiving information.’
Inge: ‘Even though we already have a lot of knowledge within our own project management team, it’s still really helpful to have a network that you can reach out to if you have specific questions. Sometimes the network organizes interesting workshops. And we always attend the yearly Leiden Research Support Network Conference. Having all of the university’s research support expertise under one roof helps us to learn new things – and meet new people, since it’s easier to reach out to colleagues once you’ve seen each other in real life.’
About the Leiden Research Support Network
The Leiden Research Support Network is the network for research support professionals within Leiden University. This network allows research support professionals from different domains to enhance their synergy in communities: exchanging expertise and experiences, and working as a team to answer researchers’ sometimes complex questions. The network’s strength lies in teamwork that transcends the boundaries of faculties and institutes.