u/redditusernaem

Question for my fellow research administrators:

How knowledgeable is your central Office of Sponsored Programs when it comes to NIH policies?

I’m at the department level, and I’ve noticed that we sometimes learn about NIH policy changes before our OSP does. Recent examples include the NIH salary cap update, the new prior approval process for adding subawards, and changes to RST requirements.

We’ve had multiple situations where our department had to point OSP to the latest NIH policies before things could move forward. We’ve even had to send them the NIH guidance ourselves because they weren’t aware of recent policy changes.

At my previous institution, OSP was the go-to resource for NIH policy questions and sponsor updates. If we had a question, they either knew the answer or knew exactly where to find it. That hasn’t been my experience at my current institution.

Hi, fellow RAs!
What was the biggest reason you left your previous job? Or If you’re thinking about leaving your current job, what’s motivating your decision?

Salary? Manager? Workload? Constant deadlines? No career growth? Relocation? Work life balance? Coworkers? PI? Or something else? Remote?

I’d love to hear your stories.

I currently have my CRA and am considering taking the CPRA exam. Does anyone here have both certifications?

I’d love to hear your thoughts on how the CPRA compares to the CRA in terms of exam content, difficulty. Also, are there any study resources you would recommend for the CPRA exam?

I recently got promoted to a senior-level role and would love to hear from others who have made a similar transition.

What was the biggest mindset shift that helped you succeed after becoming a senior?

What do you wish you had known when you first got promoted? Any advice or lessons learned that you think made a difference?

I’d appreciate hearing perspectives from all. Thanks!

I currently have the CRA and have been thinking about getting another certification to help with career growth in RA. Does anyone here have a PMP? If so, do you feel like it was worth it/helpful?
Thanks!!!

Before I moved into pre award, I honestly thought this job would feel very different from what it actually is.

Sometimes it honestly feels like we are not taken seriously or respected by some PIs at all. These are incredibly smart people with PhDs and MDs, and somehow things still turn into last minute chaos, with documents getting thrown to us at the very last second.

I’ve had situations where I followed up repeatedly with a PI for documents. “I’ll send it tomorrow.” Tomorrow comes and there is nothing. Another follow up. No response. Another follow up. Then suddenly: “So when is the final deadline?”

And I don’t think some people realize that we are under pressure too. If I ask for something ahead of the deadline, there is a reason for it. We are trying to prevent the submission from becoming chaos at the last minute and trying to catch mistakes as early as possible so there is still time to fix errors and correct documents before the deadline.

This is your grant application. You spent time writing the science, and I am here to help coordinate the submission and keep everything moving smoothly. At least be coordinated and send the documents when they are requested instead of waiting until the very last second.

But when things don’t go well, somehow the pressure still falls on us. “Why is this missing?” “Why didn’t you get this form?” Meanwhile we have been following up repeatedly for days or weeks trying to get responses and documents from people.

And honestly, when I saw comments that their PI describing us as “secretaries who send Other Support,” I just thought: wow, this is exactly how some PIs see us. Sometimes it really feels like there is no respect between PIs and us.

Another comment said that 70 to 80% of the job is basically chasing PIs to meet internal deadlines, and honestly, that is exactly what this job feels like sometimes.

This is just not what I thought the job would be like.

I’m in pre-award, and honestly, I had a complete mental breakdown today.

This job comes with so much anxiety because of deadlines and how completely dependent you are on other people to send documents, approval.

For this submission, I planned ahead. I really did. It was a very large submission involving several subawards, and I spent weeks trying to stay organized and ahead of schedule while also managing a couple of other submissions at the same time.

And honestly, in the beginning, everything seemed okay. Every time documents received from sub came in with issues, I identified them right away and sent them back for correction.

We have a very strict internal deadline. I followed up repeatedly with everyone involved, trying to keep things moving, but in the end, we still missed our internal deadline.

I know some of these things were completely outside of my control. I still can’t get over it. I keep replaying everything in my head thinking about what else I could have done differently.

I think part of the problem is that I care too much. I carry the entire submission on my shoulders, and when something goes wrong, it feels personal even if it technically isn’t my fault.

For those who work in pre-award or research administration, how do you emotionally separate yourself from situations like this? How do you stop carrying the weight of every submission?

It’s been a long day. I’ve seen people describe RA as a glorified administrative assistant or even a “peon profession,” and honestly, some days the job really does feel that way. Do you agree?

Had a PI send me their old biosketch and ask me to enter everything into SciENcv because they “don’t know how to do it.” I went ahead and completed it, but it got me wondering how other institutions handle this.

I understand helping with formatting, compliance, answering questions, and I of course work on other support in SciENcv. But honestly, entering all their degrees, honors, positions, etc. feels like something the PI should be responsible for themselves.

The PI is relatively young and definitely capable of learning the system and not that busy (in their early career), so I’m curious, for those in pre-award, do you consider this part of your job, or are PIs at your institution expected to handle their own biosketch entries?

For those working in pre-award, do you help your PIs create their NIH biosketches in SciENcv, or do your PIs usually handle that themselves?

I’m not talking about the PI certifying it. I mean more like they send you an old biosketch, and you enter everything in SciENcv for them. Just curious how common that is at other institutions.

is this considered part of the pre-award/research admin role, or is it generally viewed as the PI’s responsibility?