Name: Graham Gallagher
Position: Research Development Strategist
Office: Office of Research
Institution: University of Florida (UF)
What attracted you to this work?
Between 2020 and 2023 I was an editorial assistant for the journal Perspectives on Politics. As an editorial assistant I got an opportunity to see something that a lot of graduate students don’t–to see a wide swath of research from across political science. This made me become addicted to witnessing what a lot of different veins of research were doing. I didn’t want narrow focus. I wanted to be able to watch a lot of different research projects and agendas grow and maturate.
After being a student, I wanted to stay on at UF and saw the opportunity to be in research administration in June 2024. When I first applied I didn’t know what research development (RD) was all about, other than it helped a lot of disciplines and worked on cutting edge research. The more I learned about it, the more I wanted to do it–interdisciplinary work, team building, polishing writing, getting people to “narrativize” and better describe the knowledge they are trying to produce. Part of this work in team science is being the “hinge” between which different disciplines talk to each other.
What’s your favorite thing about your work?
It’s getting people to talk to one another, maybe not necessarily doing the writing or keeping up with the research. What I enjoy the most is helping PIs talk to each other, including in supporting them to work together to write larger proposals.
I also really enjoy internal competitions. They can be administratively tedious but when managed effectively they can be very positive experiences for everyone. Standing committee-style reviewing at UF has been very collegial and successful. I have helped create standardization in how the review process is carried out, as opposed to ad hoc and independent-only review. It can also create opportunities for new collaborations even among reviewers. I facilitate the review committee discussions, encouraging exchange of ideas on the merits of each proposal.
What’s your wish for improving your work?
I would very much like there to be a larger number of small dollar seed awards for faculty to “practice” with. One, for early-career scholars it can be quite motivating, even if it’s $5,000 to $10,000. Two, it is a way to internally hone and create a culture of applying for grants early. A critique can be that this smaller dollar value is more the purview of the college to provide. However, the research department is part of building the larger culture and practice of grant seeking.
My second wish would be to create a culture of interdisciplinary science between humanities and STEM. It will help make STEM proposals more competitive. And for areas like sociology and language departments, they have a lot to add research-wise but may not be leading their own grant-funded projects. There is great opportunity for these folks to serve as Co-PIs on, say, NSF or State Department grants.
For my third wish, I would like more standing committees for review, both for internal competitions but also limited submissions. Especially for limited submissions this would provide more formative feedback for improving the grant proposal for external submission. It also would create a more valuable experience for the reviewer, both the interactivity with other faculty and making it listable on one’s CV in terms of service activity.
How could our organization take steps to improve?
Continue to be a sounding board for best practices; this is perhaps its best function. We are in a very difficult and competitive grant paradigm, so figuring out what works and what doesn’t is important for keeping us all up to date.
I would be very interested in a practice spotlight. Like, “Here’s something we’re trying at UF, and here’s why it’s working. Here are the results.” Institutions across the state are little laboratories for RD where we’re testing out different things. We also shouldn’t be afraid to report on our failures.
What role could you see playing someday in the Florida Alliance?
The Interdisciplinary Collaboration Committee (ICC) speaks to me most. Most of the things I’ve done as an RD strategist has been to increase interdisciplinary collaboration. I have tried a lot of things that have worked and far more things that haven’t. So I’d be very interested in sharing that with others in Florida.