The University of Georgia Office of Research has changed the name of two of its units: the Office for Proposal Enhancement (OPE) has changed to the Office of Strategic Research Development (OSRD) and the Human Subjects Office is now called the Human Research Protection Program (HRPP) Office.
Both changes were effective Jan. 1.
OSRD was founded in 2015 to help secure funding for large and complex interdisciplinary research projects. Jake Maas, who has served as the unit’s director since 2016, understood the challenges and competition UGA investigators experienced in pursuing those grants. He put together a team to help faculty make good funding proposals even better—particularly those for very large and/or team-based awards.
While the office has grown significantly since its founding, Maas believed the name didn’t quite cover what the office does.
“There actually aren’t any other offices for ‘proposal enhancement’ anywhere in the world as far as I know,” he said. “But ‘Office of Strategic Research Development’ is one of the standard names for offices that do what ours does. So, we’ll lose the uniqueness but gain a more accurate description.”
In addition to the name change, OSRD is adjusting how it approaches big grant applications. Maas and his team plan to meet regularly with department heads, deans and center directors to design strategies for their programs to grow and reach specific goals through extramural funding.
“We want to develop those internal relationships so that we’re working hand in hand in bringing large grants to the university,” he said.
The HRPP Office oversees research involving human participants. It provides training on human research, reviews projects involving humans, and conducts quality assurance activities to ensure that all human research complies with rules and regulations.
Director Kim Fowler said the office is changing the name to move away from the term “subjects” when referring to people who volunteer for research projects. Instead, Fowler and her team are working to integrate the term “participant” into their practices.
“They’re not a passive recipient of things that are being done to them, and that’s what the term ‘subject’ feels like,” she said. “There have been many studies done about the term ‘subject’ and how it does not convey respect for the people who are taking part in human research.”
Only the name of the HRPP Office will change, not its operations or programming. While the unit will begin incorporating the term “participant” into UGA policies, there will still be some use of the former language to comply with federal codes.
