The document outlines a session from the June 2016 Council on Governmental Relations (COGR) meeting, focusing on strategies to reduce the administrative burden on research investigators and support staff at academic institutions while maintaining required regulatory compliance. The session features updates from research administration leaders at Emory University, Stanford University, and Harvard University, and discusses the development of a checklist to assist institutions in streamlining administrative processes. The discussion is framed within the context of several recent national reports that highlight the increasing regulatory and administrative demands placed on the academic research enterprise and call for reforms at both federal and institutional levels.
Key recommendations from these reports include urging federal agencies to harmonize and simplify regulatory requirements, as well as encouraging academic institutions to review and revise internal policies that may contribute unnecessarily to administrative workloads. In response, COGR has surveyed its members and compiled a list of major administrative burden areas, such as compliance with animal and human subjects research protocols, contract management, technology transfer, financial oversight, and training. The session raises critical questions regarding the comprehensiveness of the list, effective mechanisms for gathering additional input, ongoing updates, and ways to support implementation of best practices. The overall aim is to foster more efficient research administration while upholding essential regulatory standards.
