Both faculty and universities benefit from faculty being awarded large grants. As smaller grant opportunities disappear and large grants become more competitive, Tufts University was looking for a way to help their faculty achieve their grant goals.
Tufts had a particular interest in helping newer faculty who have high potential but haven’t yet made inroads in their field. The university is small and does not have the same funding or donations that larger institutions use to bolster newer researchers. Tufts was looking for ways to make a positive impact on research success without a large capital investment.
Interviews and Journey Mapping workshops were conducted with both experienced and new faculty to understand their awareness of resources. While visibility of resources was a known issue, it became clear that even experienced faculty have relied on their own networks they built to get things done.
Key Needs Uncovered
Key Needs Uncovered
- Transparency in Services- status of orders, value of outcomes, process for engaging are not clear in many services
- Help Making Connections- collaborators, shared resources, next steps in process, etc.
- Force Tech Upgrades- the only way to stay on top of tech upgrades is forced obsolescence
An Ecosystem Map (right) highlighted the number of resources a researcher must navigate across multiple departments and sometimes multiple campuses.
Key Finding: A huge amount of university resources are going into the Planning stage, but faculty spend the least amount of time there.
