Our faculty members spoke, and we listened.

During the U-M Concussion Center’s series of faculty workshops and our subsequent MICHR-facilitated Research JAM, research coordination support was identified as a key strategic enabler needed to advance concussion research at the University of Michigan, especially for new pilot projects.

To this end, the Center would like to introduce Mr. Matthew Morley and Ms. Michaela Broadnax, the Concussion Center’s new Research Coordinators. Matthew comes to the Center from the U-M’s Institute for Social Research (ISR), and Michaela joins us from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio.

Matthew and Michaela are now available to provide research coordination support to Center faculty members to advance concussion research at U-M and promote the Center’s mission of maximizing societal and individual health through the relentless pursuit of concussion knowledge.

Applications for discrete task support will be accepted on a rolling, ongoing basis. The Center will annually solicit applications for sustained, ongoing project support through a call for proposals. The current call for proposals will remain open through January 31, 2023, with project support availability as early as March 1, 2023.

Discrete Task Application

Please complete this application to request research coordinator (RC) support for discrete tasks associated with your concussion research at the University of Michigan. Discrete research asks are those reasonably anticipated to require no more than ~20 hours of research coordinator effort over 1-2 weeks. This support mechanism should typically be sought for discrete tasks associated with developed research projects, and is not appropriate for sustained/ ongoing research coordination for a project or for most protocols still being developed (with occasional exceptions, such as for literature searches, cohort discovery assistance, and general research consultation).

Examples of discrete research tasks include:

  • IRB submission in eResearch
  • UMHealthResearch.org site set-up
  • REDCap database builds
  • Qualtrics survey tool builds
  • Data collection sheet builds
  • Grant/ abstract/ manuscript editing tasks (e.g., text formatting, reference management, submission support)
  • Limited data entry/ data cleaning tasks*
  • Limited literature searches
  • Limited cohort discovery and/or medical records review tasks (e.g,. Data Direct, EMERSE)*
  • Limited clinical trial support (e.g., OnCore coordination with CTSU’s, coordination of ClinicalTrials.gov registration/ reporting with MICHR, coordination with DSMB/monitor)*
  • Research consultation

* may require IRB approval

Eligibility: 

All U-M Concussion Center faculty members are eligible to apply for research coordinator support through this mechanism. For more information about our membership and how to get involved, please see here.

Ongoing Project Application

Please complete this application to request sustained, ongoing research coordinator support for your concussion research at the University of Michigan. This mechanism should be used to request sustained support for concussion research projects requiring at least 10% coordinator effort over a period of at least 3 months. Requests will be accepted for sustained support for up to a maximum of 50% coordinator effort over a period of up to 12 months, with potential renewal for an additional 12 months. 

This support mechanism may be used to support project development but should typically be sought for support of active concussion research projects involving some combination of the following:

  • Participant management including recruitment, screening, consenting, scheduling, payment distribution, etc.
  • Data management including data collection, entry, cleaning, etc.
  • Other ongoing study maintenance including regulatory support (e.g., IRB, DSMB, monitor, etc), clinical trial support (e.g., CTSO, OnCore, ClinicalTrials.gov, etc), or other research support.

Eligibility: 

All U-M Concussion Center faculty members are eligible to apply for research coordinator support through this mechanism. Faculty members are permitted to submit one application as PI per round.

For more information about our membership and how to get involved, please see here.

Review Process:

Applications will be reviewed by the U-M Concussion Center Executive Committee, with up to 75% research coordinator effort available over the upcoming year. Awards will be given to projects felt to have the greatest potential for increasing concussion knowledge and advancing the Center’s mission.

In reviewing applications, the Executive Committee will consider the following:

  • Significance of the proposed research: what will the project contribute to concussion knowledge? What will the ultimate clinical impact of the project be? How will the project advance the Concussion Center’s mission? How likely is the project to lead to future external research funding?
  • Investigators: does the research team have the necessary expertise to successfully carry out the proposed project? How is successful completion of the proposed research anticipated to advance the investigators’ careers?
  • Approach: are the proposed study design, methods, and analytical approach well-reasoned and appropriate to answer the primary research question(s)? How feasible is the proposed project to successfully complete?
  • Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Justice (DEIJ): how does the research incorporate the Center’s core values of DEIJ?