Research Management

The management of the research commissioned by the Authority is guided by the following principles:

• Well-organised targeted annual Research Programme with a clear statement of expected outputs and benefits.
• Identification and selection process to ensure that the research projects are aligned to the Authority’ objectives.
• Individual project prioritised on the basis of current needs and available funds.
• Research will generally be procured on a competitive basis to ensure transparency and value for money.
• Research will focus on solutions to short-term goals driven by current business needs but will not neglect fundamental research aimed at longer-term benefits.
• Individual research projects will incorporate a dissemination plan to ensure that the conclusions and outputs are relevant to the Authority and are implemented in an effective and timely fashion.

A Value Management process will be adopted in formulating the annual Research Programme. This is a style of management dedicated to motivating people, developing skills and promoting synergies and innovation with the aim of maximising overall performance. The first stage of the process is to identify general research themes and topics by NRA staff with input and advice from external stakeholders where appropriate. The themes and topics will then be evaluated against the policy themes and strategic objectives of the Authority as outlined in this document. On the basis of this evaluation, topics will be selected for possible inclusion in the Programme. A project brief will be prepared for the selected topics, giving the background to the problem being investigated, outline the objectives of the project, and describe what the Authority expects to gain from the project. This will help to focus the project on the high-level strategic goals of the Authority and assist in determine how and with whom the research can be commissioned. The topics will then be prioritised and ranked on the basis of the current needs and the funds available. The higher-ranked projects will be selected and approval sought for including them in the annual Research Programme.

The topics will be categorised to determine whether it is appropriate to carry out the research through a PhD/post-doctoral programme or whether it would be more appropriate to commission the research through a more commercial mechanism. This decision will be based on a number of factors including the need for academic input, degree of innovation, when the output is required, etc. If appropriate, the research will be procured through the NRA Research Fellowship Programme (see Section 5).

Short-term projects, where the work is expected to be completed within a number of weeks or months, will be commissioned by inviting tenders from universities, commercial research organisations and consultancies as appropriate. Such projects are expected to be completed within two years. Longer-term project are more likely to be commissioned thought the NRA Research Fellowship Programme. Major projects will be tendered though the European Journal in line with European regulations. The tender invitation will include the format and content of the submission. In all cases, a fully costed proposal with a schedule of deliverables will be requested.

Proposals will be reviewed according to defined evaluation criteria, which will be included in the project brief. The evaluation will be carried out by the Research Manager and Project Mentor. External review may also be carried out at the discretion of the NRA. A preliminary Research Programme will be devised prior to each financial year in order to define budgets and timescales for new and ongoing projects. The Fellowship projects will generally be commissioned to start in October each year (the start of the academic year). Other project may come on-line at various times in the year depending on particular requirements and priorities.