India Research Management Initiative (IRMI) – an initiative for building research capacity in India

Abstract

Research and innovation are growing in India with significant investments being made towards institutions, researchers and research infrastructure. Although still under 1% of GDP, funding for science and technology in India has increased each year for over two decades. There is also increasing realization that public funding for research should be supplemented with that from industry and philanthropy. Like their counterparts worldwide, Indian researchers require access to professional research management support at their institutions to fully leverage emerging scientific opportunities and collaborations. However, there are currently significant gaps in the research management support available to these researchers and this has implications for research in India. The India Research Management Initiative (IRMI) was launched by the Wellcome Trust/DBT (Department of Biotechnology, Government of India) India Alliance (hereafter India Alliance) in February 2018 to narrow these gaps. A 12-month pilot phase has enabled conversations across multiple stakeholders. In this Open Letter, we share some insights from the IRMI pilot phase, which could aid systemic development and scaling up of research management as a professional support service across India. We anticipate these will stimulate dialogue and guide future policy and interventions towards building robust research and innovation ecosystems in India.

Middle-income country perspectives on global mental health

“…In India, the India Research Management Initiative, a research capacity-building programme, was launched in February 2018 to help create awareness for research management, engage in dialogue with Indian institutions and build a baseline of information to base future policy development and funding opportunities on [46]. The challenges to research capacity-building include lack of leadership support for research management, lack of administrative support and inadequate career development for researchers [46]. The African Mental Health Research Initiative is a mental health research capacity-building initiative established in 2015 [47].…”

The Profession of Research Management and Administration in India

“…While some Indian institutions such as the IITs, CSIR laboratories, and select research institutions have developed key research support services over a sustained period 3,4 there are still large gaps in research support services (Ayyar & Jameel, 2019;Mehta & Puri, 2022;Nukala et al, 2020). In the recent decade, several new research offices have been added at Indian institutions, driven in part by the growth of life sciences research.…”

Research Managers and Administrators in Asia: History and Future Expectations

“…Among the Asian countries represented in this handbook, Malaysia established a similar organisational body in 2019. In India, there has been a movement to form a national community for practitioners in the form of feasibility study activities such as IRMI 4 with the support of the Wellcome Trust (Ayyar & Jameel, 2019). Under the leadership of NTU and with the backing of the nearby Australian community ARMS, 5 Singapore is also in the process of forming a national community.…”