The Saint Louis University BILCN-Research Program is a six-to-nine-month, cohort-based research development program that develops SLU faculty’s networks and skills needed to advance their research agendas and effectively compete for external funding.
The BILCN-Research Program is in its third year of integrated faculty research development, blending workshops with SLU facilitators, peer-led coaching and accountability groups, and independent faculty work. Faculty participants are selected by a committee of faculty members and must be high-potential, full-time SLU faculty who have not received major external funding awards appropriate to their research areas in the past three to five years but have active research agendas, research experience and a project for which they will seek major external funding. Faculty from all disciplines are encouraged to consider participating.
Once selected, participants are assigned to interdisciplinary coaching groups, each of which is led by a faculty coach and supported by OVPR staff. Oversight comes from the faculty research councils. The research councils, coaches, and OVPR staff work with internal and external workshop facilitators to deliver integrated content, coaching and support for participants’ proposal development work.
The estimated time commitment for participants is about two to four hours per week. During the program, this includes six to eight workshops, including an orientation, as well as regular meetings with a coaching group and individual work. The expected outcome for all participants is submission of an external funding proposal within approximately one year.
Integrated Modules Model
The BILCN-Research Program is divided into ‘modules’, each of which consists of workshop(s) that are integrated with coaching group meetings and activities and focus on different, sequential parts of the proposal development process. All participants meet for workshops and separately in individual coaching groups to work on integrated and related content, with peer feedback and accountability.
Each module requires one to one and a half months to complete. Modules will likely include: Defining a Research Agenda, Project, and Network; Finding Collaborators, Mentors, and Funders; Proposal Development; The Review Process; and Funded Research Preview. The cohort will divide as needed for funder-specific content for some modules, i.e., NIH, NSF, NEH, and other external funding opportunities.
Nominations or questions? Contact Joe Lampe, program coordinator, at joseph.lampe@slu.edu.