In March 2011 the Faculty of Medicine undertook a review of the operational activities of the Joint Research Office (JRO). The Project Board established 10 work-streams populated with College and Trust staff with relevant expertise and JRO staff members.
The review consulted widely within the Faculty and NHS to establish the expectations there were of JRO service and ideas for the optimum structure for service-delivery.
A final report was issued towards the end of 2011 and as a result of the recommendations from the Project Board a new structure was implemented in January 2012.
The key recommendations were:
- Regulatory Compliance section re-located onto one campus with the Head of Regulatory Compliance reporting to the Faculty Operating Officer with a professional reporting line to the College Director of the Research Office and also the Director of Research (Faculty and Trust). The new section is now known as the Joint Research Compliance Office (JRCO)
- New post of Operations Manager created to manage the JRO reporting to the Faculty Finance Officer.
- Grants and contracts teams be re-organised, creating SID-facing, not campus-facing, teams.
– Grants teams consolidated from three to two campuses (SM and HH) and split into four SID-facing teams (two at SM and two at HH) (number of staff based upon SID’s current award volume).
– Contracts team consolidated onto one site (SK) together with EU team
– NHS contracts team to be managed under Head of Contracts but remain at HH - A BRC Hub to be set up under the Director of Research (Faculty & Trust) to manage BRC funding.
The JRCO moved to the 5th floor of the Laboratory Block on the Charing Cross Campus in December 2011. The JRO move to SID facing teams took place on 27 February 2012 and JRO teams have already begun meeting regularly with their SID administration counterparts to improve communication and to build up JRO-SID relationships.