Opportunities and challenges for the research management community

Juliet Harrison, Research Impact and Policy Engagement Manager

As a first timer at the ARMA conference, it was incredibly valuable to have the opportunity to network and engage with the wider Research Management community. Professional services staff working in impact roles such as myself are often the sole point of contact within an institution, so having a network of people that you can reach out to with questions and to share best practice is invaluable.

Drawing on my background in academic publishing, I had the opportunity to co-present the ARMA Open Research SIG session on ‘Leveraging Open Research for Greater Impact and Engagement’, which elicited some interesting discussions around knowledge translation and what constitutes ‘good’ research…. I’m confident there’ll be lots of opportunities for future collaboration across institutions as a result of these conversations, so if anyone from LBU would like to discuss further, please do reach out!

For me, Rob Johnson from Research Consulting neatly summarised the big talking point from the conference in his LinkedIn post here, which spoke to the fundamental question of: ‘How do we strategically respond to the persistent research funding gap when finding additional billions is simply "off the table"?’, which was alluded to by Stephen Hill from Research England as part of his opening keynote.

Suffice to say, there were no easy answers provided on the day, but the overarching feeling was that the role of research management professionals and knowledge mobilisers is only going to increase in importance, as the need to demonstrate the societal impact of research (and return on investment from research funding) intensifies…..

Nicoletta Mirachi, Research Development Manager

This was my second time attending the ARMA Conference, and once again it proved to be an invaluable experience. Events like this offer something we rarely get in our day-to-day roles: dedicated time away from our desks and laptops to step back, recharge, and reflect. More importantly, they create space to connect with colleagues across the sector, share challenges and successes, and spark fresh ideas that we can take back to our own institutions.

This year felt especially meaningful as I also had the opportunity to present our work at Leeds Beckett University, where we’ve built a supportive, process-driven approach to help over 400 academics - many new to external funding - develop stronger applications despite limited resources. Sharing our journey and practical tools sparked interesting conversations with peers who face similar challenges especially in times of crisis which is what the higher education sector is going through right now.

It’s no secret that the higher education sector is facing significant pressures right now. Many of us are being asked to deliver more with fewer resources, often under increasing scrutiny. In that context, attending the conference was especially reassuring: it reminded me that we’re not facing these difficulties alone. Across the sector, others are grappling with the same issues, and there’s real value in coming together to exchange practical strategies, lessons learned, and innovative approaches.

For me, one of the most striking themes this year was the discussion around AI. The clear message was that AI isn’t a passing trend—it’s here to stay. Rather than resisting it, our task as research management professionals is to explore how we can harness AI tools responsibly, ethically, and creatively to support our work and add value to the sector. It was energising to hear concrete examples of how colleagues are already experimenting with AI, and it left me reflecting on how we might embed those insights into our own practice.

Overall, the conference offered both a sense of solidarity and a renewed motivation to keep improving what we do - even in challenging times. It’s a reminder that investing time in professional development and peer learning isn’t a luxury; it’s essential to staying resilient and responsive in an evolving sector.

Stuart Morris, Research Excellence Manager

This was also my second time attending the ARMA Conference, and as in 2024, the wide-ranging mix of interesting and informative workshops, plenary sessions, exhibitions and networking opportunities meant that it was a very worthwhile experience.

The sessions I attended covered included: artificial Intelligence and its role in the research, research strategy and horizon scanning, REF2029 and how ARMA colleagues can support one another, and reducing research bureaucracy.

Similar to Nicoletta, the session on AI was particularly interesting as it looked at how AI tools were being used to streamline research governance, from due diligence to ethical guidance. Insights were provided on what we as research administration professionals should be considering when implementing AI tools, whilst also examining what we might avoid doing, along with how we manage expectations and the concerns of colleagues about its use.

One of the most useful sessions for me was the one concerning REF2029 where we discussed how each of our universities were approaching the complex guidance for REF2029, how we had interpreted it, which threw up some interesting differences between institutions and how we, as ARMA members could support one another in responding to this new guidance.  The shared sense of we are all in this together and the way in which colleagues from different types and sizes of institutions were willing to discuss their experiences and offer support and guidance to each other was really welcome to see.