One VCU Research Strategic Priorities Plan

OFFICE OF THE VICE PRESIDENT FOR RESEARCH AND INNOVATION

Strategic initiatives

Enriching the human experience, Achieving a just and equitable society, optimizing health, supporting sustainable energy and environments and culture of collaboration - graphicOne VCU Research fosters our transdisciplinary culture across our diverse campuses and disciplines to produce transformative innovation with public impact. We collaborate to bring creative solutions where others see boundaries. The breadth of our scholarship across disciplines addresses local challenges with our community partners to deliver bold and practical solutions with global implications.

Culture of collaboration

Collaboration is the foundation of One VCU Research.

We shape the future through transformative innovation with a culture of creativity, team science, collaborative research, responsiveness to sudden societal changes and recognition at VCU.

The Arts and Health initiative is a pioneering collaboration that connects VCUarts to the VCU School of Medicine and VCU Health to solve some of the most complex challenges in health care.

Goal 1

Create a culture that prioritizes and rewards research effort and innovation.

Objectives

  1. Provide incentives for research effort and output.
  2. Review promotion and tenure guidelines to ensure that research and creative output is clearly rewarded.
  3. Recruit and retain productive, eminent research faculty and staff.
  4. Increase opportunities for interactions between researchers and members of the VCU community who contribute primarily to the educational and clinical missions.

Goal 2

Facilitate research collaborations to enhance innovation and impact.

Objectives

  1. Accelerate innovation through collaboration between VCU experts and industry partners.
  2. Establish a streamlined pathway for partnership with community organizations to meet their needs.
  3. Address barriers to collaboration across VCU units and incentivize transdisciplinary research collaboration.
  4. Ensure that institutes, centers and core resources have value across the university.
  5. Increase research partnerships with other universities in Virginia, especially HBCUs.

Goal 3

Accelerate discoveries by promoting a robust pipeline of diverse trainees through excellence in training programs.

Objectives

  1. Increase opportunities for undergraduate students to engage in high quality research experiences.
  2. Implement strong research training programs for diverse trainees and students.

Goal 4

Translate and communicate research to the community and engage in dialogue to promote and develop relevant and effective programs, policies and practices that advance society and lead to systems change.

Objectives

  1. Promote the dissemination of research results to research participants and the broader community.
  2. Collaborate with community partners to design effective strategies to translate research into transformative outcomes.
  3. Create systems of cyclical and continuous communication to ensure community needs inform research, which drives systems change, which impacts community needs.