UW Research

Vision and Mission

Vision:

The Office of Research cultivates a world class research ecosystem that catalyzes and supports discovery and innovation with local and global impact.

Mission:

The primary mission of the Office of Research is twofold: to foster and promote excellence in research and scholarship and to support the infrastructure this work demands.

We foster and promote excellence in research and scholarship by:

  • Seeding new initiatives and strengthening strategic interdisciplinary programs
  • Facilitating collaborative partnerships within and external to UW
  • Promoting the breadth and impact of UW research and scholarship

We support the infrastructure that research and scholarship demands by:

  • Providing an administrative infrastructure that minimizes burdens on researchers and staff
  • Strengthening the research infrastructure (physical, cyber and human)
  • Building connections across UW’s distributed research ecosystem to support broad availability and efficient deployment of resources

Values and Guiding Principles:

Excellence

We support excellence in research by fostering creativity, seeding innovation, and cultivating an outstanding research ecosystem. We strive for excellence in research administration through efficient systems and services.

Integrity

We promote responsible research practices in alignment with ethical principles and regulatory compliance. We champion fairness and make data-informed decisions with transparency.

Collaboration

We foster a culture of collaboration that is essential to interdisciplinary discovery for the public good. We build internal partnerships to support research infrastructure and facilitate external partnerships that provide new opportunities for innovation.

Diversity 

We work to advance a broad portfolio of research and scholarship that reflects the diversity of our community. We foster a robust research ecosystem by respecting and valuing the diversity of researchers and staff members.

Responsiveness 

We build trusted partnerships through transparent communication and action. We provide timely solutions to help researchers maintain compliance. Recognizing the dynamics of the research environment, we strive for resilience in the face of constant change.

Shared Responsibility 

We promote a culture of shared responsibility for regulatory compliance and ethical conduct in research as a partnership between investigators, department, school, and central administrators.

Strategic Goals:

To foster and promote excellence in research and scholarship

Seed new initiatives and strengthen strategic interdisciplinary programs

  • Seed new research efforts, prioritizing interdisciplinary initiatives, early career faculty, and undergraduate research
  • Support university-wide strategic initiatives, advocating for infrastructure needs, researcher training, and responsible research

Facilitate collaborative research partnerships within and external to UW

  • Facilitate and expand shared innovation opportunities in partnerships with corporations and research institutes
  • Provide networking opportunities for researchers and partners to share ideas, identify potential collaborators, and build strategic partnerships
  • Work with the Office of Tribal Relations and tribal partners to develop guiding principles for joint UW-Tribal research activities and strategic partnerships with tribal colleges
  • Strengthen links among administrative units to support staff involved in multi-unit projects

Promote the breadth and impact of UW research and scholarship

  • Identify new mechanisms to assess and track research and scholarship impact
  • Showcase UW’s research and scholarship impact, highlighting recent breakthroughs, award-winning work, interdisciplinary excellence, and research for the public good
  • In partnership with Advancement and External Affairs, develop a public outreach program to communicate the societal impact of UW research and scholarship

To support the infrastructure that research and scholarship demands

Provide an administrative infrastructure that minimizes burdens on researchers and staff

  • Introduce dedicated support services for research and data security, enabling researchers to comply with regulatory requirements
  • Enhance the stability and effectiveness of administrative systems supporting the proposal and award process for sponsored research
  • Streamline compliance processes and develop accessible user-friendly tools to reduce research and staff administrative burdens while improving monitoring and risk mitigation
  • Expand capability to track workload and turnaround times in all administrative offices to support streamlining efforts, appropriate staffing, and data-informed decision making

Strengthen the research infrastructure (physical, cyber, and human)

  • Implement metrics to evaluate the demand on the research infrastructure resulting from research activities, guiding strategic planning, and resource allocation
  • Build research capacity through development of new tools and upskilling programs, both for researchers and research administrators
  • Assess shared research infrastructure needs and process improvement opportunities to guide investments in initiatives, equipment, and support staff
  • Strengthen research cyberinfrastructure through a partnership with UW Information Technology, leveraging combined expertise and community support
  • Support staff development that enables teams to quickly respond to compliance needs in an evolving research landscape

Build tri-campus connections across UW’s distributed research ecosystem to support broad availability and efficient deployment of resources

  • Enhance internal communication channels to ensure that researchers and staff are well-informed about resources and initiatives across all campuses
  • Contribute to building community networks for sharing best practices and developing resources, targeting research administrators, shared facility directors, and researchers who lead training grants, centers, and institutes