One KU Research Snapshot
The One KU Research Snapshot provides regular updates on projects and improvements that are helping strengthen research administration and operations across the University of Kansas, including efforts informed by recent NCURA peer review recommendations and community feedback.
Initiatives are organized around three broad enhancement opportunities identified through the reviews: Efficiency Optimization, Effective Communication and Risk Tolerance.
The One KU Research Snapshot provides a transparent view of ongoing efforts to strengthen research administration and operations across the University of Kansas. It highlights key initiatives, accomplishments and upcoming priorities that support a more connected, efficient and effective research enterprise.
Many of these efforts are guided by recommendations from NCURA peer review assessments conducted on the Lawrence and Medical Center campuses, along with feedback from faculty, staff and research leaders. The One KU Research Administration Council (ORAC) and its working groups help identify priorities and advance improvements across functional areas.
While the snapshot does not capture every initiative underway, it is updated regularly to keep the research community informed about progress, priorities and opportunities for continued improvement.
Enhancement Opportunities
1 | Efficiency Optimization
This work focuses on reducing administrative burden and making research processes faster, clearer and easier to navigate. Efforts include simplifying workflows, reducing duplicate steps, improving systems, and clarifying who is responsible for what so work moves more smoothly across units.
What Success Looks Like
Success looks like a more streamlined research experience, where faculty and staff move through proposal, award and contracting processes with clarity, fewer delays and less duplication — supported by intuitive tools and transparent workflows. By aligning systems and practices across units and campuses, we create a more predictable, efficient environment that frees up time for high-value work and strengthens trust in how we support research across the institution.
Accomplishments
The updates below show both the organizational or process change and what it is intended to improve for researchers and research support staff. An asterisk identifies work that aligns with or was informed by recommendations from the 2026 NCURA peer reviews.
What's been done:
- Integrated the KU Center for Technology Commercialization corporation into the One KU structure, improving coordination of compliance and providing researchers with more consistent support.
- Created a One KU Research Strategy & Impact unit that brings research development and internal funding and recognition programs into one coordinated structure. This makes it easier to connect researchers with services and support across campuses.
- Created a One KU Research Administration Operations unit with dedicated leadership, reducing overlapping responsibilities and improving continuity across the One KU Office of Research.
What's up next:
- Research leadership and finance teams will develop a shared approach to allocating indirect costs, making budgeting and related decisions more consistent and transparent across campuses.*
- Research systems, administration and operations teams will adopt the myResearch software suite as a common platform, reducing duplicate work and the need to move information manually between teams. The first step will be implementing myAgreements to create a more consistent process for research agreements across contracting, sponsored programs and finance.*
2 | Effective Communications
This work focuses on making sure faculty and staff receive clear, timely and helpful information about research-related changes, priorities and processes — and have meaningful opportunities to provide input. Efforts include improving how information is shared, creating consistent communication channels, and strengthening feedback loops across the institution.
What Success Looks Like
Success looks like faculty and staff feeling informed — not surprised — by changes that affect their work. Communication is clear, timely and easy to find, with consistent messages across units. There are regular opportunities to ask questions and provide feedback, leading to better decisions, fewer misunderstandings, and stronger alignment across the research community.
Accomplishments
The updates below show both the organizational or process change and what it is intended to improve for researchers and research support staff. An asterisk identifies work that aligns with or was informed by recommendations from the 2026 NCURA peer reviews.
What's been done:
- Created a One KU Research Communications & Training department that brings campus research communications and training teams into one coordinated structure. This makes it easier to share consistent information and develop resources for researchers and research support staff across campuses.
- Established a One KU Research Communications Framework and launched a central website and sustained messaging explaining the research alignment work. Together, these resources provide more consistent and timely information about One KU Research changes and progress.*
- Created consistent Animal Care Program web content and resources across campuses and launched a quarterly communication series, making guidance about research involving animals easier to find and follow.
What's up next:
- The research communications team will review existing newsletters, websites, emails and other communications to identify duplication, close information gaps and make important information easier for faculty and staff to find and understand.*
- The One KU Human Research Protection Program team will develop shared web resources, giving researchers more consistent guidance for conducting human research across campuses.
3 | Risk Tolerance
This work focuses on making it clearer who can make which decisions — and when — so routine work can move faster while higher-risk activities receive the right level of review. Efforts include defining roles and responsibilities, providing training, and aligning decision-making with the level of risk involved.
What Success Looks Like
Success looks like fewer unnecessary approvals and faster turnaround for routine activities, with confidence that higher-risk decisions are handled appropriately. Faculty and research staff understand expectations and feel empowered to move work forward, supported by clear guidance and training. The result is more efficient processes that still protect KU and its research.
Accomplishments
The updates below show both the organizational or process change and what it is intended to improve for researchers and research support staff. An asterisk identifies work that aligns with or was informed by recommendations from the 2026 NCURA peer reviews.
What's been done:
- Aligned the boards, cash management and investment practices of the KU Center for Research and the KU Medical Center Research Institute. This creates a more consistent approach to financial oversight and supports decisions guided by shared research priorities.
- Created a One KU Human Research Protection Program that brings staff, procedures and Institutional Review Board operations into a coordinated structure. This provides researchers with clearer, more consistent guidance and oversight for human research across campuses.
What's up next:
- The Animal Care Program team will create shared policies and procedures for research involving animals, giving researchers more consistent requirements and guidance across campuses.
- Contracting, sponsored programs, finance and related teams will standardize research agreement templates and processes across campuses, reducing unnecessary variation and making agreements easier to prepare and review.*
While this snapshot does not capture every activity, it highlights key milestones and outcomes that demonstrate and drive progress. This content is updated regularly to keep the KU research community and partners informed about accomplishments, priorities and ongoing efforts to strengthen research administration and operations across all campuses.