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What support does MaTRIC offer?

MaTRIC’s goal is to provide effective research management to support a UNC Lineberger member’s needs for the life of their study.

Solving pain points: MaTRIC was set up to address two related pain points felt by many early-stage investigators (ESIs):

  1. Although they have research management needs, ESIs often do not have enough funds to support a full-time project manager
  2. ESIs have not been trained on what effective research management entails

As a result, ESIs often rely on graduate students to manage their studies. However, most graduate students are not skilled in project management, do not know how to navigate the university’s research or financial systems, and often leave UNC before they get proficient in either area.

Research project management encompasses the planning, coordination, and oversight of research activities to ensure projects are completed successfully, on time, and within budget.

Studies and projects vary in the types of services and effort they may need.

MaTRIC project managers (PMs) bring a wide range of skills and experience and are matched to each study based on the needs of the researcher and their project.

What types of research management services can MaTRIC PMs provide?

Studies and projects vary in what types of management services they need. MaTRIC PMs offer a range of skills and experience in these areas. MaTRIC matches PMs with the needs of the researcher and their study.

MaTRIC project managers generally can provide support in four broad areas:

  • Submit and manage IRB application
  • Manage participant recruitment process
  • Support development of study materials (e.g., consent forms, surveys, facilitation guides)
  • Support data analysis activities (depending on PM’s technical skillset)
  • Support manuscript development and submission
  • Manage study implementation
  • Coordinate meetings
  • Develop standard operating procedures (SOPs)
  • Set up/maintain file management systems
  • Develop and maintain timelines, Gantt charts, and task tracking systems
  • Draft and submit progress reports
  • Create external facing communication and marketing materials
  • Coordinate hiring (staff, consultants, independent contractors)
  • Onboard research group members
  • Manage study and staff relationships
  • Support students / postdocs
  • Help foster a positive, productive team culture
  • Interface with finance office (Lineberger or home department)
  • Forecast and create budgets
  • Manage contracts
  • Set up Purchase Orders (POs)
  • Track expenses
  • Manage collaborator and participant incentives
  • Draft annual financial reports
Four people sitting at a conference room table with plates and food.
MaTRIC in Action: Dr. Santacroce’s MTM-Kids study aims to reduce food insecurity by providing medically tailored meals (MTM) to families of adolescents who have experienced chemotherapy-induced alterations in taste. UNC researchers and staff kicked off the taste testing fun by sampling eight different meal options from Equiti Foods before sharing them with adolescents undergoing chemotherapy treatments at UNC.

Frequently Asked Questions

How does MaTRIC staffing work?

  • Most MaTRIC-supported studies receive between 10–40% time (i.e., generally 4 – 16 hours per week) from a project manager.
  • A MaTRIC PM’s percent effort is supported directly by the researcher’s grant or start-up funds.
  • The MaTRIC project manager generally stays on for the life of the study.
  • MaTRIC has a group of vetted project managers who can support population science-related studies at UNC Lineberger. These PMs have a range of relevant skills and experience and are matched based on a researcher’s needs and budget.
  • A MaTRIC PM typically supports 3-4 researchers.
  • If a researcher has project management needs that MaTRIC cannot immediately fill by its current staffing team, MaTRIC will do its best to recruit from among other existing UNC  Lineberger project managers. If MaTRIC can assemble enough percent effort across a few new studies, it will hire a new project manager to join the MaTRIC team and fill those needs.

Note: The hiring process at UNC typically takes 2-3 months, so it is important for researchers to build in sufficient time before staffing is needed for their study.

Can MaTRIC support shorter-term needs?

If a PopSci researcher has short-term project needs (e.g., for a specific task, like participant recruitment, or for just a few months’ duration), a more suitable option might be the NC TraCS Research Coordination and Management Unit (RCMU).

Can MaTRIC support clinical research?

MaTRIC PMs provide general research management support.

If a researcher needs more specialized support, for example around clinical protocols or regulatory operations, the best option is to reach out to the UNC Lineberger Clinical Trials Office.

Can MaTRIC help write grant proposals?

MaTRIC PMs are here to provide management support once a grant is funded.

MaTRIC PMs generally do not get involved in the grant development process, for two reasons:

  1. Most researchers do not have funding to support a PM’s time to assist with proposal development
  2. Proposal development is a shorter-term need

A better option for some early-stage investigators is to contact Hannah Prentice-Dunn, hannah_prentice-dunn@med.unc.edu, administrative director for Cancer Prevention & Control. She has a program that offers short-term assistance to put together grant proposals for ESI members of the CPC research program.

How does MaTRIC decide which studies to support?

We aim to create a fair and transparent process to prioritize where to allocate MaTRIC support.

Preference will be given to current CPC or CE faculty who are NIH early-stage investigators, without their own research staff, and with grants that have been externally funded and peer-reviewed (e.g., NIH, ACS, etc.)

Who has benefited from MaTRIC’s PM services?

The number of UNC Lineberger researchers benefiting from MaTRIC’s project management services has grown considerably since MaTRIC launched its first client-cohort of research investigators in 2023.

Since its inception, MaTRIC has supported 15 UNC Lineberger faculty members across two annual cohorts.

Cohort benefits

An added benefit of receiving MaTRIC services is that researcher-clients are part of an annual cohort. Their MaTRIC project managers meet weekly to share management tips and tools, offer best practices, and troubleshoot issues. MaTRIC project managers then bring these benefits back to their research projects.

MaTRIC also annually convenes its current cohort of research investigators so they can also benefit from sharing effective research management practices with each other.

Learn more and read brief overviews of each study and the services MaTRIC offers them.

FY25 cohort

MaTRIC supports 12 research studies or projects led by 13 UNC Lineberger faculty members.

These researchers are part of MaTRIC’s second client cohort. The timeframe for the FY25 cohort is July 1, 2024 – June 30, 2025.

FY24 cohort

In 2023, MaTRIC launched a pilot “proof of concept” program and received approval from UNC Lineberger leadership to hire one project manager.

Three researchers were selected as the first cohort of MaTRIC clients, and their studies supported the PM’s salary.

The MaTRIC pilot was a tremendous success. Within nine months, the initiative expanded from one MaTRIC PM supporting three research studies to five PMs supporting 12 studies.

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