Research funding is a priority at UNC

Research funding is considered a point of pride for the University, and some faculty are working on new ideas to keep it that way.

Members of the faculty committee on research said in a meeting Friday that the University needs to focus research on collaboration between different departments.

Vice Chancellor for Research Barbara Entwisle said many large awards have been granted to the University throughout recent years for multi-investigator, cross-department and cross-school research.

“Funding agencies want to see this kind of team science,” Entwisle said. “If we’re going to be innovative, this is where it comes from.”

In the 2011-12 fiscal year, the University received more than $311 million for cross-department research, Entwisle said.

While the amount of funding the University received for cross-department research in the 2011-12 fiscal year decreased by nearly $30 million, Entwisle said the University is at a strong plateau for funding.

“I think we are absolutely amazing in this way,” Entwisle said. “I would be really amazed if there were another school that could match these numbers.”

According to recent rankings released by the National Science Foundation, UNC spent about $546 million on research in 2010, shooting the University to ninth place overall for external and federal funds spent on research and development.

Members of the committee partially credited interdepartmental collaboration for the successes seen in funding, but some members said there is still more that could be done.

Roland Tisch, a professor in the School of Medicine and a committee member, said publicizing positive data like the jump in research funding will attract industry-sponsored research funding — an area where the University is comparatively lacking.

“It’s striking,” he said. “This is going to be enticing for industry.”

Committee members said UNC department heads should encourage their respective faculty members to collaborate more with other
departments on research to attract more research funding.

The committee also discussed ways the University can use research to solve the world’s problems.

This goal is one of three outlined in Chancellor Holden Thorp’s 21st Century Vision, a set of goals intertwined with UNC’s next major fundraising campaign.

Committee member Bob Devellis, a psychology professor, said researchers should first categorize world problems to make them more approachable.

Laurie McNeil, a physics and astronomy professor and a committee member, said researchers should keep in mind the opportunity to further develop new areas as well.

She said research can indirectly have a positive impact.

“There’s research going on, on this campus that isn’t going to solve poverty, cancer or war, but can educate people to work on those problems,” she said.

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