Administrative Core

ADMINISTRATIVE CORE: SUMMARY
The Administrative Core (AC) supports work in all of the Population Studies Center’s (PSC) primary
research areas (PRAs) and advances the overarching objective of this P2C application - to support research to
design, create, and analyze new data to advance population science. The AC oversees and coordinates
activities and resources across all three Cores and maximizes the efficiency of funding for population dynamics
research by reducing administrative burdens. We will continue to focus particularly on the needs of junior
scientists, and newly on enhancing the broader research community’s access to these resources. The AC
Lead and the P2C Steering Committee carry out their duties with the assistance of senior administrative staff
and shared services via the Institute for Social Research (ISR). They are responsible for planning,
coordinating, and evaluating the activities of the Cores and the pursuit of Overall and Core-specific Aims. They
review and recruit Center affiliates, oversee budgetary and resource distribution decisions to increase
synergies across Cores, and assess the activities of all Cores. AC activities are designed to enhance scientific
impact and innovation, including faculty meetings, coffee hours, and a Brown Bag Series. We will also pursue
two new activities, if funded, to more effectively support the careers of junior scientists: regular check-in chats
with groups of junior PSC researchers and the AC Lead, and junior affiliate wraparound strategy sessions held
by the P2C Steering Committee. We also propose to add additional opportunities for all affiliates to convene
and collaborate, with new Specific Aims Clinics and Research Incubator Groups organized around our PRAs.
The AC also provides comprehensive research project management. Services centrally provided by the AC
staff minimize the financial and time burdens associated with administering research projects by providing
comprehensive support through the project lifecycle, including assistance with grant proposal preparation,
managing awarded funding, hiring and managing project staff, and connecting affiliates with ways to
disseminate their findings. AC staff maximize the efficiency of service provision by assisting PSC affiliates in
accessing a range of essential services provided elsewhere at ISR and U-M. In a new initiative, the AC will
coordinate outreach services to engage population scientists at institutions that are not funded by the NICHD
Population Dynamics P2C Program. The Steering Committee and staff will work to ensure that research
community members obtain access to services across all three Cores as appropriate. In the absence of the
AC, our productive PSC affiliates would need to devote large amounts of time to administrative tasks and to
seeking out resources across the Administrative, Development and Scientific and Technical Cores, reducing
productivity and limiting their contributions to population dynamics research.

Grant Number: 5P2CHD041028-24
NIH Institute/Center: NIH
Principal Investigator: Sarah Burgard