Proceedings of a Workshop

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This workshop activity was supported by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation under award number 001125, the National Institutes of Health under award number HHSN263201800029I, and the National Science Foundation under award numbers 001604 and 10005292. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of any organization or agency that provided support for the project.

International Standard Book Number-13: 978-0-309-72547-7
International Standard Book Number-10: 0-309-72547-X
Digital Object Identifier: https://doi.org/10.17226/27935

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Suggested citation: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2024. On Leading a Lab: Strengthening Scientific Leadership in Responsible Research: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/27935.

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PLANNING COMMITTEE ON LEADING A LAB: STRENGTHENING SCIENTIFIC LEADERSHIP IN RESPONSIBLE RESEARCH

MICHELE MASUCCI (Chair), Vice Chancellor for Research and Economic Development; Professor of Geography and Environmental Systems, University System of Maryland

TIMOTHY A. AKERS (Vice Chair), Assistant Vice President for Research Innovation and Advocacy; Professor of Public Health, Morgan State University

ROBIN BROUGHTON, Director of Cultural Innovations, Center for the Advancement of Science Leadership and Culture, Howard Hughes Medical Institute

STEPHEN M. FIORE, Director, Cognitive Sciences Laboratory; Professor, University of Central Florida

UMUT GURKAN, Wilbert J. Austin Professor of Engineering, Case Western Reserve University

GREGORY WEISS, Professor and Vice Chair of Chemistry, University of California, Irvine

SUSAN M. WOLF (NAM), Regents Professor; McKnight Presidential Professor of Law, Medicine & Public Policy; Faegre Drinker Professor of Law; Professor of Medicine, University of Minnesota

Staff

THOMAS ARRISON, Director, Board on Research Data and Information

JENNIFER HEIMBERG, Director, Strategic Council for Research Excellence, Integrity, and Trust

BEAU NIELSEN, Research Associate, U.S. Science and Innovation Policy

JORDAN GRAVES, Program Coordinator, U.S. Science and Innovation Policy

Consultant

PAULA WHITACRE, Rapporteur

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STRATEGIC COUNCIL FOR RESEARCH EXCELLENCE, INTEGRITY, AND TRUST

DAVID B. ALLISON (Co-Chair) [NAM], Dean, Distinguished Professor, and Provost Professor, Indiana University Bloomington

FRANCE A. CÓRDOVA (Co-Chair) [NAS], President, Science Philanthropy Alliance

MARCIA MCNUTT (Co-Chair) [NAS, NAE], President, National Academy of Sciences

MICHAEL V. DRAKE [NAM], President, University of California

JUAN ENRIQUEZ, Managing Director, Excel Venture Management

STEVEN N. GOODMAN [NAM], Professor of Epidemiology & Population Health, Medicine and Health Policy; Associate Dean for Clinical and Translational Research, Stanford University School of Medicine

KATHLEEN H. JAMIESON [NAS], Director, Annenberg Public Policy Center; Professor, Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania

LYRIC JORGENSON, Associate Director for Science Policy; Director, Office of Science Policy, National Institutes of Health

VERONIQUE KIERMER, Chief Scientific Officer, Public Library of Science

ARTHUR LUPIA, Interim Vice President for Research and Innovation, University of Michigan

KAREN E. NELSON [NAS], Chief Scientific Officer, Thermo Fisher Scientific

BRIAN NOSEK, Professor of Psychology, University of Virginia; Co-Founder, Executive Director, Center for Open Science

MAGDALENA SKIPPER, Editor-in-Chief, Nature

BARBARA R. SNYDER, President, Association of American Universities

ELLEN R. STOFAN, Under Secretary for Science and Research, Smithsonian Institution

LEHANA THABANE, Professor, McMaster University; Vice President Research, St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton

SUSAN M. WOLF [NAM], Regents Professor; McKnight Presidential Professor of Law, Medicine & Public Policy; Faegre Drinker Professor of Law; Professor of Medicine, University of Minnesota

AMANDA GREENWELL, Head, Office of Legislative and Public Affairs, National Science Foundation¹

Staff

JENNIFER HEIMBERG, Director, Strategic Council for Research Excellence, Integrity, and Trust

BEAU NIELSEN, Research Associate

JORDAN GRAVES, Program Coordinator

LESLIE BEAUCHAMP, Senior Program Assistant

___________________

¹ Denotes ex-officio member.

Preface

This workshop grew out of efforts by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Strategic Council for Research Excellence, Integrity, and Trust (the Strategic Council) to support research integrity, foster research excellence, and ensure trustworthy results. Formed by National Academy of Sciences’ President Marcia McNutt, the Strategic Council held its first meeting in October 2021. France Córdova and David Allison serve with President McNutt as co-chairs of the Strategic Council. Under their leadership, the Council has created working groups to address key challenges.

One of these working groups, led by Lyric Jorgenson at the National Institutes of Health and Susan Wolf at the University of Minnesota, focused on evaluating the need for tools to support research leaders. The working group was well aware of tools already in place to train individual researchers. Indeed, the National Academies have long published a book for early-career scientists entitled On Being a Scientist (now in its third edition). The working group held meetings with experts to explore what was available for research leaders. It quickly became evident that there was a notable absence of a comparable tool tailored specifically for research leaders, including those overseeing research laboratories, projects, centers, and larger collaborative endeavors.

The need for such a resource stems from the dynamic nature of scientific inquiry. The conduct of science has become increasingly complex, with the rise of big team science, frequent collaboration across multiple disciplines, and a rapid pace of technological, methodological, and research

infrastructure advancements. Meanwhile, the duties of principal investigators and other research leaders have multiplied to meet the demands of research funders, oversight authorities, and community stakeholders. However, the education of research leaders has not kept pace with these changes. Too often, individuals are promoted to leadership roles with no explicit training in the new challenges they will face and the importance of building team norms and practices to support ethical and responsible research. Ineffective leadership can lead to management issues that risk compromising the integrity of scientific outcomes, undermining public confidence in science, and jeopardizing the professional growth of the next generation of scientists.

With the growing size and complexity of research efforts, research leaders must learn how to effectively promote integrity, rigorous scientific practices, and accountability. Leaders are expected to promote responsible conduct of research, address allegations of research misconduct, enable data sharing, ensure research security, protect human participants in research, guarantee the humane treatment of laboratory animals, and make sure that research environments are free from sexual and other forms of harassment. Given the skills and knowledge research leaders require, the Strategic Council recommended that the National Academies convene a workshop inviting a broad range of experts to evaluate what resources are needed to train research leaders.

The National Academies convened a committee to plan and host this workshop. The purpose of the workshop was to discuss how research labs can more effectively educate the next generation of scientists. The planning committee recognized the expanding types of scientific collaborations and the challenges confronting leaders. As shown by the agenda and speakers selected by the planning committee (see Appendix A), this workshop focused on the complexities of leading collaborations ranging from labs to large-scale efforts crossing departments, countries, and scientific disciplines. It reflected a need to understand different research paradigms and management approaches to lead them. It also focused on the management of science at institutional as well as national and international scales. The workshop investigated the professional development and training required to lead such teams, exploring lesser-known options to assess their relevance in addressing the challenges confronting contemporary leaders. Furthermore, it considered how implementing such solutions could enhance the quality, impact, and trustworthiness of scientific endeavors.

The planning committee recognized that assistant professors setting up their own labs have vastly different perspectives and needs than more

senior researchers who are taking on responsibilities for centers, large-scale collaborations, and departments. While the workshop discussion focuses on the latter group, resources and approaches that might be helpful to a broader cohort were also explored, since few resources have been developed to date that specifically target leaders.

We are grateful for the insight and hard work of the planning committee members in creating the final agenda and leading sessions throughout the workshop. The planning committee was fortunate to secure speakers from multiple research sectors, institutions, and disciplinary perspectives. Many were research leaders themselves, who knew the challenges of research leadership firsthand. The planning committee encouraged speakers to go beyond the question of how to lead a team for scientific success, to the further question of how to lead a team to ensure the responsible and ethical conduct of research. The planning committee also sought the speakers’ guidance on what new resources are needed to support research leadership. The result was a rich two days of discussion with a clear call for a new understanding of research leadership and creation of new tools.

The success of this workshop depended on the commitment of the planning committee members, including Vice Chair Timothy Akers, and the hard work of National Academies staff. We would especially like to thank Tom Arrison, director of the Board on Research Data and Information, who managed the workshop, as well as Jordan Graves, Beau Nielsen, and Jennifer Heimberg. Thanks as well to the Strategic Council, whose members recognized the pressing need to support research leaders in order to ensure the responsible conduct of research.

Michele Masucci
Workshop Planning Committee Chair
University of Maryland

Susan M. Wolf
Workshop Planning Committee and Strategic Council Member
University of Minnesota

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Acknowledgments

The planning committee would like to acknowledge the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the National Science Foundation (NSF) for their generous support for this workshop.

The Proceedings of a Workshop was prepared by the workshop rapporteurs as a factual summary of what was presented and discussed at the workshop. The planning committee’s role was limited to planning and convening the workshop. The statements made are those of the rapporteurs and do not necessarily represent positions of the workshop participants, the planning committee, or the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. We wish to extend sincere thanks to all the members of the planning committee for their contributions in scoping, developing, and carrying out this project.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF PRESENTERS

The committee gratefully acknowledges the contributions of the following individuals:

ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF REVIEWERS

This Proceedings of a Workshop was reviewed in draft form by individuals chosen for their diverse perspectives and technical expertise. The purpose of this independent review is to provide candid and critical comments that will assist the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine in making each published proceedings as sound as possible and to ensure that it meets the

institutional standards for quality, objectivity, evidence, and responsiveness to the charge. The review comments and draft manuscript remain confidential to protect the integrity of the process.

We thank the following individuals for their review of this proceedings: FREDERICK GRINNELL, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center; C. K. GUNSALUS, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign; MICHAEL KALICHMAN, University of California, San Diego; and MICHELE MASUCCI, University System of Maryland.

Although the reviewers listed above provided many constructive comments and suggestions, they were not asked to endorse the content of the proceedings nor did they see the final draft before its release. The review of this proceedings was overseen by DAVID ALLISON, Indiana University Bloomington. He was responsible for making certain that an independent examination of this proceedings was carried out in accordance with standards of the National Academies and that all review comments were carefully considered. Responsibility for the final content rests entirely with the rapporteurs and the National Academies.

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Contents

Acronyms and Abbreviations

1 Introduction

2 Scientific Leadership for Ethical and Responsible Research

3 Gaps in Traditional Approaches to Professional Development

4 Federal Research Funding and Resources for Leaders of Large Centers and Projects

5 Knowledge Base for Developing Effective Innovations

6 Innovative Approaches Being Developed or Implemented

7 Taking Stock: Takeaways from Day 1 and Launching Day 2

8 Key Needs to Address Going Forward

APPENDIXES

A Workshop Agenda

B Biographical Sketches

C Resources

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Boxes and Figures

BOXES

1-1 Statement of Task

8-1 Next Steps in Strengthening Scientific Leadership in Ethical and Responsible Research

FIGURES

3-1 The many roles of research leaders

4-1 Challenges of the scientific enterprise and human condition

4-2 Multiteam system characteristics and considerations

6-1 Key leadership and management obstacles to rigor and compliance

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Acronyms and Abbreviations

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