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What is ORA?

The Office of Research Administration (ORA) provides support to faculty for all aspects of extramural funding from pre-award through closeout activities. We provide the following services to the UM faculty community:

  • Proposal review and administrative signoff;
  • Assistance with completing electronic proposals;
  • Submitting electronic proposals;
  • Negotiation and acceptance of awards; and
  • Management of all aspects of an award throughout its life cycle.

How Can ORA Help You?

As a new faculty member, be sure to rely on the expertise of your ORA Contract Administrator and the electronic Research Administration (eRA) team. ORA’s website has a wealth of reference information that will help you in preparing your proposal and managing your award. In addition, sign up for the appropriate training sessions to help you prepare, submit, and manage your proposals successfully. Finally, familiarize yourself with the related departments such as Sponsored Programs Accounting & Compliance (SPAC) and the Office of Technology Commercialization (OTC).

Contract Administrators (CA)

Every department at the University has a CA within ORA. CAs focus on:

  • Proposal review and UM approval
  • Award negotiation and acceptance
  • Award management and close-out (with the Compliance Officer)

To find your CA, go to the ORA Staff Directory.

Electronic Research Administration Team (eRA Team)

The eRA team assists the UM research community in:

  • Using electronic submission portals
  • Training for Grants.gov and agency websites
  • Preparing proposals for electronic submissions
  • Communicating agency updates
  • Using Kuali Research for proposal, award, and subaward management

Training

ORA provides various workshops and seminars for the campus community. Sign up to learn how to navigate the various agency electronic proposal submission protocols and how to manage your research once funded. Departments and colleges can request training sessions for their faculty and staff members. Training sessions include:

  • Submission Systems
  • Sponsored Research Administration Certificate Program
  • Kuali Research
  • Accessing Research Administration data from reports.umd.edu

Related Departments

ORA works closely with other departments within the Division of Research and the Comptroller’s Office. Each department has a specific role to play in Sponsored Research Administration. Familiarize yourself with their functions and policies:

ORA's Web Site

To learn more about ORA and the services it provides for faculty, staff and students, be sure to bookmark ORA.

ORA’s web site links to:

  • Electronic Submissions
  • Policies (UM References)
  • Forms

In addition, you can:

  • Link to databases for funding opportunity announcements
  • Link to agency sites » Access sample agency forms
  • View federal & state policies and regulations
  • Link to USM institutional research related entities
  • Link to the VP for Research for information on research taking place at UM

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