Dear Members of the Brown Community,

After several months of extensive campus engagement and development, we are pleased to share the Operational Plan for Investing in Research. This ambitious but achievable plan will serve as a detailed roadmap for propelling Brown’s research and scholarship across all disciplines to a new level of excellence over the next five to seven years.

https://distinction.brown.edu/sites/default/files/Operational-Plan-for-Investing-in-Research.pdf

The research Brown produces plays a critical role in benefitting communities locally, nationally and around the world. With increased investment in research across all disciplines — in areas ranging from treatments for Alzheimer’s disease and unraveling the mysteries of RNA, to confronting social and economic inequality, addressing climate challenges, and deepening understanding of the historical and cultural legacies that shape current issues — Brown stands ready to make a transformative impact on the lives of individuals, families and society. This letter summarizes the plan’s focused areas of investment in people, space, administrative and support services, and signature research initiatives.

The Operational Plan for Investing in Research — which aligns with Brown’s strategic plan, Building on Distinction — builds on the existing strengths of our research enterprise to positively impact communities around the world, including the Providence and Rhode Island communities that Brown calls home. The plan provides a comprehensive strategy for targeted investments and increased support structures for faculty, staff and students, as well as investments in facilities that support research.

The plan builds upon the substantial progress the University has made on the commitments identified in the strategic plan released in 2014 — and two subsequent operational plans in 2015 and 2018 — which have guided our collective work in strengthening education, scholarship, campus life and operations. Research touches every area of the University, and growing our scholarly activities will benefit the entire Brown community. Deeper investment in research will reinforce innovation in classrooms, attract world-class faculty and top students to Brown, stimulate innovation and economic development in Rhode Island, and benefit society through the creation and dissemination of knowledge.

One of the core strengths of the plan is its reflection of a broad community engagement process to develop a plan that recognizes Brown’s strengths and needs, reflects the breadth of scholarship at the University, and is complementary to our educational mission. The plan was developed with the input of deans, chairs of academic departments, directors of major academic institutes and centers, faculty, and staff. After the release of an initial draft of the plan to the community in June 2022, it was further refined by hundreds of members of the Brown community who provided valuable feedback through an online survey and multiple campus forums and focus groups.

The essential input of these Brown community members helped shape the final plan in substantive ways, including, among other revisions, framing Brown’s strategies to focus on investment in research for all disciplines across the University; highlighting University-wide investments in infrastructure; and spotlighting mechanisms to give faculty more time and funding to conduct research. The final plan also reflects an expansion in the range of Signature Research Initiatives that build on Brown’s existing areas of strength, recognition of a range of metrics to measure the success of research, and goals to change the sabbatical policy for tenure-track faculty.

The plan specifies that three principles will guide every investment in Brown’s research enterprise over the coming five to seven years: strategic alignment with Building on Distinction; supporting Brown’s teaching and learning mission; and diversity and inclusion. Many of the goals outlined in the plan are already underway and are indicated as priorities in the $1 billion extension of the BrownTogether campaign announced last year. Further investments will be added over the coming five to seven years based on additional information, expressed needs and available funding.

We encourage you to read the full plan and learn more about the work we’ll do as a community with strategies for growth in four key areas:

I. Investing in Our People

The plan details the ways in which increasing Brown’s investment in research across disciplines will require significant investments in faculty, staff and students. This will include the addition of many more people to write grant proposals, perform research and produce scholarship. This means increases in tenure-track and research faculty; staff researchers and administrators; graduate students, specifically Ph.D. students; postdoctoral researchers; and undergraduate research assistants. This facet of the plan will also involve policy changes (e.g., updating the sabbatical policy), training and development opportunities, and process improvements.

The plan offers data-informed analysis and explains that growth will not be uniform across disciplines, as academic departments have different needs. Although much of the growth in people will be financed by external grants, it also will require new philanthropy and University support.

II. Investing in Our Space

To accommodate growth, Brown will need additional and upgraded space for research across a number of disciplines, including the humanities, life and medical sciences, social sciences, and physical sciences. The plan references several capital projects under consideration across each of these areas, as Brown is engaged in space planning studies to evaluate needs and current spaces across campus. The plan articulates the need to add research space through new construction and renovation, while also addressing deferred maintenance of existing research facilities.

Additional capital projects — the need for which was articulated during the community feedback process — will likely be added over the coming five to seven years based on evolving priorities and available funding. All capital projects will follow the University’s capital planning processes, will be evaluated against the guiding principles for growing Brown’s research enterprise, and must align with the University’s long-term priorities and plans.

III. Investing in Administrative and Support Services

The University will need to improve and invest in resources and services that support the research enterprise across campus. The plan outlines a framework for increasing library resources, special collections, internal research funding, research administration, administrative systems and processes, computing infrastructure, service centers such as research core facilities, and faculty development programs, among other forms of support. These investments will be scaled over the next five to seven years, with a goal to make research and scholarship at Brown easier and more seamless.

IV. Investing in Signature Research Initiatives

To maximize the impact of growing Brown’s research enterprise, the University must continue to grow in ways that that build on existing areas of distinction, align with the University’s culture and ethos, and support broader societal priorities. The plan explains that Brown will implement a process to solicit proposals for Signature Research Initiatives that have the potential to become innovative, world-class research programs. These initiatives will build on distinctive strengths, illustrate interdisciplinary breadth, demonstrate potential to garner external support, and align with the integrative themes in Building on Distinction.

The plan includes examples of several initiatives illustrating the kind of research programs that can help propel Brown to the next level of excellence. It also includes several initiatives that were received from the community through the feedback process. New proposals will be reviewed on a rolling basis, and the University will announce new Signature Research Initiatives as they are approved. In the coming months, the Office of the Provost will communicate detailed steps for submitting proposals, which will be reviewed on an ad hoc basis.

Conclusion

We are deeply grateful to all of the deans, faculty, staff and other members of our community who contributed to the development of the plan. As we note in the document’s cover letter, achieving Brown’s research aspirations will require the effort of many individuals, academic units and offices across the Brown community. By working collaboratively, we have a tremendous opportunity to elevate Brown and its impact on society.

We look forward to working together to further knowledge and understanding, and advance solutions to the most pressing challenges facing the world.

Sincerely,

Christina H. Paxson, President

Richard M. Locke, Provost