Impact of a NIDA Research Development Program in a School of Social Work

Accomplishments of a research development program (RDP) funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse in the University of Texas at Austin School of Social Work (UT-SSW) were far-reaching. Benefits included training for faculty and doctoral students on the federal grant proposal process, an increase in investigator-initiated research development and proposal submissions, and substantial research productivity on a broad range of topics that involve substance abuse treatment and prevention in underserved populations. Critical to this success were mentoring opportunities facilitated by the RDP that fostered UT-SSW investigators in developing their research agendas and cultivating interdisciplinary collaborations. The RDP also represented a culture shift for faculty who were accustomed to conducting agency-initiated program evaluation research that often requires a less extensive proposal process. Through mentoring from the RDP principal investigator, coinvestigator, and other National Institutes of Health-funded researchers, faculty and doctoral students learned important lessons about the need to expand their research agendas, conduct preliminary studies, establish research reputations, and gain experience on other federally funded projects before successfully competing for their own federal funding.