When researchers dream of receiving their first grant, the last thing they expect is for it to feel like they are running a small business. It is often their first time managing a project involving a team and a budget, skills not taught in medical school or PhD programs. Worse, failing to execute one's first grant can harm a researcher’s career and significantly reduce the likelihood of future funding.
Anne Libby, PhD, professor and vice chair for Academic Affairs in the Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, noticed that many mentees were struggling to complete their funded projects. Yet nobody was teaching post-award project management courses for researchers.
“Researchers want to test hypotheses, advance knowledge, develop new approaches to care, and that is wonderful. But you must deal with the wrapper, which is money and sponsorship. Those skills are a requirement in this modern era of being a successful researcher,” Libby said, who is also a longtime program director in the Colorado Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute (CCTSI).
So in April 2020, she launched the Researcher Management and Leadership Training to teach researchers the skills to successfully complete their funded projects. The course is hosted on Coursera, and is deeply connected with the CCTSI. She hopes the course will help researchers manage the business leadership responsibilities tied to funding.
Libby also hopes it will facilitate the K to R transition for researchers. She explained that a critical steppingstone toward an R-level grant is the NIH career development award or K award for early career researchers. While this K to R transition is crucial to a researcher’s career, less than half succeed.
“Failure to execute isn’t the only reason you don’t get an R, but it’s a big reason,” she explained. “The K is the royal road to an R. If you get a K and execute it properly, you’re more than likely getting an R.”
Making Learning Easy for Researchers
Libby wanted to create an accessible, easy-to-follow course that would fit into researchers’ busy day-to-day schedules.
That is why she chose to host the course on Coursera with a self-paced learning model ideal for busy researchers juggling multiple projects. CU’s partnership with Coursera allows anyone with a CU email to access courses for free, while others pay a monthly membership fee.
To keep learners engaged, Libby divided the course into six modules, each with shorter videos featuring different experts and interactive assignments. Convenience for learners was a key factor when she was designing the course.
“On Coursera, you can look at the transcript and take notes. You can also just listen to it, so you don’t have to sit in front of your computer. It is so appealing from a universal learning perspective and is highly accessible,” Libby said.
Global Reach
With over 20,000 people enrolled, the Researcher Management and Leadership Training has an average rating of 4.8 out of 5 and glowing reviews. Because of its open online format, the course is accessible to academics and researchers worldwide, with learners in Africa, Asia, Europe and across the U.S. It has also been translated into multiple languages.
The University of Colorado’s Director of Academic Innovation Programs, Jaimie Henthorn, PhD, said, “Anne Libby’s Researcher Management and Leadership Training course has proven its value to a global audience with consistent learner enrollment and completions for the five years it has been available on Coursera.”
She continued, “This success is owed to Dr. Libby’s dedication to organizing her course to include all the information and skills needed to maximize learners’ opportunities to achieve their goals.”
New Course: Grant Writing for Researchers
Building on her success, in 2024, Libby launched a new course, Grant Writing for Health Researchers Specialization, which already has more than 1600 enrollees.
“It’s so hard to get grants as it is, and being a researcher is not easy. So, why don’t we make something that’s not hard?” was her thought process when designing the new course. That's why she divided the specialization into three short courses to make it easily digestible for all learners.
The course features four experts, including Libby, and is the first course at CU to offer an e-badge career certification. Learners who complete the course can download this certification and share it on their LinkedIn or include it in their CV.
“The certificate is supposed to add value to career development plans or training plans that novice and early career researchers would write into their grant. So, it’s supposed to help them get funded that way,” Libby explained.
To engage learners even further, she developed a podcast to supplement the course.
“Many of my learners would say things like, ‘I was on the treadmill listening to your course but had to keep jumping off to take the quizzes to continue listening.’ So, I decided to make a podcast where we can just talk to them and not stop them from their daily tasks,” she explained.
Her podcast, From the Mentor’s Desk, is an informal version of the Coursera content, featuring additional experts. This optional learning format allows learners to enhance the course’s content without extending the video minutes.
“I want researchers to be prepared, even if the timing isn’t quite right,” Libby said. “When they need access to that content but don’t have time to take a whole course, they will easily be able to go back and review it. Because that’s what academics need.”