Administrative Supplement: The ASCEND (Advancing Skills in Contracting and Execution for NIH-Designated Grants) Initiative

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT Low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) in Sub-Saharan Africa are playing an increasingly prominent role in NIH-funded cancer prevention and control research. However, these institutions often lack the administrative infrastructure necessary to manage the full life cycle of NIH grants, including pre-award budgeting, post-award compliance, subrecipient monitoring, and audit readiness. These gaps threaten the sustainability and efficiency of global cancer research collaborations. In response to NIH policy guidance (NOT-OD-25-104) and in alignment with PA-20-272, this administrative supplement expands the scope of the Winship Cancer Institute’s NCI-designated Cancer Center Support Grant (P30CA138292) to address these critical capacity deficits. This initiative will develop and implement a scalable, hybrid training and mentorship program to strengthen research administration capabilities at LMIC institutions. The program will be anchored at Emory University’s Winship Cancer Institute and Rollins School of Public Health and co-developed with experienced administrators from Sub-Saharan Africa. Specific Aim 1 will create an interactive, modular online curriculum tailored to NIH requirements and LMIC institutional contexts. Specific Aim 2 will train a cohort of LMIC-based research administrators using a structured, three-phase “train-the-trainer” model that includes online coursework, professional certification through the Society of Research Administrators International (SRAI), and on-site mentored training at Emory. Specific Aim 3 will pilot and evaluate the training cascade with a larger cohort of LMIC administrators in Sub-Saharan Africa, including a 2-day in- person workshop, knowledge assessments, peer mentorship, and post-training follow-up. The training model will be guided by the Kirkpatrick evaluation framework to assess satisfaction, knowledge gains, behavioral intention, and institutional outcomes. Outputs will include a best practices toolkit, standardized SOP templates, and freely available training materials to support scale-up and dissemination. By investing in the research administration workforce, this project promotes sustainable infrastructure for global cancer control, enhances compliance with NIH policies, and advances equitable research partnerships between U.S. and LMIC institutions.