Understand
Agree the outcome and trace how information, decisions and responsibilities currently move.
Research operations improvement for universities and research organisations
Fix the research operations problems your team keeps working around.
RKE Support identifies what is slowing delivery, implements practical improvements with the people doing the work and measures the difference in time, control and research outcomes.
For research leaders, research offices and finance teams across universities, institutes, funded organisations and partnerships.
The problems we fix
The immediate issue gets fixed. The process causing it often does not.
We help teams move beyond repeated firefighting. Start with one visible problem, understand why it keeps happening and test a practical change against the real work.
01Work is repeatedly rebuilt
Reconciliations, PI reports and operational checks consume hours because information is copied, rebuilt and checked by hand.
02Award delivery starts late
Contracts, account setup, recruitment and handover delays reduce the time available to deliver the funded work.
03Risk becomes visible too late
Underspends, missing evidence and closure issues surface when deadlines are close and the options are already limited.
The 30-day improvement sprint
Start with one problem. Prove the difference.
We create evidence and momentum without asking the organisation to commit to a large change programme before the value has been tested.
Baseline
Make the starting position visible using evidence the organisation can reproduce.
Test
Try the smallest useful process, control, tool or delivery change against real work.
Decide
Show what changed, what remains and who owns the next action.
Client outcomeStabilised delivery
while managing the day-to-day work and the year-end research audit.
“Ashley had stabilised the team, managing the day-to-day running of the team as well as the year-end research audit. I would not hesitate to work with Ashley again.”
We work across
- UKRI
- Innovate UK
- Horizon Europe
- NIHR
- Wellcome
- REF 2029
- TRAC
- Funder assurance
The RKE perspective
One ecosystem. Shared outcomes.
We do not see pre-award, post-award, finance, governance and leadership as separate problems. They are connected parts of one system—and lasting improvement has to make sense across all of them.
Read the Research Operations GapHow we help
Improve the work across funding, delivery and assurance.
The sprint provides the method. Discover, Deliver and Assure show where we apply it.
01Discover
Discover opportunities
Connect the right funding, people and ideas.We bring opportunity intelligence, researcher knowledge and practical bid support together, so strong ideas reach the right funding at the right time.
- Funding searches
- Researcher matching
- Application review
02Deliver
Deliver funded work
Keep awards moving from setup to close.We help teams establish, monitor, reconcile and close awards with a clear view of responsibilities, conditions, spend and evidence.
- Award setup
- Post-award support
- Reconciliation
- Close and audit support
03Assure
Assure good governance
Build confidence before review or audit.We help organisations understand where risk sits, strengthen proportionate controls and make good governance part of everyday delivery—including AI policy and strategy.
- Funding assurance
- Audit preparation
- AI policy, strategy and governance
Ongoing support
Keep improvement moving when internal capacity is stretched.
Embedded improvement capacity
RKE Support supplies experienced pre-award, post-award and research operations team members to protect essential delivery while helping improve the process around it.
Fractional research leadership
Senior research operations leadership on a flexible basis to steady teams, set priorities, strengthen processes and lead practical change.
RKE tools
Practical tools used inside the improvement work.
The tools support the service. They use information teams already hold, reduce repeated administration and keep accountable human decisions visible.
RKE intelligence
Useful thinking should lead to useful action.
Start with evidence. Leave with a clearer next step.
Research Operations Health Check
See where manual work may be costing your organisation time, capacity and control.
- 3 minutes
- Instant result
- Downloadable report
What people tell us
Useful support changes how the work feels.
Feedback from training, events, tools and hands-on research operations support.“RKE Companion has given me back time to plan ahead and prepare claims without everything feeling urgent. I can answer PIs with more confidence, reduce errors and get more claims approved first time.”
“The AI training from RKE Support improved both the prompts we use and the quality of the results we get back.”
“The Post-Award Training Day in Birmingham was refreshing. It was valuable to have a full day dedicated to post-award work.”
“Andrew Dicken’s presentation on funding assurance—what it means and the process behind it—gave me a valuable perspective on how UKRI works.”
“The TRAC event greatly improved my understanding of TRAC. The presentations were excellent.”
“Ashley had stabilised the team, managing the day-to-day running of the team as well as the year-end research audit. I would not hesitate to work with Ashley again.”
Start with one problem.
What does your team keep having to work around?
Bring us the issue and the evidence you already have. We will help identify a practical next step.Book an operations review