UK leads 2nd annual Research Analytics Summit on data-informed decision-making
LEXINGTON, Ky. (April 24, 2025) — Experts at the University of Kentucky are leading efforts across the country to transform the research ecosystem, specifically in analytics.
The 2025 Research Analytics Summit was held April 6-9, in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It’s the only national conference dedicated to enhancing data-informed decision-making within higher education research administration.
The summit aims to bring together professionals from various sectors of higher ed and industry to explore innovative strategies, share best practices and address emerging challenges in research analytics, bibliometrics, responsible research evaluation and the use of artificial intelligence (AI) within research administration.
“The Research Analytics Summit aims to foster a collaborative environment and network where professionals and industry leaders can exchange ideas and develop strategies to enhance data-informed decision-making in research,” said Baron Wolf, Ph.D., summit chair and UK director of research analytics. “By bringing together experts and practitioners, we hope to advance the field of research analytics and support the success of research institutions nationwide — regardless of whether they are a large research-intensive institution or a primarily undergraduate or minority-serving institution.”
This year’s summit featured leading experts, interactive workshops and panel discussions. With more than 230 attendees, 40 presentations and 56 speakers, participants had the opportunity to delve into topics such as strategic planning, capacity building and effective grant and contract management through the use of data and AI.
Session topics included:
- Data-informed strategic planning: Exploring methodologies to integrate data analytics into the strategic planning processes of research institutions.
- Enhancing research capacity through analytics: Techniques for utilizing data to identify opportunities for growth and development within research programs.
- Optimizing grant and contract management: Best practices for leveraging analytics to streamline the administration of grants and contracts — ensuring compliance and efficiency.
- Emerging technologies in research analytics: An overview of new tools and technologies that are shaping the future of data analysis in research administration.
- Case studies in successful data implementation: Real-world examples of institutions that have effectively integrated data analytics into their research administration processes.
In addition to formal sessions, the summit offered networking opportunities — allowing attendees to connect with peers, share insights and establish collaborations that will extend beyond the conference.
The summit launched in 2024 with the support of a conference grant awarded to UK by the U.S. National Science Foundation’s GRANTED program.
All sessions from the 2024 and 2025 summit are available as open access documents in an online repository. The 2025 summit was planned by a steering community that included:
- Baron Wolf, University of Kentucky (chair)
- Lori Schultz, Colorado State University (co-chair)
- Andrea Christelle, Diné College
- Hansa Magee, University of Missouri-Columbia
- Dan Harmon, University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign
- Jennfier Freeman, Ontario Tech University (Canada)
- Michelle Hutnik, Penn State University
- Elizabeth (Lizzie) Gadd, Loughborough University (United Kingdom)
The summit was supported by the following industry partners: Elsevier, Clarivate, Digital Science, Cassyni, WestArete, Deloitte, ORCiD, Research Solutions, Academic Analytics, Insight, Kuali, OpenAlex, infoEd Global, Modern Research, Overton and Expert Finder Systems Forum.
Research Analytics at the University of Kentucky is a part of the office of Institutional Research, Analytics, and Decision Support (IRADS).
Research reported in this publication was supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation under Award No. 2324388. The opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. National Science Foundation.
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