Research Units

Learn about the offices that oversee research activities at IU

IU Research is a large and complex organization.

University-wide research units

IU Research

IU Research is responsible for research development, research compliance, and research administration. Working with university-wide offices, campus leaders, and deans, IU Research works to increase and diversify research and creative activities at IU, attract external funding for these activities, and develop public-private partnerships, technology transfer, graduate education, and intercampus research opportunities.

Office of Research Administration

The Office of Research Administration (ORA) provides support for IU's research community to catalyze research productivity and protect the institution and its research community from risk. ORA seeks to minimize impediments to research activity, promote research conduct that meets the highest standards of ethical integrity, and ensure that research activity is compliant with all local, state, and federal regulations. All proposals for external research funding are submitted through ORA. The office also reviews all awards and agreements, then monitors award accounts throughout the lifespan of your research project. ORA provides a variety of other vital services, including:

Office of Research Compliance

The Office of Research Compliance (ORC) ensures that research conducted by IU and affiliated researchers is not only in compliance with all applicable regulatory, statutory, and organizational requirements, but also meets the standards of best practices while minimizing impediments to research and burdens on the research community.

The ORC oversees seven compliance areas:

Office of Research Development

The Office of Research Development (ORD) provides a wide range of strategic, proactive, and capacity-building services and resources that help to advance research, creative activities, and innovation at its earliest stages and beyond. Focused on helping increase faculty and institutional competitiveness in obtaining research funding through a variety of activities, ORD staff help faculty identify funding opportunities; manage internal funding opportunities and limited submissions processes; provide comprehensive proposal and grantsmanship support; offer workshops, cohort-training, research mentoring programs, and professional development; and facilitate strategic research partnerships and initiatives. At the core of all we do is a commitment to ethical and inclusive research practices.

Office of Business Partnerships

The Office of Business Partnerships is the front door for industry partners seeking to cultivate strategic relationships with IU faculty, researchers and students. Collaborating with industry leaders and entrepreneurs around the world, building meaningful, sustainable and mutually beneficial partnerships in support of education and research across Indiana and beyond.

Office of Foundation Relations

The Office of Foundation Relations (OFR) helps coordinate institutional relationships with IU and private philanthropic foundations, involving identification, cultivation and stewardship. OFR is a system-wide resource for those within the IU community seeking support from nongovernmental organizations for research, teaching, and other programs. OFR provides assistance to faculty, administrators, and center directors in all divisions and schools within IU.

Innovation and Commercialization Office

The IU Innovation and Commercialization Office (ICO) is available to partner with IU faculty to explore commercialization options related to their research and to develop a customized plan to translate their technology to applied solutions for customers and public benefit.

ICO's mission is to transfer IU innovations from lab to market for public benefit and global impact. ICO provides the resources to:

  • Protect IU Innovation;
  • Facilitate commercialization of  IU technologies on a broad, non-exclusive basis, when possible;
  • License IU technologies to existing commercial entities when further development is required for marketing and sale;
  • Support creation and growth of IU startups to commercialize early-stage technologies, when that is the optimal avenue for commercialization.

Collections @ IU

Indiana University's collections are valuable resources that need to be protected and maintained. In 2018, IU named its first executive director for university collections, Heather K. Calloway. Calloway has broad responsibility for the stewardship of IU's myriad collections, consistent with the university's teaching, research, and service missions. The Collections @ IU website was created to make the university's collections resources better known, more fully utilized in IU's research and teaching missions, and more fully appreciated by the IU community and the general public. The site brings together a compilation of Indiana University's most valuable resources across all campuses to provide greater visibility to the rich history of humanity's cultural and scientific achievements.

IU School of Medicine

Dean’s Office of Research Affairs

The Indiana University School of Medicine conducts a broad range of basic, translational, and clinical research in order to improve health, prevent disease, better train physicians, and provide the foundation for Indiana’s life sciences economy. The primary mission of the Office of Research Affairs at the Indiana University School of Medicine is to promote human health through the performance of the highest quality, ethically conducted, basic and clinical research.

Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute

The Indiana CTSI seeks to improve the health of individuals and communities by supporting high quality research and partnerships. Indiana CTSI provides access to resources, services, training, education, and funding opportunities.

IU East

Office of Academic Affairs

From assistance in seeking funding for faculty and students to managing risks associated with research using human and animal subjects, the Office of Academic Affairs at IU East coordinates a variety of activities in support of the research and creative work of faculty, staff, and students.

IU Kokomo

Office of Academic Affairs

The Office of Academic Affairs is responsible for developing faculty careers, enhancing faculty productivity, recognizing faculty excellence, cultivating academic leadership, providing a nurturing campus climate, and defining faculty rights and responsibilities on the Indiana University Kokomo campus.

IU Northwest

Office of Academic Affairs

The mission of the Office of Academic Affairs is to collaboratively advance student and faculty success by supporting student-centered teaching, advising and learning, encouraging the dissemination of knowledge through research and creative activities, supporting evidence-based decision making, and recognizing the importance of service and engagement.

IU Fort Wayne

Office of Research, Engagement and Sponsored Programs

IU Fort Wayne is committed to health science education. Faculty work together across disciplines to create a uniquely connected health sciences learning environment that focuses on treating the whole person. Programs begin in Fall 2018.

IU South Bend

Office of Research

The Office of Research coordinates a variety of activities in support of the research and creative work of IU South Bend faculty, from research grant guidelines to expertise in managing the risks associated with research using human and animal subjects.

IU Southeast

Office of Academic Affairs

The Office of Academic Affairs at IU Southeast oversees the development and utilization of learning resources, develops programs to improve the quality of teaching and learning, encourages and supports faculty research and creative work, and promotes the cultural and intellectual growth of the academic community.