ART Network Portal Webinar Series
ART Webinar 2026: Research Translation as a Systems Challenge: Insights from NSF’s Accelerating Research Translation (ART) Awardees
Webinar Announcement
The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) Accelerating Research Translation (ART) program from the Technology, Innovation and Partnerships (TIP) Directorate provides funding opportunities to U.S. Institutions of Higher Education (IHEs) for building institutional capacity, infrastructure and training to accelerate research translation, strengthen technology transfer and create sustained economic and societal impacts across the U.S.
The ART Network, supported by the U.S.National Science Foundation ART program is dedicated to promoting translation of innovative research into tangible solutions that address real-world challenges. The core purpose is to bridge the gap between groundbreaking academic discoveries and practical applications that positively impact communities, industries, and society at large.
To support this vision and share best practices in developing regional innovation ecosystems, the ART Network Portal Webinar Series was launched by the ART Network community. This initiative aims to foster a culture of innovative and entrepreneurial thinking and promote research translation that serves the public good, both societally and economically.
Following the successful launch of the inaugural webinar featuring Florida State University, we are pleased to announce the next webinar in the ART Network Portal Webinar Series.
ART Network Webinar Information
ART Network Portal Webinar Series
Webinar Title:
Research Translation as a Systems Challenge: Insights from NSF’s Accelerating Research Translation (ART) Awardees
Presenters:
Pallavi Gupta – Saath Partners
Dr. Priyanka Brunese – Saath Partners
When:
Thursday, October 30, 2026
1:00 PM – 2:00 PM
Register Here:
https://njit-edu.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_ji3eicvDSkCmUmr0htqbCw
Who Should Attend the Webinar
- Institutions of higher education, faculty and staff interested in research translation
infrastructure, skills, and practices
- Individuals and institutions interested in evidence-based frameworks and tools for
research translation
- Current and prospective NSF ART awardees
What Attendees Will Learn
Attendees will learn about current gaps and challenges in research translation and gain insights from Saath Partners’ observations across institutions of higher education, along with evidence-based frameworks, tools, and examples from Saath Partners’ work.
Topics will include:
- Shared definitions and concepts for research translation
- Building faculty and staff skills and capabilities for effective research translation
- Strengthening upstream and downstream infrastructure and support systems to sustain research translation
- Practical, low-effort, high-impact starting points for building institutional research translation capacity
Webinar Overview
Universities are increasingly expected to demonstrate how research contributes to societal, economic, technological, policy, and community outcomes. Yet the institutional capacity needed to move research toward meaningful use remains unevenly developed. ART institutions are actively building this capacity in real time – through new programs, partnerships, staffing models, and metrics – making this a live opportunity to shape emerging practice. In this seminar, Saath Partners presents findings from an exploratory qualitative study of research translation capacity across institutions participating in the NSF’s Accelerating Research Translation (ART) program. The study draws on semi-structured interviews with 18 representatives from 12 ART awardee institutions, analyzed to surface recurring cross-institutional patterns rather than institution specific assessments.
Our synthesis demonstrates the value of applying a systems-thinking lens to research translation. Rather than treating translation as a downstream activity undertaken after research is completed, this perspective positions it as an upstream, partner-engaged process that can shape research questions, methods, outputs, and strategies for use. The findings suggest that research translation efforts and outcomes are shaped by interacting institutional conditions, including fragmented support, narrow measures of impact, late partner engagement, and incentive structures that prioritize conventional scholarly outputs. Together, these dynamics can reinforce one another and keep research translation peripheral to the research enterprise.
The seminar identifies four interconnected leverage points for funders and universities. First, shifting mindsets requires shared definitions and conceptual foundations that encompass multiple pathways to impact. Second, increasing translation capacity requires equipping faculty and staff with practical capabilities to design research with intended users and uses in mind. Third, strengthening translation infrastructure and legitimacy requires institutional structures, intermediary roles, incentives, and metrics that support translation across the research lifecycle. Finally, sustaining these efforts requires embedding support beyond standalone programs, temporary funding, and a small number of experienced practitioners. The study translates these leverage points into concrete opportunities for NSF and ART institutions, including a shared translation framework, flexible metrics, capacity building training, and cross-cohort infrastructure. Together, this suggests a shift from asking individual researchers to “do more translation” toward redesigning the institutional conditions that make research use possible.
Agenda (50–55 minutes)
Detailed agenda to follow.