What if every brilliant research idea had a built-in roadmap for success?
At SMU Libraries, the Research & Scholarly Initiatives (RSI) team works to make that vision a reality. Every year, they partner with scholars across campus – faculty, graduate students, and emerging researchers – to transform ideas into organized, achievable, and impactful projects. From navigating data management to shaping publication strategies, the RSI team serves as both guide and collaborator, helping researchers chart paths that are clear, sustainable, and tailored to their scholarly goals.
One powerful example is their growing focus on project management in research. RSI’s workshop on project management, led by Rafia Mirza, digital scholarship librarian; Carrie Johnston, director of research and scholarly initiatives; Sarah Sage, director for strategy and operations in the Office of the Provost; and supported by Sylvia Jones, engineering and science research librarian, equips researchers with tools to structure complex scholarly work. Sessions often integrate practical components like data management, illustrating how documenting decisions, responsibilities, and processes can prevent confusion later in the research cycle.
Supporting research through collaboration
Why does project management matter so much in academic research? Because even the most exciting projects can falter without structure. Researchers juggle evolving timelines, funding requirements, reporting expectations, and cross-institutional collaborations. It’s difficult to estimate how long a task will take, especially when tackling something for the first time.
“You need both a long-term view of your project as well as a short-term view. Good project planning helps you keep these views in balance. This will help you avoid both an irrational belief that things will just work out (magical thinking) as well as increase your ability to adapt to changing circumstances without being overwhelmed by ‘failure,’” says Rafia Mirza, who discusses this in the workshop held for the Digital Humanities Research Institute (DHRI).
These last few years, RSI has offered a recurring workshop collaboration with the Moody School of Graduate and Advanced Studies to support graduate researchers who are navigating long-term, high-stakes projects like theses and dissertations. Students come with big questions:
- How do I break a dissertation into manageable phases after coursework patterns no longer apply?
- What does each chapter require as I write?
- If I can’t meet my initial timeline, what should shift? How do I manage my research scope?
- Based on my notes, where are my sticking points, and how do I address them?
Through structured planning and reflective documentation, students leave with clearer scopes, refined topics, and timelines that fit for them as the research process unfolds.
Across all these efforts, the RSI team remains committed to a core mission: helping all generations of SMU researchers thrive through collaboration, clarity, and strategic support. Whether you’re just beginning a project or trying to bring one across the finish line, RSI is here to build the roadmap with you.
This post was written in collaboration with Rafia Mirza, digital scholarship librarian at SMU Libraries.