Moira Downey

Name Pronunciation

mor-ah down-ee

Pronouns

She / Her

Interim Director, Research Facilitation Service

Email: mcdowney@ncsu.edu

Orcid Logo0000-0002-6238-4690

My areas of expertise

I can help with

Recent Works

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Shout-outs From My Colleagues

The NIH extended its commitment to public access to NIH-funded research results which became mandated in late January 2023. Research administrators and researchers across NC State have been gearing up by learning the newly expanded requirements for research data management and sharing for NIH. And alongside them have been librarians from the Research Data, Sharing, Management, and Access (RDSMA) team. Members of this team contributed to calls for input by NIH as the NIH was preparing to expand their commitment to public access to research results. Members of RDSMA partnered with campus research leadership to develop outreach and guidance for researchers applying for NIH grants. When the newly expanded NIH policies were implemented in late January 2023, the RDSMA was ready to help researchers create and refine their NIH data management and sharing plans and figure out they best ways to share and preserve data. Along with the full RDSMA team, lots of credit to Bertha Chang (C&RS), Moira Downey (RFS), and Susan Ivey (RFS) who led the way. And a special note of appreciation to Danica Lewis (C&RS) who led the review of several draft data management and sharing plans by researchers seeking NIH grant funds since late January. I am grateful to these colleagues for collaborating across campus and for stepping up and supporting research excellence at NC State.

— Hilary Davis

Last week, Susan and Moira participated in a meeting of the Research Operations Council (ROC), the group of our campus' high level administrators that provides leadership for NC State's research endeavors. Susan and Moira created a fantastic, clear presentation about a recent governmental memo (OSTP memo) that will have significant implications for our campus and the Libraries. Susan did an outstanding job presenting info on what the memo outlines, the impacts it could have on NC State, the support already in place (much of it led by the Libraries), as well as gaps that need to be addressed. The presentation was compelling and engaged many of the research leaders on our campus. Those of us there were able to field questions and support the info that Susan presented. Kudos to Susan and Moira!

— Hilary Davis

Over the past several months, we've received requests from researchers across campus for help with everything from storing sensitive data about human subjects, finding solutions to manage large amounts of data generated from student projects in courses, and ensuring a data projection plan meets both IRB requirements and the funder's requirements. As Moira has worked to launch the Research Facilitation Service (RFS) with Susan Ivey, she's offered to act as a liaison between researchers, the Libraries, and campus OIT experts to get the right information to researchers in a timeframe that works best for them. Moira has approached each of these situations with curiosity, intentionality, and a strong client-focused mindset. I've learned a lot of Moira and am grateful for her expertise and collegiality.

— Hilary Davis