Research Project Management (RPM) is project leadership for research. It is the role and practice that keeps a research project coherent, realistic and deliverable from start to finish – across partners, work packages, resources, risks, timelines and external obligations. RPM looks at the whole project and how all its moving parts fit together in a complex research environment, so that high‑quality, credible and useful research can actually be carried out.
In that sense, RPM is the same core discipline as project management in IT projects, construction projects and many other fields: planning, coordinating, leading, monitoring and adapting complex work over time. What makes RPM distinctive is that it is done in a research setting – with long time‑scales, uncertainty, peer‑reviewed funding, ethics and integrity requirements, academic career structures and multiple institutional logics. Because of this context, INRPM treats RPM as a distinct field of practice – a clearly defined specialisation of project management in a research context.
Clarifying what RPM is, and is not
Research Project Management (RPM) is sometimes confused with other closely related concepts, which makes it useful to clarify how the term is used in INRPM.
RPM refers specifically to project management specialised for research, meaning the holistic leadership of a research project as a project.
It is different from using “research project management” as a general label for all management and administrative activities surrounding research projects. That broader landscape is usually understood as Research Management and Administration (RMA), which includes many important roles and functions beyond project leadership.
RPM is also different from the academic field that studies project management. That line of work, often described as research on or about project management, contributes valuable knowledge, but it is distinct from the practical work of leading and coordinating a specific project.
Seen in this way, RPM can be understood as a practice‑based specialisation that focuses on enabling research projects to function as coherent, well‑led endeavours.
Job titles, contracts and organisational charts vary widely, but when someone is responsible for this kind of holistic, project‑wide leadership in a research context, they are effectively taking on the RPM role.
RPM and the PI: a shared leadership duo
In a research project there is usually a Principal Investigator (PI) who is the scientific leader: responsible for the research questions, methods, scientific quality and supervision of researchers.
The Research Project Manager (RPM) is the project leader: responsible for how the project is actually organised and steered so that the science can be done – scope, structure, plans, decision‑making, communication, coordination across partners, resources, risks, reporting, and all the interfaces to the surrounding organisation and funders.
An effective project is therefore led by a PI–RPM duo:
- The PI leads what is researched and why.
- The RPM leads how the project is carried out in practice.
Together they provide complete leadership for the project as a whole – scientific and organisational – without the RPM needing to be the scientific expert, and without the PI needing to personally carry every project‑management task.
RPM is for the project as a whole – not for one participant
By definition, RPM is for the project itself, not for a single partner, PI, unit or stakeholder. A person who only represents the interests of one organisation or one work package may contribute important RMA or coordination work, but they are not acting as RPM for the project.
An RPM must be able to:
- Take a project‑wide, cross‑organisational view.
- Balance needs and constraints across all partners and work packages.
- Support decisions that are in the best interest of the project as a whole, within the agreed scope and governance.
In very large programmes, individual work packages or regional clusters can in practice function as “projects within the project”. In those cases, RPM roles may be replicated at that sub‑project level – but they are still defined by responsibility for that whole, not by loyalty to a single organisation. The RPM role remains project‑centred and organisation‑neutral.
RPM within RMA and “Professionals at the Interface of Science” (PIoS)
RPM sits inside the broader landscape of Research Management and Administration (RMA). Many RMA professionals focus on one function – for example:
- Finance officers who specialise in research funding and project finances.
- HR officers who understand contracts, recruitment and career paths in research environments.
- Lawyers who work with research contracts, IP, data protection and ethics.
Each of these is both a specialisation of a wider profession and part of RMA. A finance officer in a research office is still a finance professional, but with a specific research‑project focus. Just as finance is one part of RMA, but not all RMA is finance. RPM is one part of RMA, but not all RMA is RPM.
These roles – research finance, HR, legal, infrastructure, data, engagement and RPM – all belong to a wider family of Professionals at the Interface of Science (PIoS): people whose primary contribution is not to produce the scientific content, but to make it possible for high‑quality, credible and impactful research to happen at all.
Within this family, RPM is the cross‑cutting project‑leadership specialisation: the role that connects the work of PIs, researchers, students and all the different RMA functions into a single, coherent project.
Why INRPM focuses on the RPM role
Because titles and organisational setups vary so much, INRPM deliberately focuses on the work and responsibilities of RPM, not on specific job titles or HR categories. A person may be called “project manager”, “coordinator”, “research administrator”, “researcher” or something else entirely – what matters for INRPM is that they actually carry project‑wide leadership responsibilities in a research context.
There are already strong professional homes for general RMA and for general project management. What has been missing is a dedicated, global space for the RPM specialisation that sits at the intersection of these two worlds: people who manage research projects as projects, in the full research environment. INRPM exists to give that work a clear definition, a stable reference point and a community of peers who recognise themselves in that role, regardless of what their business card happens to say.
Further reading
For a more detailed, practice-based framework of the Research Project Manager role in collaborative research projects, see:
Barbosa, C., Cebolla Sanahuja, L., Collini, M., Moser, R., Santos, J. M. R. C. A., Twohig, R., & Varé, D. (2025). Research Project Management: Defining Roles and Responsibilities from Practice/Experience. Journal of Research Management and Administration, 4(1), 2025082701–2025082701.