Celebrating Staff: Lan Chan-Marples

Lan Chan-Marples, Research Partner with the Research Partner Network under the Vice-President (Research and Innovation) portfolio, is assigned to the School of Public Health after 20 years of supporting key research activities at the University of Alberta. 

The School of Public Health benefits from the research administration knowledge and expertise of Chan-Marples on a daily basis. Get to know more about Lan, what a typical workday looks like for her, and more. 

What is your role in the School of Public Health and what does it involve?

I serve two roles. The first role entails assisting the school with institution-wide research grant development. Each partner has specialization in an area of grant development based on a defined portfolio of research sponsors and/or programs. My portfolio is community-engaged research. In this capacity, I provide grant development support to any researcher in the School of Public Health and across the institution who is engaged in research relating to community-engaged research.  

My second role is offering faculty-specific research support, which includes: research-related support like participating in faculty-level committees, strategic planning, and increasing grant success; providing administrative support such as training, advising, policy interpretation, advocacy and issue resolution; and serving as a go-to resource for researchers, senior academic leaders, and administrative professionals.           

What does a typical workday look like for you?  

A typical workday involves answering questions about grant applications and act as a liaison between faculty and Research Administrative Services. This includes advising and resolving university policy and process-related funding, program or sponsor concerns. In between all of that, I develop and offer grant application workshops and resources.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of your work? 

I enjoy learning about researchers' ideas and projects and then collaborating with them to obtain funding to make those ideas a reality. I find it satisfying when a researcher is successful and I know I’ve had a hand in that success.

What is the most challenging aspect of your work? 

Finding time to juggle everything! Often, I think I’m going to have a quiet day to work or catch up on things, but something comes up. This may have to do with the fact that I support five faculties along with some departments in another faculty.  

What is something your coworkers don’t know about you? 

I lead walking tours in Chinatown in my spare time. I appeared in a Daily Hive video showing me on one of my tours! 

Where is your favourite place on campus?   

I love walking through campus, in the Quad and in between buildings, to watch the seasons change: in winter, seeing the evergreen trees lit up in the Quad and in spring, seeing the buds forming on the lilac trees.

Is there anything you would like to add? 

I came to the university 20 years ago as a research facilitator in the Research Services Office (now Research Administrative Services) from the not-for-profit and government sectors. I continue to enjoy doing what I do, whether as a Research Facilitator or a Research Partner, to support research and researchers at the University of Alberta.