Vice President for Research and Innovation

Vice President for Research and Innovation
University of New Hampshire

The University of New Hampshire (UNH), the state’s flagship land-, sea-, and space-grant university, seeks an innovative, collaborative, and strategic leader to serve as its inaugural Vice President for Research and Innovation. Through world-class research, industry partnerships, and community engagement, UNH catalyzes innovation and trains the future workforce to solve society’s biggest challenges, leveraging expertise across agriculture and life sciences, coastal and marine sciences, engineering and the physical sciences, social sciences, health and human services, law, business, and liberal arts.

UNH (Durham, NH) offers more than 100 major fields of study and a wide variety of minors, dual majors, master’s, and doctoral programs to its 15,000 students. An R1 research university since 2019, UNH is committed to research and scholarship that improves the lives of people in the Granite State and across the globe. UNH faculty mentor undergraduate and graduate students in research and scholarship, holding one of the nation's largest annual undergraduate research conferences. Faculty at UNH are comprised of tenure-track, research-track, clinical, extension, and lecturers spread across the institution’s colleges, schools, campuses, and research institutes and assets including Jackson Estuarine Laboratory, Judd Greg Marine Complex, and Shoals Marine Laboratory.

As one of only a handful of institutions in the nation to hold the triple designation as a land-, sea-, and space grant university, research at UNH includes recognized strengths across the arts, sciences, humanities, and professional disciplines. Our distinctive interdisciplinary education and research bring together world-class faculty from diverse fields to spark innovation, deepen understanding, and prepare students to tackle complex, real-world challenges in New Hampshire and beyond. In 2024, UNH was formally designated as a Carnegie Community Engaged Institution in recognition of the ongoing collective efforts made by UNH students, faculty, staff, and leadership to connect with and positively impact its state, region, and nation.

The Vice President for Research and Innovation (VPRI) reports to the University's president, thus integrating research with the University mission and resources, and serves as a member of the Provost‘s Council, the President‘s Cabinet, and the Edge Working Group. Activities of the Research and Innovation Office are guided by the goals and initiatives of the University‘s strategic plan, One UNH: Roadmap to 2030. The VPIR position is enhanced from its prior iteration as a Vice Provost position and designed to position the leader for institution- and state-wide success. The inaugural VPRI will serve as UNH’s chief research and innovation officer and advance the research and innovation missions of the University, growing opportunities for research, enhancing existing partnerships, and developing new industry collaborations that advance the University and state of New Hampshire.

The UNH Research and Innovation Office, led by the Vice President for Research and Innovation, accomplishes its mission of advancing excellence in research, scholarship, and creative activities by providing the essential infrastructure and resources to support a dynamic and growing research program across all academic disciplines of UNH. The office’s primary goal is to increase and support external research funding and recognize faculty and student excellence. The University had a total R&D expenditure of approximately $200M in FY25. The VPRI oversees a collective unit of about 115 individuals with an operating budget of approximately $12 million.

The Research and Innovation Office also serves as the administrative home for the statewide New Hampshire EPSCoR (Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research), which was created by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to enhance the research competitiveness of targeted jurisdictions (state, territory, or commonwealth) by strengthening STEM capacity and capability through a diverse portfolio of investments from talent development to local infrastructure. The VPRI strengthens connections between colleges, schools, and institutes through the Research and Innovation Council (RIC), which serves as an advisory and consultative body to provide guidance, input, and advice to the VPRI on increasing the awareness and visibility of the value of research and innovation.

The VPRI role requires both inward-facing operational leadership and outward-facing strategic engagement. Internally, the VPRI must address infrastructure, staffing, and process challenges. Externally, they must build partnerships, secure resources, and advocate for UNH’s research enterprise. Successfully balancing these demands while prioritizing effectively in a resource-constrained environment will be essential to long-term success. The successful VPRI candidate will bring a track record of advancing research development, infrastructure, and operational effectiveness with significant administrative leadership, deep familiarity with the expansive federal funding landscape, knowledge of sponsored programs administration and compliance processes, and, importantly, direct experience developing and executing research opportunities with corporate and non-governmental partners.

The successful candidate will model ethical leadership, be a skilled communicator who connects with key constituents internally and externally, and demonstrates the capacity and decisiveness for strategic and data-driven decision-making. The VPRI will be a collaborative leader committed to leveraging UNH’s strengths for impact. They will bring strategic and entrepreneurial leadership, financial acumen, and a confidence-inspiring, direct orientation to developing solutions and futures that mutually support the University’s researchers and partners, as well as residents across New Hampshire.

The full VPIR leadership prospectus is available here: UNH - Vice President for Research and Innovation

Review of applications will begin immediately and will continue until the position is filled. Please submit your CV and cover letter using the DSG Storbeck Talent Profile. Nominations or inquiries can be directed to the search team below. This is a full-time position that will be performed on-site in New Hampshire. Salary will be commensurate with experience and includes a generous benefits package.

Jim Sirianni, Global Managing Partner and Practice Leader, Education
Kate Phillips, Senior Associate
DSG | Storbeck
UNHVPRI@dsgco.com