SRA International (SRAI)

SRA International (formally the Society of Research Administrators International, founded 24 June 1967) is a professional membership association of roughly 5,000 research administrators across about 40 countries. It is not a regulator or exam-based credentialing body: its main output is a catalog of 11 completion-based certificate programs (e.g. Pre-Award, Financial Management, Clinical Trials Research Administration) earned through conference workshops and electives, distinct from RACC's proctored CRA/CPRA/CFRA credentials and from NCURA, the comparable US-focused membership association.

ByCASRAI Editorial Board

· Last updated 23 Jul 2026

Worked examples

Is an instance

A pre-award administrator joins SRA International and completes its Pre-Award (PA) certificate over several annual/virtual meetings to build practical skills in proposal development and submission.

Is an instance

A clinical-trials administrator pursues the Clinical Trials Research Administration (CTRA) certificate through SRA International while separately preparing for RACC's proctored CRA exam.

SRA International — formally the Society of Research Administrators International, and still widely referred to by its historical short name SRA — is a professional membership association for research administrators, distinct from the credentialing body RACC and from the US-focused NCURA. Where NCURA’s membership is concentrated in US university sponsored-programs offices, SRA International markets itself explicitly as the international body in the field, drawing members from universities, teaching hospitals, government agencies, nonprofits, and industry sponsors across roughly 40 countries.

What SRA International is

SRA International was founded on 24 June 1967 and has grown to roughly 5,000 members worldwide. It operates as a professional-development and networking association rather than a regulator or accreditor: it does not set binding rules for how research administration must be practiced, and — unlike the RACC credentials (CRA, CPRA, CFRA) — its certificate offerings are not proctored, independently examined credentials. Membership and program participation are open to research-administration professionals regardless of institution type, which is part of why the organization frames itself as “international” rather than sector- or country-specific.

Certificate programs

SRA International’s primary professional-development output is a catalog of completion-based certificate programs, earned through required workshops plus elective sessions delivered at SRA International’s conferences and virtual meetings, with up to three years allowed to complete a given certificate. As of the most recent verification, the catalog spans eleven certificates:

Clinical Trials Research Administration (CTRA)
Financial Management (FM)
Introduction to Research Administration and Management (IRAM)
Global Research Management (GRM)
Leadership (LD)
NIH Grants Fundamentals
Practice of Research Administration and Management (PRAM)
Pre-Award (PA)
Research Compliance and Integrity (RCI)
Research Law (RL)
Research Project Management (RPM)

This is a meaningfully different mechanism from a tested credential: there is no independent experience-eligibility gate and no proctored exam, so a certificate documents completed coursework/attendance rather than a scored assessment of competency. It sits alongside, and is often pursued in combination with, NCURA’s own certificate-track program (also attendance-based, earned mainly through its Annual Meeting) and RACC’s exam-based CRA/CPRA/CFRA credentials. See Research Administrator Certification: RACC, NCURA, and SRA International Programs Compared for a full side-by-side comparison of eligibility, format, and cost across all three.

How SRA International differs from NCURA and RACC

SRA International — professional membership association; international scope; completion-based certificate catalog (11 tracks) earned via conference workshops.
NCURA (National Council of University Research Administrators) — professional membership association; primarily US-focused; completion-based certificate tracks earned mainly through its Annual Meeting program.
RACC (Research Administrators Certification Council) — an independent nonprofit, not a membership society; administers the proctored, exam-based CRA, CPRA, and CFRA credentials with their own experience-eligibility requirements.

A research administrator’s career path commonly touches all three: joining SRA International or NCURA (or both) for community, conferences, and certificate-based skill-building, while separately pursuing a RACC credential as the field’s recognized tested certification. The two kinds of organization are complementary, not competing — CASRAI’s own scope references both NCURA and SRA International as the field’s principal professional bodies.

Example

A research administrator new to clinical-trials pre-award work might join SRA International specifically to complete its Clinical Trials Research Administration (CTRA) certificate over successive annual meetings, using the coursework to build practical competency, while separately sitting the RACC CRA exam once they meet its experience threshold to obtain a portable, tested credential recognized across employers.

Counter-example

An administrator citing “SRA-certified” on a CV as though it were equivalent to the RACC-administered CRA credential would be describing something different in kind: SRA International’s certificates confirm completed coursework/attendance, not a passed, proctored competency exam with an independent eligibility gate.

Related terms

What a Research Administrator Does (covers NCURA in more depth)
Research Administrator Certification: RACC, NCURA, and SRA International Programs Compared
ARMA, EARMA, and INORMS (the equivalent bodies outside the US/international-generalist space)

Use in your systems

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Schema.org DefinedTerm (JSON-LD)

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