BU Research Blog

Please note that all RDS staff are currently working from home but should still be contactable unless their out of office says otherwise. All out of offices will give an alternative contact. Please do not email generic RDS addresses as this means >30 people will unnecessarily receive your email. Thank you.

RDS has a number of posts that are Faculty-facing (Research Facilitators, Funding Development Officers and Project Officers). These staff members spend approximately 50% of their time based in their Faculty offices. The page provides information on when and where you can expect to find them when they are working in your Faculty. Some flexibility with these times is to be anticipated as staff may be attending Faculty meetings, etc. Descriptions of roles are provided at the bottom of the page.

Faculty of Media and Communication

Funding Development Officer – Nick Mascarinhos

Project Officer – Tracy Pope

Business School

Funding Development Officer – Sara Mundy

Project Officer – Philip Leahy-Harland

Faculty of Science and Technology

Funding Development Officer – Kerri Jones

Project Officer – Dean Eatherton

Faculty of Health and Social Sciences

Funding Development Officer – Jacqui Timms

Project Officer – Brian McNulty

Specialist Cross-BU Support

Senior Funding Development Officer: Alice Brown

The focus of the Research Facilitators has changed from Faculty-facing to funder specialisms, based on the major funders. The current post titles will change to ‘Research Facilitator for…’ and the contacts for each post are detailed below:

• Life Sciences – Lisa Andrews (based in S801 Tuesday and Wednesday and WAH Thursday to Friday) will focus on:
  • NIHR: National Institute for Health and Care Research
  • Medical Research Council (MRC – UKRI)
  • Natural Environment Research Council (NERC – UKRI), and
  • Wellcome Trust

• Humanities and Social Sciences – Eva Papadopoulou
  • Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC – UKRI)
  • Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC – UKRI)
  • The British Academy
  • The Leverhulme Trust
  • UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) central funding (i.e., not targeted to a specific research council)
• Innovation and Infrastructure –  Zarak Afzal will focus on:
  • Innovate UK
  • Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC – UKRI)
  • The Royal Society
  • Research England (UKRI)
  • Major infrastructure funds
  • Support for funding from the proposed Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA) will be determined in due course.
• International – Ainar Blaudums (based in S801 Tuesday and Wednesday and WAH Monday, Thursday and Friday) will focus on:
  • European Union – Horizon Europe
  • European Research Council
  • National Institute of Health (NIH – US)
  • Other international funding opportunities

The focus of the Research Facilitator support will remain largely unchanged, which is:

• to identify potential funding opportunities within their specialism. Broader horizon scanning will be cascaded across BU via the weekly funder briefings.
• to provide support to researchers within the Research Facilitators funder specialisms, to develop their bids through building research teams (including external collaborators as well as inter/multi-disciplinary teams within BU)
• to advise on bid content and structure to ensure a high-quality bid is submitted to external funders.

Support for all other types of bids/funders will be provided through Faculty Leadership and Research Mentors.

Engagement and Impact Facilitator – Amanda Edwards, Monday & Friday T120, Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday working off campus.

RKEDF queries – TBC

You can read more about the roles about all staff in RDS and access a structure chart here: http://blogs.bournemouth.ac.uk/research/contact/

Descriptions of roles

Research Facilitator –  provides expert support with developing your ideas, horizon scanning for possible funding, building networks/teams, and advice on the structure and content of your bid.

Funding Development Officer – provides support with application submission, including: submission timelines, checking funder guidance and eligibility, costings, internal approvals, submitting your application, recording it on RED, using Research Professional, etc.

Project Officer – provides support with the financial and project management of your research grant, legal and audit queries, reporting, etc.