INORMS Governance

The INORMS network enables the officers of its member Associations to compare their national, international or regional issues, and to learn from each other. Each member Association has its own distinct remit, constitution, membership and geographical base, but all face similar issues. Through INORMS, member Associations are able to transfer training course structure and content, adopt comparable support mechanisms, jointly develop training materials, and jointly influence policy.

The INORMS Council provides leadership for the network. The Council is chaired by the President/Chair of the Association hosting the immediate past INORMS Congress currently the Chair of RMAN-J (June 2021 – May 2023). The Incoming Chair also provides Secretariat support for the Council over a two-year period. Broader membership of the Council is made up of the Chairs/Presidents of the Member Associations. The governance of the INORMS Council is underpinned by a set of Operating Principles which are reviewed annually by the Council.

The INORMS Council appointed a Working Group in September 2017 whose aims is to strengthen the value proposition of the network by progressing ideas and joint initiatives endorsed by the Council for the greater benefit of the network. The INORMS Working Group is governed by a set of Terms of Reference.

INORMS Council Members

Chair:

Prof. Makiko Takahashi, Kanazawa Institute of Technology, Japan, has been a Vice-Chair of RMAN-J since the association’s creation in 2014.

For the past twenty years, she has devoted herself to the promotion of academia-industry collaboration, technology transfer, and research strategy while working for Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tohoku University, and RIKEN (two national universities and one national research Institute).

Through these experiences, she recognized the need for a research administrative function to strengthen research in Japanese universities. From 2008, she had actively explained the importance to the stakeholders, and this led to the establishment of the first Japanese skill standard and educational programs under the MEXT URA (University Research Administrator) promotion program. This work resulted in the subsequent creation of RMAN-J in 2014.

She has recently been appointed Executive Director of the High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK), and serves in various advisory roles in ministries and funding agencies, including MEXT, METI, NEDO, and JST. In addition, she is a visiting scholar at the National Institute of Science and Technology Policy (NISTEP). Dr. Takahashi aspires to establish skill standards and educational programs for the Japanese URA system.

Council Members:

Annedorte Vad is President of the Danish association for Research Managers and Administrators DARMA. She has worked with RMA since the mid 1990’s. Her career started in a large-scale research project at the University of Copenhagen, since she became an Adviser in the Danish Ministry of Science where she was also a National Contact Point for the FP6 and FP7 programme. In 2007 Annedorte was headhunted by Copenhagen Business School to build the central research support she is now heading. Annedorte has vast experience of board work. She was on the first elected board of DARMA (from 2009 to 2013) and has been on the board of SRA International since 2014 where she has also been the President of the SRAI International Section. She was among the inaugural recipients of the INORMS award for excellence in Research Management Leadership in 2018.

Annemarie Vastenhouw-van der Linden is cofounder and since November 2021 chair of the Association of Research Managers and Administrators the Netherlands (ARMA-NL), before that she was the secretary of the board. ARMA-NL is the official association originated in 2018 from the network EU-Project Managers in the Netherlands (EUPMAN), that started already in 2008.

ARMA-NL has the mission to support the professionalization of our members by offering a professional network, stimulate and provide professional development, knowledge sharing opportunities and representation, by and for its members.

Within the University Medical Centre Utrecht, Annemarie is a project advisor, policy staff member and senior project manager for complex (inter-)national funded collaborative research & innovation proposals and projects. Before, she worked at the EU project management team of the Faculty of Science of the University of Amsterdam. She started in 2009 as EU project manager at the UMC Utrecht. Prior, she worked in a neuroscience lab for ten years. Experienced with RIA, MSCA-ITN/DN, MSCA-COFUND, FET Open/Proactive/Flagships, EIC, E+, ERC and diverse national funding.

Bryony Wakefield Ph.D., is the Executive Director of Research Services at the University of Glasgow (UofG), Scotland.

Dr Wakefield enjoys working in partnership with the Vice Principal for Research & Knowledge Exchange on the development and implementation of the University of Glasgow research strategy. Joining the UofG in 2022 was prompted by the calibre of the researchers and professional staff, and the values-based University Research Strategy. The Research Services team are a dynamic group of skilled research professionals, with diverse specialisms and expertise.

Bryony has built a career in research management and administration. Her interest in in this profession began at the Australian National University (ANU) where, in 2006, she undertook a Postdoctoral Research Administrator program. Bryony went on to hold senior roles in policy, research training and sponsored research in the ANU Research Office. She thrived working in an environment with such a collaborative focus and breadth of activity. Bryony moved to Melbourne in 2009 to take up the position of Manager, Grants & Contracts at the University of Melbourne. In 2010 she became the Director, Research Unit, in the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry & Health Sciences. Her continued focus was leading a team to collaborate, across the University and externally, to develop and implement research strategy, grow partnerships and to provide quality services to support world class research and researchers. To complement this work, in 2018 Bryony became an Adjunct Faculty member, teaching into the Masters in Research Administration at Johns Hopkins University.

As a strong advocate of the research management and administration profession Bryony has been actively involved in our global research professional community. She recalls attending the first INORMS Congress in 2006, and the value of coming together to share and learn from each other. Bryony has previously served as a member of the National Council of University Research Administrators (NCURA) Board of Directors. She is currently the President of NCURA.

Carlos Graeff Teixeira is Professor at the Unit of Infectious Diseases, Center for Health Studies, Universidade Federal do Espirito Santo, Brazil, since october 2019. He graduated as physician and got a PhD in Tropical Medicine, 1991, at Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, FIOCRUZ, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He was a Full Professor at Health Sciences School, Pontificia Universidade Catolica do Rio Grande do Sul (PUCRS), Porto Alegre, for 27 years, and coordinator for promotion of interdisciplinarity (2011-2016) and Dean of Research at the Office of Vice-President of Research and Graduate Studies. He is a founding member of Brazilian Research Administrators and Managers Association (2013) and Past-President (2013-2015). He is currently BRAMA’s Vice-President.

As MSK’s Senior Director, Research Outreach and Compliance, Debbie has more than 19 years’ leadership experience in research integrity and compliance. She also works as an adjunct lecturer for CUNY’s School of Professional Studies online graduate program teaching Introduction to Research Compliance, Ethics, and Integrity and the Practicum Capstone. She received the Adjunct Lecturer of Excellence Award in January 2021.

She currently serves as SRAI President and is Past-president, Northeast Section, recipient of the SRAI Excellence Award – Intermediate Level and Hartford-Nicholsen Award (2011), former SRAI Catalyst Editor and former EPDC Co-chair. She is a frequent facilitator, content creator, and/or track leader/programming working group chair in Research Ethics/Compliance or Leadership/Professional Development for all levels of SRAI programming and was inducted as SRAI Distinguished Faculty in 2012. She previously served on the Board of Directors (2012-15) and is on the Association of Research Integrity Officers (ARIO) communications committee.

She has presented for many professional organizations (US and globally): ARMA (UK), WCRI (Rio; Amsterdam, Hong Kong), INORMS (Melbourne; Edinburgh), PRIM&R, ARIO, APPE/RISE, JHU RAD, CAREB (CA), EARMA (Bologna), and as a webinar presenter for CARA (CA).

Debbie has authored research integrity articles for SRAI’s Journal of Research Administration, the SRA International Symposium (Best Paper Winner 2005, 2007, 2010) and Research Global Magazine. She authored a book chapter: “Building a Responsible Conduct of Research Program to Sustain an Institutional Culture of Research Integrity and Compliance,” for a research compliance textbook (2015) and the Research Compliance Framework module for SRAI’s LevelUP program. She has a background in graphic and fine art, conflict resolution, public education advocacy and holds a MS Degree in Organization and Management.

Dembo Kanteh is the current president of the West African Research and Innovation Management Association (WARIMA) and is keenly interested in development initiatives for Africa and more recently focused on research development.

He has been a member of the association since it pioneered and has also served as its Assistant General Secretary for over five years working dedicatedly to ensure the growth of the association and its vision. He also currently coordinates the MRC Unit The Gambia’s program of work within West Africa. This program aims to create collaborative scientific partnerships amongst research institutions, platforms for research and ensure the improved uptake of research outputs.

Prior to his current role Dembo worked in several managerial functions within the Medical Research Unit The Gambia at London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. The research support office was established to provide a central facility for the application and management processes for grants within the institution. Under his supervision the office saw significant expansion employing several project managers. Dembo provided the needed training and ensured that staff are adequately equipped to deal with the multi-disciplinary nature of research management.

Dembo holds a BA (Hons) in Economics and an MBA.

Dominique Michaud is Director, Research Development in the Office of the Vice-President Research & Graduate Studies at Concordia University. Dominique has been active in research administration for over 30 years with prior appointments first as a research coordinator and then as a research advisor in humanities and social sciences at Universite du Quebec a Montreal before taking position at Concordia University in 2012. She is a Past President of ADARUQ, the Quebec Association of University Research Administrators, and the incoming President of the Canadian Association of Research Administrators (CARA).

Ella Bingham is the current Chair of Finn-ARMA and the Head of Research Services at Aalto University, Finland. She leads a service unit of 60+ research service professionals who help Aalto University’s researcher community in e.g. applying and handling external research funding, library resources, research information systems, research data management, open science, research assessments, the tenure track of professors, multidisciplinary collaboration platforms, sustainability, national cooperation between universities, profiling of research, and so on.

She is also Executive Director of Foundation for Aalto University Science and Technology. Personally Ella is interested in science policy, research funding and science for policymaking. Her background is in statistical data analysis / data mining, artificial intelligence, and systems and operations research. She holds a Doctor of Science degree and a Title of Docent in computer science.

Evelina Brännvall is working as an external funding specialist at Grants Office of Luleå University of Technology (LTU) in Sweden, and the chair of the European Association of Research Managers and Administrators (EARMA). In her everyday work supports university’s leadership and researchers in external funding issues, in creating and maintaining good relationships with national and EU funders.

Evelina has a background in Natural Sciences (geology) and have a quite a long experience in research, research management and in evaluating the research project applications. She has one PhD in Environmental Engineering (Lithuania, 2006) and another one in Waste Science and Technology (Sweden, 2013). Since 2008, she has been an Expert Evaluator for the European Research and Innovation Programme FP7, Horizon 2020, Horizon Europe, ERA-NET, COFUND; Research Council of Lithuania just few to mention.

Evelina transitioned into the research management in 2014. Since then, she has been on various EARMA Committees, graduated the first cohort of the EARMA Certificate Programme in Research Management. She has been on the Annual Conference Programme Committee since the very beginning and chaired it for two years. She is a co-organiser of EARMA Leadership programme. She was an EARMA Board member (2017-2021) and from 2021 she is an elected Chair of EARMA. She has also been on the board of the Swedish Association of Research Managers and Administrators (SWARMA) for almost two year.

Heidi A. Espedal is currently the Director of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Bergen, and the chair of the Norwegian Network for Administration and Research Management (NARMA).

Espedal has a PhD in radar physics and has spent 11 years working in the field of satellite remote sensing for use in environmental monitoring, before changing to research management in 2004. She worked as the Research director of the University of Bergen from 2013, before commencing at the Faculty of Medicine in 2018. Espedal has a broad knowledge of national and international funding of research (including the EU Framework programs), and was responsible for establishing a Brussel office for the University of Bergen in 2016. As chair of NARMA, Espedal is actively involved in establishing a Professional Development Program for Research Administrators in Norway. She also has a special interest in innovation and commercialization of research.

Hulda Proppé is the chair of the IceARMA board. She is the director of research and head of research services at the School of Social Sciences at the University of Iceland. The research services are responsible for all national and international research grants at the school, from project idea to audit and impact, building up research infrastructure and developing and implementing strategy implementation in research support and management. Hulda represents Iceland in the Horizon Europe Programme Committee for Cluster 2 – Culture, creativity and inclusive societies and represented Iceland in the Horizon 2020 Programme Committee for Societal Challenge 6 – Europe in a chaning world: inclusive and reflective societies. Hulda holds a BA and an MA in Social Anthropology and has worked in research management and administration from 2011.

Jennifer Johnson is Director of Research and Innovation Service at Northumbria University with responsibility for a wide range of research strategy, policy and support services including research grants and contracts, research systems, research quality and REF, researcher development, research policy, research funding and innovation. Jennifer previously worked as Head of Research Operations and Head of Research Performance and Governance at the University of Leeds for 10 years.

Jennifer is committed to the professionalisation and recognition of the research management and administration sector, and to improving the way in which we work together across the sector. Jennifer is a member of the Research Organisations and Councils Group (ROCG) and the Snowball Metrics project, and represents the Association of Research Managers and Administrators UK (ARMA UK) on a number of sector groups including the UUK/JISC Content Negotiation Strategy Group and JISCs UK PIDs (Persistent Identifiers) Group .

Jennifer has been on the ARMA UK Board of Directors since 2016 and was Director of Training & Development before undertaking a year as Chair Elect and then becoming Chair of the Association on 1st August 2020.

Karen Eck, PhD, is Assistant Vice President for Research at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia USA. In this role, she interfaces with internal and external entities in support of research development and policy, research strategic planning and partnerships, and regional and other initiatives on behalf of the Office of Research. Dr. Eck joined ODU as Director of Research Development and managed a team of 6 grant development professionals from 2009-2015 with oversight of intramural funding programs, limited submissions, faculty workshops, and proposal support functions for faculty and administrators across ODU’s six colleges. She served on the National Organization of Research Development Professionals (NORDP) Board of Directors from 2015-2019, as President in 2018-2019, Immediate Past President in 2019-2020 and currently co-chairs the Strategic Alliances Committee and International Working Group. Prior to joining ODU, Dr. Eck was the biomedical Grants Officer at McGill University in the Office of the Vice-Principal for Research and International Relations in Montreal, Canada. She has presented numerous talks and workshops on grant writing, research development, peer review, team science and foundation funding, including developing a webinar series on the National Institutes of Health for the Canadian Association of Research Administrators (CARA). Dr. Eck is fluent in French and English and studied and worked in a French-speaking environment for over 10 years.

Meriel Flint-O’Kane is currently the Head of Business and Programme Delivery at the Association of Commonwealth Universities where she is responsible for the strategic direction, growth and high-quality delivery of ACU programmes including the DFID funded PEBL and CIRCLE programmes, the EU funded LEAP4FNSSA partnership and Waitrose funded Blue Charter fellowships.

Prior to joining the ACU Meriel held roles at Kings College London, leading the establishment and delivery of the GCRF funded PRECISE Network, and the UKRI Medical Research Council where she worked to develop and implement a wide range of the MRC’s strategic ODA funding partnerships for global health research and capacity strengthening initiatives across Asia, Africa and Latin America.

Meriel is interested in the power of global partnerships to identify and achieve shared goals. Through her career she has had the privilege of working with a diverse range of colleagues from government, higher education, NGO and private sector organisations around the world to deliver programme, funding and research activities through developing strong collaborative relationships and shared understanding. She is currently studying for a DrPH at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine with a focus on research capacity strengthening and has a BA in International Politics from the University of Leeds.

Dr. MU Rongping, the president of Chinese Association for Science of Science and S&T Policy， received his Ph.D degree from Technische Universitat Berlin, Germany. He is Professor of Institutes of Sciences and Development of Chinese Academy of Sciences, and director-general of CAS Center for Innovation and Development.

He is Dean of School of Public Policy and Management, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences. He was director-general of Institute of Policy and Management of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CASIPM 2004-2014).

Dr. Mu is also the president of the China High-tech Industry Promotion Society, a member of Expert Committee on National Development Plan, a member of the Governing Board of International Science, Technology and Innovation Centre for South-South Cooperation under the Auspices of UNESCO (ISTIC). He has involved in drafting policy documents concerning innovation capacity-building and strategic industry in China, and published more than 50 papers in peer-review.

Paul Winkler was originally trained as a biologist and anthropologist. For nearly 20 years he worked as a researcher at the University of Gottingen. His studies were focussed on the behavioural ecology of free-living monkeys in India and Nepal. From 2000 to 2015 he worked as a research administrator at the University of Gottingen, where he became head of the research department in 2011. Before his retirement in 2017 he was for two years the administrative director of the Centre for Biodiversity and Sustainable Landuse in Gottingen. Between 2012 and 2017 he was member of the executive board of the German Research Administrators and Managers. In 2017 he became the CEO of FORTRAMA, the German Network of Research- and Transfermanagement.

Dr. Shaliza Ibrahim is President of the Malaysia Association of Research Managers and Administrators (MyRMA). She has over a decade of experience in research management, having held a number of positions at Universiti Malaya’s Institute of Research Management and Services, from Head of Research Grant Management Unit to Associate Vice-Chancellor (Research and Innovation).  A keen researcher in chemical engineering, she sees the importance of having professional research managers at every stage of the research journey.  She was director for the project on enhancing Malaysian Research Management and Governance, and MyRMA formation was one of the outcomes.  Her aspiration as founding president is to take research management in Malaysia to a professional level, and for MyRMA to be a role model in the South East Asian region.  As more resources are being invested for research and innovation, she is promoting awareness and understanding on research impact and qualitative assessment, full economic research costing, and sharing of research data through open science platforms.

Dr. Tania Bezzobs is the current President of the Australasian Research Management Society (ARMS). She is an experienced research management executive with a demonstrated history of working in the higher education/ research/ government sectors. Skilled in Collaborative Practice, Business Planning and Development, Management, Government, Regulatory & Compliance, Financial Management, Policy Development, Strategy Planning and Implementation. Dr. Bezzobs is also Director, Research Services, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia.

Therina Theron is Senior Director: Research and Innovation at Stellenbosch University (SU) since 2008.  She holds a PhD in Medical Biochemistry from SU. Her research management career spans 17 years, during which she was involved in research-related strategic planning, policy formulation and the development of effective research and innovation support systems. From 2016-2020 she was lead coordinator of the Strengthening of Research Management (StoRM) Erasmus+ funded project focused on capacity development and professionalization of RMA professionals in Southern Africa. She is currently President of the Southern African Research and Innovation Management Association (SARIMA) and Chair of the INORMS 2023 conference.