Research Contracts
Giving research contracts professionals opportunities to network, share resources and take part in training and development.
Champions:
Our Special Interest Group champions are responsible for the activity and resource base of the group.
Beth Collins, Senior Research Contracts Manager, Cranfield University
Beth is a Senior Research Contracts Manager at Cranfield University (joining May 2024). Since starting her career in research support at Cambridge in 2007, she’s held roles on ‘both sides of the fence’ – within central professional services, on the front-line in a high-intensity research group, and with a charitable funder and journal. Over the course of those 16+ years, her perspective on the role of the Research Contracts Manager has shifted considerably, from demonstrably risk adverse to perceiving more value in applying legal (risk management) expertise in the preparatory work – discussions with the academics – than in the contractual terms themselves. Beth enjoys challenging perceptions of risk and has a particular interest in research data protection, team design and positive use of management information.
Joanne Brinkman, Grants Officer, European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI)
Joanne currently works as a Grants Officer at EMBL-EBI. Prior to this Joanne was the Senior Contracts Manager at the Wellcome Sanger Institute and has also worked in various research operations roles at the University of Cambridge and the University of Cape Town. Joanne is keen to develop new ways of working in order to streamline the research grant life-cycle (pre-award, post-award and research contracts). Joanne keeps abreast of changes in the legislative, regulatory and compliance landscape and is always seeking ways to improve templates and processes, and takes a pragmatic and risk-balanced approach. Joanne has a background in Development Studies and law; is a qualified paralegal; and has decades of experience in the research administration and management sector.
Oliver Geidel, Associate Director of Research Contracts, Research Compliance and Commercial Research (Pre-Contracts), University of Bristol
Oliver Geidel is an Associate Director of Research Contracts, Research Compliance and Commercial Research (Pre-Contracts) at the University of Bristol. He is also the Director of Export Control and have overall responsibility for the implementation of Trusted Research.
Oliver started his career in 2008, in private practice, before moving to the University of Bristol in 2020. Oliver has additional experience in sales, project management and legal operations, which form the basis of his approach. Oliver is particularly interested in leveraging other non-legal disciplines to make the provision of legal services more robust and efficient. He is always interested in trying out new ideas and ensuring any processes practically work within the wider structure.
Tom Morgan, Lawyer, CMS
Tom is a lawyer at international law firm CMS, specialising in the research and innovation sector. He is the former Head of Research Contracts and Research Compliance at the University of Bristol and co-led an award-nominated Research Contracts Transformation Project. He qualified as a lawyer while working in research contracts and worked in university research contracts teams for over 12 years before making the leap to private practice law. Tom also set up the newly established Research Compliance Team at Bristol, which advises on legal compliance for research activity such as Export Control, Subsidy Control, National Security & Investment and Nagoya Protocol. Tom has a keen interest in challenging ‘why’ and ‘how’ we do what we do, using innovative techniques from project management, legal operations, legal tech, design theory, and process refinement to ensure the focus is on empowering individuals to do their most valuable work. He believes Research Contracts Teams are here to change the world – one contract at a time!
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