PEOPLE - APPOINTMENTS

Brian Berry has joined the University as Head of Pre-Award.

New Head of Pre-Award in the Research Support Office

Brian Berry joins the University of Leicester

03 March 2010

Research Support Office (RSO) has recently appointed Brian Berry as its new Head of the Pre-Award Team. Brian trained and qualified as a lawyer, completing his Masters of Laws from Cambridge and worked in commercial law. He then moved on to HEI research administration gaining his experience at the University of Birmingham where he worked in the central Research and Commercial division covering a spectrum of activities.

Taking over from Jan Davies as Head of Pre-Award following her appointment as Director of the Research Support Office, Brian will oversee a seven strong team, providing specialist support services to the University’s researchers. In his new role at Leicester, Brian will be working with his team to identify and disseminate new research funding opportunities, manage the research submission process including costing of research applications, and the negotiation and acceptance of new research grants and contracts.

Key priorities will be aligning the pre award team to individual Colleges, increasing engagement with research-active staff, drawing together interdisciplinary groups, identifying and targeting major funding opportunities (including European Union funding), and assisting Colleges to move their research strategies forward. In achieving these goals, Brian will work closely with the Research Development and Research Finance sections of RSO, headed by Juliet Bailey and Judith Mogra respectively, to provide a seamless research support service.

In his previous role at Birmingham University, Brian gained significant experience of reviewing and negotiating high value multi party collaborations funded by the European Commission. He was later appointed to negotiate and authorise research contracts across University disciplines ranging from engineering and medicine to archaeology and included concluding contracts with commercial companies. In this position, he worked closely with colleagues in Accounts to cost and price research. Over the past few years, Brian worked as a Research Governance Manager developing new research governance procedures across the University, ensuring adherence, amongst others, to the Research Ethics Framework, the Research Governance Framework, the Clinical Trials Regulations and Human Tissue Act.

On his appointment Brian said: “I am very excited about my new position at the University of Leicester. Leicester’s international student community, its teaching excellence and ground breaking research makes it the place to be. It is a privilege to be working alongside Leicester’s researchers and I will strive with colleagues to ensure that Research Support is not just “the office up the road” but a professional friendly and efficient support service that can make a positive difference.”

Academic staff should now direct their Pre-Award issues to Brian or to the relevant member of the pre-Award Team.