Save the date for webinars with:

 

1.  Core Facility Finance

Date: 20th October

Time: 13:00 – 14:00

For our third in our webinar series, we will be looking at core facility costing and charging models, including approaches to cost recovery, when to charge or not to charge, and how this is managed across different institutions.
We will hear contributions from technical staff at the University of Limerick, University of Lancashire and the University of Manchester, with a brief presentation from each and then we will open it out for a more general discussion about the advantages and disadvantages of each approach and look forward to receiving other suggestions and input.
We hope you will be able to join us for what we hope will be a very useful and informative hour!

 

Speakers:

Tony Dickson, University of Lancashire

As Head of Technical Services: STEM & Health Sciences within the University of Lancashire’s LIS Leadership Team, I provide strategic leadership for technical services supporting teaching, research and specialist learning environments across STEM and health disciplines. I lead and develop multidisciplinary technical teams, oversee the delivery of safe, effective and customer-focused technical services, and drive continuous improvement, innovation and operational excellence. Working in partnership with academic and professional services colleagues, I ensure that facilities, equipment, resources and staff capability are aligned to institutional priorities, while maintaining high standards of health and safety, compliance, governance and resource management. Through leadership of technical projects, workforce development and service enhancement initiatives, I enable technical services to make a significant contribution to the University’s educational, research and organisational objectives

Geoff Blunt, University of Manchester

I’m currently a Research and Facilities Manager at the Henry Royce Institute hub building at the University of Manchester, following 20+ years in various technical and managerial roles.  In that time I’ve run several different types of facility: a consumables store, a media and sterilisation service and a collection of research facilities which include significant work for external bodies.  Each of those has a different goal (full financial sustainability, or partially or fully subsidised budgets), based on their perceived strategic value to the University, and external constraints such as what funding bodies are prepared to pay.

Edel Durack, University of Limerick

For the past three years, Edel has served as Chief Technical Officer within the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Limerick. She leads the day-to-day operation of research and undergraduate teaching laboratories, oversees departmental health and safety, and directs infrastructure development and sustainability programmes. The department is home to ~ 30 PI’s and ~40 postgraduate students and to date we have ~700 undergraduate students enrolled in our programmes, which cover bioscience, food science and health, science and education and equine science. Edel supervises a team of 10 senior technical officers whose primary responsibilities include the preparation of undergraduate laboratory sessions and the provision of technical support for research laboratories.
Prior to this appointment Edel worked in the Bernal Research Institute at the University of Limerick where she was solely responsible in overseeing the day to day operations of a large research lab facility. This role included applying usage charges to various equipment/services within the facility to offset maintenance, repair and replacement costs. Edel has had extensive experience managing laboratory budgets and helps ensure that scientific equipment and facilities are maintained and operated efficiently, balancing operational needs with available resources. Through strategic planning and continuous improvement initiatives, she supports research excellence, enhances the student laboratory experience, and helps deliver projects that improve departmental facilities, efficiency, and environmental sustainability.

 

2.  An introduction to the regulations governing Human Sample storage for research and the differences between regulations in Ireland and the UK.

Thursday 12th November
1300-1400

Our fourth webinar will introduce some of the regulatory standards required to store and use human samples for research. The regulations are differently regulated in Ireland compared to England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Scotland is also regulated differently!

Join us for a whistle stop-tour of the legislature behind compliant human sample storage for research!

 Our speakers will be:

James Fox
Head of Technical Operations
University of York

Ann Cullen
Conway Institute Biobank Facility Manager
Conway Institute
University College Dublin

 

 

Further details, how to sign up to the webinar, joining details etc. will be communicated prior to the event by email and in monthly newsletters.