Melissa has spent most of her research management career in the Land of Bidding – navigating funding systems, designing research, engaging with stakeholders, and wrangling with submission portals and PIs as deadlines rapidly approach. She was once a research chemist, and started her working life at CSIRO Australia, until she encountered commercialisation while working at a UK University. This led her into business development and then, following a move to Aotearoa New Zealand, her discovery of research management. Over two decades, she has spanned pre- and post-award processes, including negotiating contracts, designing research management systems for large, multi-institutional programmes, and dabbling (quite a lot!) in science communication. She is currently self-employed, with allows her to do all these fun things, while working for, and with, universities, Crown Research Institutes and government agencies.
