- Rebecca Brazier, Associate Director for Planning and Governance, AHRC
- Dr Annette Bramley, Director, N8 Research Partnership
- Dr Kelly Vere MBE, Director of Technical Strategy, University of Nottingham
- Dr Kaspar Beelen, Technical Lead, Digital Humanities, School of Advanced Study, University of London
- Chair: Dr James Howard, Director of The Academy, University of Liverpool
Rebecca Brazier
Associate Director for Planning and Governance, AHRC
Becky (Rebecca) Brazier, Deputy Director Governance and Operations for UKRI International and AHRC, has worked for UKRI for nine years, in a variety of operational and project roles. For the last three years, she has led the transformation of the AHRC's applicant-led mode, introducing Catalyst and Curiosity, reforming Research Grants, piloting Mission, and latterly, leading the review into the currently paused Follow-On Fund.
Her role in AHRC has also included overseeing changes in the studentship investment through Future Doctoral Provision, changing to the formula-approach for Landscape Awards and the reintroduction of Focal awards. She has also led on internal changes to business planning and monitoring, evaluation and learning strategy, as well as representing AHRC and UKRI International for the roll out of The Funding Service and other data systems.
In 2024 she took on a dual role across UKRI International and AHRC, supporting people, finance and operational matters.
Prior to working in AHRC, Becky was a programme and project manager in UKRI, supporting changes across people policy, estates, GDPR and the first UKRI strategy and corporate plan. Before joining UKRI (or RCUK) in 2016, Becky was an army officer. She is married with two children and lives in a beautiful village in Wiltshire.
Dr Annette Bramley
Director, N8 Research Partnership
Since 2018 Annette has been the very driven and inspiring Director and 'Chief Collaboration Officer' of the N8 Research Partnership - the strongest university research alliance in the UK.
As one of the UK's foremost experts in research culture she has become a regular, compelling and in demand speaker on the subject.
A graduate of Oxford University where she achieved a first-class degree and D.Phil in Materials Science, her particular niche is bringing people from different backgrounds to work together on research that has a tangible, genuine and long-lasting impact on the world. It's fair to say N8's successes in this arena are both as fascinating as they are many.
For over 20 years now she's guided scientists and engineers of all disciplines at the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (part of UK Research and Innovation) with great skill, inclusivity, and creativity.
When not excelling in her profession Annette is also a gifted artist in the medium of embroidery and acrylic and again to the highest accolade. She holds the Certificate in Technical Hand Embroidery from the Royal School of Needlework with Distinction and has exhibited countrywide.
As if all that isn't impressive enough - her current side hustle is studying for a Professional Diploma in Group Sound Therapy.
Dr Kelly Vere MBE
Director of Technical Strategy, University of Nottingham
Dr Kelly Vere MBE is the University Director of Technical Strategy at the University of Nottingham and a leading advocate for technical skills and careers in higher education and research.
She began her career in 1999 as a Junior Medical Technician and now drives the strategic direction of the University's 500+ technical colleagues. Kelly founded and leads the Technician Commitment, a sector-wide initiative promoting visibility, recognition, career development, and sustainability for technical professionals, with over 120 institutional signatories.
She also led TALENT, a £5 million Research England-funded programme advancing technical careers, which included the TALENT Commission, a landmark study on the UK's technical workforce. Now leading the new UK Institute for Technical Skills & Strategy (ITSS), Kelly continues to champion the technical community, shaping policy and opportunities across the sector.
Dr Kaspar Beelen
Technical Lead, Digital Humanities, School of Advanced Study, University of London
Kaspar Beelen is a digital historian, who explores the impact of datafication and machine learning on humanities research. After obtaining his interdisciplinary PhD in history and linguistics (2014) at the University of Antwerp he worked as postdoctoral fellow at the University of Toronto, as researcher on the Digging into Linked Parliamentary Data (Dilipad) project.
In 2016, Kaspar moved to the University of Amsterdam where he first worked as a postdoc and later became assistant professor in Digital Humanities (Media Studies). Between 2019 and 2023, he worked at the Turing Institute as research associate for the Living with Machines project, where his work focuses on understanding biases in large historical collections.
Currently, he works as Technical Lead Digital Humanities at the School of Advanced Study, University of London, exploring the use multimodal and vision models for cultural heritage.
Dr James Howard
Director of The Academy, University of Liverpool
James is Director of the Leadership, Organisational, Professional and Academic Development Academy (The Academy). His role supports organisational excellence and the delivery of the University of Liverpool's strategic objectives.
The Academy provides an integrated development service focused on people and practice, with teams dedicated to supporting the institution's strategic objectives for research, education, leadership, equality and engagement and postgraduate researchers.
Through its work, The Academy fosters collaboration, innovation and enhancement; providing opportunities for continuous improvement at individual, team and organisational levels.
James continues to lead on the £4.4m Research England funded Prosper project, an ambitious initiative that seeks to unlock the career potential of the UK's postdoc community. Prosper has entered an exciting new phase, with a further award from UKRI supporting the roll-out out the Prosper model across UK HE.
James is a member of the management team and project board for the Thrive project with a particular focus on supporting the development elements of the project, focused on defining and designing a new team-led model of research leadership, collaboration and teamwork, along with the development of protocols for effective research leadership and collaboration and best-practice guidance and resources to help embed the model within organisational practices.
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