Dr Laura Chekli is a results-driven professional with 15 years’ experience across academic research and higher education operations in Australia and Europe. Laura brings a unique blend of technical expertise, strategic leadership, and stakeholder engagement, with proven success in strengthening research entities, streamlining policies, and driving collaboration across faculties and disciplines. She is committed to building resilient, inclusive teams and delivering outcomes that enhance institutional research performance.

Libby McMahon has worked in Research Offices in grants and ethics management at two universities for over a decade. She has also worked in management at two large university research institutes and in research development. She is currently the Research Grants Manager at Griffith University.

Linda Batrich leads strategic initiatives that strengthen industry engagement, researcher development, supervisor capability and graduate research community engagement at Monash University. With more than 20 years' experience across Australia and Asia, Linda has held senior leadership roles spanning strategy, operations, organisational transformation and international education. She is passionate about translating strategy into practical outcomes, building collaborative partnerships and creating innovative programs that enhance research impact, student experience and employability.

Lisa Bolton is a research management professional specialising in the post-award management of internationally funded research at the University of Queensland. She supports academics to navigate complex funding agreements, compliance obligations, and reporting requirements across global funding bodies. Her work is particularly focused on managing risk and enabling continuity in the face of evolving global challenges, working closely with researchers, institutional teams, and external partners to support effective and resilient project delivery. Lisa is known for her collaborative, solutions-focused approach and her commitment to strengthening outcomes across UQ’s international research portfolio.

Dr Marthe-Susanna Wegner is Research Grants Lead at Cancer Council NSW, overseeing end-to-end grants management and leading strategic initiatives across research strategy & operations. She studied biology and completed a PhD in pharmacology in Germany, where she led a breast cancer research group. After relocating to Australia in 2020 to work on a German Research Foundation–funded project, she moved into the not-for-profit sector in 2022. Her work focuses on building funding programs, governance, and reporting systems that support excellent research and meaningful community impact.

Dr Megan Cross currently manages a Pre-Award team specialising in international grants. With experience as a professional academic editor, she provides strategic leadership and expert advice to guide researchers and clinicians through institutional application processes with a focus on funding strategy, compliance, and high‑quality proposal submission. Meg works closely with research professional staff and academic leaders to strengthen UQ’s research funding outcomes and capability.

I’m a Research Training Services Manager at RMIT University’s School of Graduate Research, where I support Higher Degree by Research (HDR) administration and service delivery across a complex research environment.

I’m particularly interested in automation and digital transformation in research administration and enjoy finding ways to simplify processes, improve systems, and reduce manual work. Over recent years, I’ve been involved in developing and scaling automation initiatives that improve efficiency, consistency, and the experience of both staff and research candidates.

More broadly, I’m passionate about the future of research management and how technology can support better services, stronger governance, and more time spent on meaningful work.

Natasha manages the Post Award Research Funding Team in the Research Division at the University of Tasmania. The team supports researchers with funded projects through the management of research grants, contract research, and consultancy projects. This includes assisting with contracts, project variations, and key project milestones. The team’s aim is to help researchers meet the requirements of their funding agreements with confidence.

Suhana is an Assistant Manager in the Research Achievements, Impact and Strategic Enhancement (RAISE) Unit under Research Administration and Support Services (RASS) team at Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine (LKCMedicine), Nanyang Technological University. She supports research achievements reporting, impact assessment, and strategic engagement across the School and curates presentation decks for quarterly management reporting to the School Governing Board and NTU Board. The RAISE unit was established to provide data-driven insights that inform research strategy and management decision-making. Through RAISE, Suhana assist in the reporting of the collection and analysis of the research performance data, helping to strengthen institutional planning, research excellence, and global visibility.

Pani Patu is Operations Manager at the Poche Centre for Indigenous Health, a flagship research centre within the University of Sydney’s Faculty of Medicine and Health. With over a decade of experience in the tertiary sector, he leads operational, people, and governance functions that enable culturally responsive, strengths‑based research supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander thriving. Grounded in Samoan values of alofa (love), feosia’i (reciprocity), and tautua (service), Pani’s work centres relational leadership and the nurturing of vā across Pasifika and Indigenous research communities.

I came to Australia from Canada in 2003 to do my PhD at the University of Melbourne and never left. After two postdocs and some part-time lectureships, I moved Research Management at Victoria University in 2013 and joined Deakin University in 2017. Since then, I have held various positions with a focus on supporting academics with developing their research partnerships. Most recently, I was seconded in Research Finance for 12 months to establish the Costing & Pricing Team to support academics developing research project budgets.

Rachel Axon is an Associate Director in the Research Office at The University of Queensland. Over her career, she has worked across research funding, contracts, commercialisation and research governance, developing a passion for improving how research is supported. Rachel enjoys leading teams, driving operational improvement and finding practical solutions to complex challenges. She is committed to building services that help researchers succeed while navigating increasingly complex funding and partnership environments. Rachel currently serves as Co-Convenor of the ARMS 2027 Conference and values the opportunity to contribute to and learn from the research management community.

Rachel Hebbard is the Research Governance Projects Lead at Cancer Council Victoria, where she works with colleagues, committees, and external partners to continuously improve how research funding is governed in practice. Her work spans grants administration, and governance, with a focus on keeping processes clear, practical, and fit for purpose as programs grow in scale and complexity.
Relatively new to the sector, Rachel brings fresh perspective and strong skills in project delivery, collaboration, and stakeholder engagement. She enjoys translating complexity into guidance that works day to day, and is motivated by learning, continuous improvement, and support ethical research that delivers better outcomes for people with lived experience.

Ranjit Gajendra Nadarajah connects researchers, institutions, partners, stakeholders and communities to optimise the benefits of research, funding, translation and impact.

A higher education strategist specialising in research enablement, his work focuses across the research value chain, connecting research ecosystems through purposeful governance and meaningful engagement that strengthen collaboration, accelerate translation and deliver meaningful outcomes. He is with ADI, the Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation at Deakin.

Previously he was with the University of Strathclyde, The Centre of Excellence for Applied Research, The Royal Academy and Swinburne University of Technology, advancing strategic research, international and research engagement and impact.

Rebekah Yee is the Research Development Manager at the UNSW Business School, where she supports researchers to develop competitive grant applications. Since joining UNSW in 2017, she has held a range of research administration roles across the University. Her experience includes supporting the ERA 2018 data submission, guiding higher degree research candidates from enrolment through to graduation, delivering faculty-based funding schemes, reporting on research performance, and developing research resources. She values the opportunity to support researchers and contribute to a collaborative research environment.

Dr Ritayan Roy is Research Development Manager at Monash University’s Faculty of Arts, where he leads strategy and operations for Category 1 funding, including ARC and NHMRC/MRFF grants. Working closely with faculty leadership, he provides strategic and operational direction across the full grant lifecycle, from pipeline development to post-award delivery, engaging academics and industry partners.

Dr Roy plays a key role in shaping faculty research strategy, driving funding growth and enhancing research excellence while leading a high-performing team. Drawing on his background as a researcher, he brings a dual perspective to enabling competitive grant success and strengthening stakeholder engagement.

Ruth holds close to 10 years' experience in the pre- and post-award coordination of NHRMC and MRFF-funded health services research projects, as well as other large and small-scale grant and consultancy projects at the Australian Centre for Health Services Innovation (AusHSI) at QUT. She also delivers and supports a range of strategic activities within the research centre, including developing and delivering formal and informal teaching and mentoring to centre staff and students in stakeholder engagement and research impact, as well as other core competencies such as research ethics and governance, and research project management principles and processes. Ruth holds qualifications in education and communication, and has a special interest in research communication, engagement and impact.

Dr Serena Ekman is the Executive Officer (Research) at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS). During her time at UTS she has assisted in the development and implementation of numerous pan-university strategic initiatives including professional development and capability uplift, use of AI in research, and supporting research governance.
She uses her personal experiences as both an academic and a research professional, combined with the experiences of her peers, to shape organisational initiatives using a person-centred approach. Lastly, her experiences as a science communicator, TV presenter and tutor have influenced her ability to share ideas, spark conversations, and encourage community engagement across disciplines, roles, and organisations.

Shireen Nanayakkara is Acting Research Programme Manager for the School of Nursing and Te Kupenga Hauora Māori (Māori Health) at Waipapa Taumata Rau, the University of Auckland. With more than 20 years’ experience in research management, contracts, operations and leadership, she supports researchers through major funding applications and research development. Passionate about collaboration and capability building, she is a member of the University’s Research Management and Administration Community of Interest Mentoring Programme and has led initiatives to strengthen research support. Her ARMS presentation explores how a cross-faculty learning circle rapidly built institutional capability for Horizon Europe funding.

Sunny Harris is a Senior Project Officer at Monash University's Office of the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research). Sunny works on strategic research initiatives, researcher uplift and development, and institutional programs that support research excellence, collaboration, and impact across the University. Passionate about research management, Sunny enjoys connecting people, ideas, and opportunities.