Executive Committee Officers
American University of Beirut
Makram Halawani is an Assistant Director in the Office of Grants and Contracts at the American University of Beirut. Managing pre- and post-award responsibilities of Federally-funded Institutional projects and introducing best practices in procedures and compliance since 2010.
Makram has been an NCURA member for over 9 years, and has engaged with members in seminars, annual meetings, and other volunteer opportunities.
The University of New South Wales
Elly Pineda is currently at the University of New South Wales as the Research Hub Business Manager for the ARC Research Hub for Connected Sensors for Health. Elly is an experienced grants management professional and has ten years experience in managing research grants portfolios from a central office to department level. Her focus has been on pre- and post-award management to developing the operational plans for a research centre.
Elly is an active member and contributor to NCURA Region VIII since 2019.
Bruno Woeran, Immediate Past Chair
PMU
Bruno is the Research Management & Technology Transfer, Head at PMU. Bruno experience includes fostering the collaboration of Vaasa industry, regional and higher education Institutions for international networking, and cooperation in Research and proposal management from submission to execution.
Bruno has been an active supporter and contributor of NCURA International Region VIII since 2012.
University of Western Ontario
Grace is the Manager, Research Compliance Programs & Education at Western University. Grace provides guidance and education to ensure research is conducted in compliance with regulatory requirements. As part of her role she also oversees the process for the investigation of research misconduct allegations and manages Western’s controlled drug programs and Western’s quality management system for clinical and non-clinical research.
Grace has been a member of NCURA since 2017.
Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association (MDC)
Dr. Ioannis Legouras is the Head of International Programs at MDC. Ioannis is responsible for all international grants and is interested in international topics, be it projects, cooperation or exchange of best practices.
Ioannis received his PhD in 2010 from Heidelberg University, Germany, and has been active in the international research field since 2011.
Daniela Amadio, Treasurer-Elect
Kings College London
Daniela is the Director of Pre-Award at Kings College London. Daniela leads a central office that supports all Faculties and academics applying for research grants and negotiate contracts with funders and collaborators. Daniela has experience in grant writing, pre-award support and project management. She is getting more interested in compliance issues and internationalisation of research nowadays.
Daniela has been an active member of NCURA since joining in 2019.
Beatrice Sakyibea Biney Nyamekye, Volunteer Coordinator
University of Ghana
Beatrice is a Research Development Officer at the Office of Research, Innovation and Development (ORID), University of Ghana. Beatrice has almost ten years’ experience in managing research grants portfolios from the department level to the central office. Beatrice is responsible for coordinating the university’s pre-award operations from the central office. Her work includes managing a team of research support staff identifying, disseminating funding opportunities, supporting proposal development and submission to external donors, managing limited submissions among others.
Beatrice has been a member of NCURA since 2016 and is currently a serving member of the Select Committee on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), representing Region VIII.
Advisory Board
American University of Beirut
Makram Halawani is an Assistant Director in the Office of Grants and Contracts at the American University of Beirut. Managing pre- and post-award responsibilities of Federally-funded Institutional projects and introducing best practices in procedures and compliance since 2010.
9 years, and has engaged with members in seminars, annual meetings, and other volunteer opportunities.
The University of New South Wales
Elly Pineda is currently at the University of New South Wales as the Research Hub Business Manager for the ARC Research Hub for Connected Sensors for Health. Elly is an experienced grants management professional and has ten years experience in managing research grants portfolios from a central office to department level. Her focus has been on pre- and post-award management to developing the operational plans for a research centre.
Elly is an active member and contributor to NCURA Region VIII since 2019.
Bruno Woeran, Immediate Past Chair
PMU
Bruno is the Research Management & Technology Transfer, Head at PMU. Bruno experience includes fostering the collaboration of Vaasa industry, regional and higher education Institutions for international networking, and cooperation in Research and proposal management from submission to execution.
Bruno has been an active supporter and contributor of NCURA International Region VIII since 2012.
University of Western Ontario
Grace is the Manager, Research Compliance Programs & Education at Western University. Grace provides guidance and education to ensure research is conducted in compliance with regulatory requirements. As part of her role she also oversees the process for the investigation of research misconduct allegations and manages Western’s controlled drug programs and Western’s quality management system for clinical and non-clinical research.
Grace has been a member of NCURA since 2017.
Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association (MDC)
Dr. Ioannis Legouras is the Head of International Programs at MDC. Ioannis is responsible for all international grants and is interested in international topics, be it projects, cooperation or exchange of best practices.
Ioannis received his PhD in 2010 from Heidelberg University, Germany, and has been active in the international research field since 2011.
Daniela Amadio, Treasurer-Elect
Kings College London
Daniela is the Director of Pre-Award at Kings College London. Daniela leads a central office that supports all Faculties and academics applying for research grants and negotiate contracts with funders and collaborators. Daniela has experience in grant writing, pre-award support and project management. She is getting more interested in compliance issues and internationalisation of research nowadays.
Daniela has been an active member of NCURA since joining in 2019.
Eva Bjorndal, Region VIII National Board Member
Kings College London
Eva is the Director of Post-Award at King’s College London. In this role she leads the post-award services which are responsible for the financial management, audit preparations and financial compliance of externally funded grants, both national and international. Eva has 18 years of Research Management experience and has worked for universities in both Sweden and the UK.
Since 2010 Eva has been an active member of NCURA, serving twice as Chair of NCURA’s International Region. She has also been track chair for numeral NCURA meetings and in 2022 she is Co-chairing the Annual Meeting. She has also served as a member of the Select Committee on Global Affairs, the Nominating and Leadership Development Committee and on the PDC Educational Programming Subcommittee. In 2022-2023 she will serve as the Region VIII elected representative on the NCURA Board of Directors.
University of Melbourne
Bella is the Manager, Research and Industry at the Melbourne Education Research Institute in the Melbourne Graduate at the University of Melbourne. First with Monash University and currently with the University of Melbourne, Bella has been immersed in the university environment, in research and then administration for over 25 years. Working in various departments, she has coordinated efforts in achieving relevant research goals and outcomes that are in alignment with the funding bodies around the world. Bella was the Project Manager for a multimillion dollar interdisciplinary project involving universities from around the world.
Bella has been involved in the National Council of University Research Administrators (NCURA) since 2015 and was elected as NCURA Chair of Region VIII in 2019. In 2018, she was awarded the Conference Delegate’s Prize for her poster at the Network of Research Management Societies (INORMS) conference in Edinburgh, Scotland.