Project Management Office (PMO)

“I have been partner in the TransPot project. Although, I initially had some doubts about the considerable budget that was allocated for the project management (in Glasgow), at the expense of budget for the research project at each partner, but in retrospect, I am very grateful to the consortium leader Prof Hing Leung for being consistent that this was absolutely needed. And I fully agree with him. Nowadays, we cannot run an international consortium without having a dedicated and experienced management office to keep control over EU contacts, project organisation and reporting, in all its aspects. Katie has been instrumental for TransPot from start of the project (contract, budget, board meeting), organizing project meetings, and keeping track on all reporting and preparing most of the reports to leave us partners with only the science to be filled in. I am convinced that without her help, advice, input and suggestions, TransPot would have been much less successful.”

Dr. Wytske M. van Weerden

TransPot Principal Investigator and Associate Professor, Erasmus MC

“Support from the Project Management Office was invaluable at all stages of the €7m nEUROSTRESSPEP project. 

Navigating the complexities of a large European-funded project with multiple partners, including requirements from Brussels, European in - person meetings, collaborations, budgeting, claims and overall project management would have been impossible without the PMO's patient guidance, expertise and knowledge.

Key individuals within the PMO team contributed significantly to the success of the project, which was included in the EU Research Results Report 2020, awarded ‘EU Success Story’ status and was Multiparty Collaboration winner at the Scottish Knowledge Exchange Awards 2020.”

Prof. Shireen Davies

nEUROSTRESSPEP Coordinator and Professor of Integrative Cell Signalling, University of Glasgow

“I was PI on a collaborative project that was funded by the EC and coordinated by University of Glasgow. It was great to have had a member of the Project Management Office onboard. The colleague was very professional, dependable, and kind. She was the pivot of the project management process and enabled the research staff to fully focus on their actual research and to enjoy being part of the project.”

Prof. Dr-Ing. Jens Ahrens

LEVITATE Principal Investigator and Associate Professor within Division of Applied Acoustics, Chalmers University of Technology

“Having a project manager for a large EU network project like EVOdrops really is a life-saver. The project manager is so efficient that they are able to anticipate and plan our commitments well in advance (which enables to mobilise the partners efficiently). This means that the investigators and the wider project team can focus on the technical delivery and the interactions, and not be engulfed into the demanding contractual obligations and documentation.

I would also strongly emphasise the fact that the PM does not work in isolation but is part of a greatly experienced wider team, which enables them to mobilise contacts and past knowledge across all the EU portfolio, very often solving what look like complex problems very rapidly, as well as providing very useful calibration (e.g. on report contents and communication with the EU).

I can honestly say that the success of the project and the sustainability of the network will be indebted to their hard work.”

Dr Julien Reboud

EVOdrops Co-Investigator and Senior Lecturer of Biomedical Engineering, University of Glasgow

“Working with an EU Project Manager has been crucial for the successful implementation of our ERASMUS+ project. It’s invaluable to have someone on the team that knows all the regulatory and reporting requirements and can support the consortium in complying with the funder’s requirement without that turning into a major research project in its own right. Being able to demonstrate such professionalism at the implementation stage has also helped reinforce trust with our project partners, at a time when Covid has thrown in all sorts of additional delays and complications and stopped people from meeting face to face. As the lead institution in the consortium, it’s offered reassurance to our project partners that they’ve been able to approach our EU Project Manager directly and receive timely and well-informed replies.”

Dr Kristinn Hermannsson

EPD Coordinator and Policy Senior Lecturer in Educational Economics, University of Glasgow

“I just want to say what a pleasure it has been working with Alice Lee and Katie Wright together with their other UofG EU Office colleagues on the Marie Curie Innovative Training Network Project, TeraApps. Having been involved on a number of EU projects to date, I rank their execution of the project administration and financial management tasks on TeraApps as being second to none. Thanks to their expertise and experience in project management, myself as the TeraApps Coordinator and other PIs have been able to fully focus on the technical aspects of the project ensuring an excellent delivery of the project. I therefore hereby wholeheartedly endorse them for this vital role on any new Horizon Europe proposals and projects you may be planning."

Prof. Edward Wasige

TeraApps Coordinator and Professor of High Frequency Electronics, University of Glasgow

I joined the EVOdrops project as their Scientific Network Liaison Officer in January 2021 relocating from Plymouth.  The EVOdrops project had already been up and running for over a year prior to my joining it. Relocating and starting a new job in the middle of project is awkward enough let alone in the middle of a lock-down.  One of the first people who I was introduced to was Alice Lee as the EVOdrops Programme Manager.  Alice is friendly, very professional and is always willing to help.  From the very first Alice warmly welcomed me into the group and guided me through all the complexities of the programme making them simple and easy to follow. This allowed me to quickly begin supporting the PIs in the delivery of the training plan and scientific programme.

Dr Raymond Sparrow

EVOdrops Scientific Network Liaison Officer, University of Glasgow

“I was chair of the ENCKEP COST Action (“European Network for Collaboration on Kidney Exchange Programmes”) from May 2018 to March 2021.  During most of this period, the University of Glasgow acted as Grant Holding Institution and was therefore responsible for the project budget.  In all the various financial and administrative processes relating to the smooth running of the Action, I was lucky to have excellent assistance from the EU Project Management Office, and from Dave Iglesias, EU project manager, in particular.  Dave was meticulous in ensuring that COST regulations, which are complex, were followed correctly, especially when it came to travel reimbursement claims.  He also put a great deal into the organisation of one of our workshops that was held in Glasgow in December 2019 – Action participants had an excellent impression of the University and the city.  In short, during my time as Chair I was very grateful for the invaluable support of the EU Project Management Office.  I welcome the UK’s association to Horizon Europe and hope to have the opportunity to work with the EU Project Management Office again.”

Prof. David Manlove

Enckep Chair, Professor of Algorithms and Complexity, University of Glasgow

“The support of the excellent EU team here at Glasgow has been fundamental to the success of the mPOWER project. Their ability to deal with day-to-day administrative issues, liaise on regular basis with the European Commission, and assist our consortium with project management and monitoring has been an essential service for us. Their knowledge and experience has also been much appreciated by our international partners. Their presence has allowed me to focus more fully on my research role in the project.”

Prof. Andrew Cumbers,

mPOWER Coordinator, Professor in Regional Political Economy, University of Glasgow

“I have coordinated a number of EU projects over the last few years and when we were awarded a Joint European Doctorate project on Molecular Animal Nutrition (MANNA www.phd4manna.eu) for which Glasgow University is the coordinating institute I was very apprehensive at the amount of administration that would be expected to be fulfilled.  However Dave Iglesias our Project Officer and the whole team in the University’s Project Management Office have been incredibly supportive right from the kick-off meeting in 2018 through to our current position with just over 12 months to run.  During MANNA, the Project Management Office drafted and completed Memorandum of Agreement with our 5 partner Universities across Europe, controlled and dispersed the € 2.8 million budget, assisted the recruitment of 11 Early Stage Researchers undertaking double PhD in the 6 universities with notably differing eligibility criteria,  ensured we have been on target with deliverables for the EU and greatly assisted in the organisation of our summer schools and related courses.  On top of these actions, that had been anticipated, the Project Officer has helped to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on the project in which the PhD students were expected to have frequent travel between partners in Europe and has been tremendously helpful in conversion of numerous MANNA meeting to be on-line events.  The Project Management Office has expertly administered the project allowing the academic partners to focus on the research and training provided for the early stage researchers and all the partners are grateful for their contribution to the MANNA project.”

Prof. David Eckersall

MANNA Coordinator, Professor of Veterinary Biochemistry at The Institute of Biodiversity Animal Health & Comparative Medicine and Associate (School of Veterinary Medicine), University of Glasgow

“Good project management is critical for the success of a project. If the project management works, then everything does. In MRSCA projects, managing the partnership is even more critical: being a training-focused project, the 'human' aspect of project management is as important as the economic and scientific one. The management team of the University of Glasgow made it possible to get the project ongoing through the tough times of the pandemic, with minimal disruption. I really appreciate their creative and efficient approach.”

Prof. Fabrizio Ceciliani

MANNA Principal Investigator, Full professor Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Milano

• Working with an EU project manager like David makes the project flow much more efficiently.
• Working with an EU project manager on the mPower project has made the bureaucratic hurdles much more smaller.
• Knowing that there is an EU project manager from the University of Glasgow on your project gives the consortium a lot of security and confidence.

Izaro Basurco

mPower Principal Investigator, Research Associate in the research group ekopol "Transition pathways", University of the Basque Country

Participating to international projects is very exciting from a scientific point of view but it requires a big amount of time-consuming bureaucracy, a task for which we have not been trained.As a researcher I believe that the assistance of a project manager is mandatory in order to efficiently conduct such kinds of contracts, to correctly fulfil all the requirements and to respect all the important deadlines. My experience with (Alice Lee) was extremely positive: I have been assisted all along the contract in a well-organized way and I have always obtained a rapid response to my doubts. This is very beneficial for complex work which needs to be coordinated and synchronized with many international partners. I strongly recommend to hire a project manager in order to concentrate on the scientific part of the project and leave the administrative tasks to an expert. 

Prof. Luca Varani

 TeraApps Principal Investigator and Professor of Electronics at University of Montpellier