Meet the Research Culture & Researcher Development Team
We work as one team across the Research Culture and Researcher Development agendas. We aim to ensure that every researcher is supported to be at their best, and to be part of a stimulating, fair, and inclusive environment in which colleagues help each other to succeed and to make informed active choices about their development and their careers.
Kay Guccione
Head of Research Culture & Researcher Development
Kay leads the Research Culture & Researcher Development work at the University of Glasgow, in pursuit of our ambition that every researcher should be enabled to be at their best, and to make informed and active choices about their career ahead. Kay's own specialisms and research interests are in mentoring, research supervisor development, and research community building – anything that revolves around a good quality conversation. In 2018 Kay was awarded a National Teaching Fellowship in recognition of her impact in this area, and this is where her work at UofG focuses.
Email | Staff Profile | Twitter | LinkedIn | Blog: The Hidden Curriculum in Doctoral Education | Blog: Supervising PhDs | Journal of Imaginary Research
Joanna Royle
Researcher Development Manager
Joanna leads the team responsible for delivering our rich frameworks of university-wide professional development for all researchers, including Postgraduate Researchers, Research Staff, and Research Supervisors. These programmes, activities and events are designed to enrich researchers’ skills and working relationships, foster their talents, and accelerate their professional prospects. Joanna is passionate about excellent training and teaching and has committed her career to widening participation, building academic literacies, and fostering supportive communities for different cohorts connected with the University of Glasgow.
Rachel Herries
Research Culture Manager
Rachel leads the Research Culture Team in the delivery of the 5 UofG Culture Priorities. This includes leading several flagship projects related to the Career Destinations of Researchers, the PI Development Strategy, and career enhancement for Research Professional Staff. Her aim is to enable all colleagues who contribute to research to develop their confidence to create positive environments, to be better connected with each other, and ultimately to be able to do the best possible research. Rachel is on Parental Leave until September 2023.
Jennifer Boyle
Writing Adviser
Jennifer is the Writing Adviser for PGRs across all four Colleges of the University of Glasgow. She designs and delivers workshops on a range of topics relevant to writing during the PhD, and also works on a 1:1 basis with PGRs with specific questions or issues to address. She has co-authored two books on writing in the sciences and collaborates with colleagues across the institution in order to innovatively support researchers in the development of their writing skills.
Samantha Oakley
Research Governance and Integrity Manager
Samantha sits within the Research Policy, Governance and Integrity portfolio in Research Services. She leads the Research Governance and Integrity team to deliver policy, training and support structures, for PGRs, for Supervisors and PIs, and for Research Staff. Sam and her team play a key role in developing researchers and in supporting research that is conducted to the highest standards of academic rigour, to increase the quality of, and trust in, our research record.
Katrina Gardner
Careers Manager
Katrina Gardner is the Careers Manager for PGRs and Research Staff at the University of Glasgow. Katrina works closely with the Researcher Development Team to co-lead the UofG strategy for Research Careers. She offer careers workshops and one-to-one consultations, online events,and career path webinars for researchers, as well as giving guidance for supervisors and PIs seeking to support their researchers.
Suzie Shapiro
PGR Mental Health Adviser
Suzie is the University’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Campaigns Advisor and PGR Mental Health Advisor, and she leads our Wellbeing Team within Counselling & Psychological Services. Suzie is passionate about building mental health literacy through accessible and engaging communications and activities, and supporting UofG PGRs to build their self-knowledge and access the right workshops, services and support.
Claire Copping
PGR Administrator
Claire is the PGR Administrator and first point of contact for PGR queries about professional and career development. Claire is responsible for the day-today running of our vast PGR development provision including courses, workshops, events, networks and competitions, and also for answering a wide range or questions from PGRs. Claire has made lots of connections during their time at UofG, which they use to point people in the right direction, whatever their query. Claire is on Secondment until May 2023.
Karen Gordon
PGR Events Intern
Karen is the PGR Events Intern for 2022 – 2023 and is responsible for managing events and competitions for UofG PGRs - including events such as the PGR Induction Week, Three Minute Thesis and This PhD Life Conference. Karen is passionate about the power of community and aims to bring this value to empower and encourage other researchers. Outside of this, she is working on her PhD in Psychology or playing with her cats.
Rachel Eager
PGR Communications Intern
Rachel is the PGR Communications Intern for 2022-23. She is responsible for managing the Researcher Development blog, monthly emails, social media channels, and promoting relevant opportunities to PGRs and ECRs. She also assists in the running of events and competitions. Rachel is passionate about supporting PGRs – she hopes to help them build connections, networks and friendships. When Rachel isn’t connecting people, she’s connecting texts through her PhD in Comparative Literature.
Rachel Chin
Researcher Development Project Officer
Rachel is the lead on an exciting new pilot programme, which will offer a framework of career-oriented support for research staff across the university. The programme will provide tailored support for researchers that will broaden their awareness of career options and promote cross-sector mobility. Rachel is passionate about supporting and empowering research staff to develop their own unique career paths in whatever sector that might be
Robyne Calvert
British Academy Early Career Network (Scotland Hub) Project Officer
Robyne leads on the pilot of the Scottish hub of the British Academy Early Career Researcher Network. She is excited about fostering new opportunities to support ECRs to collaborate on and further their professional development. She welcomes enquiries about the network and is eager to advise on and support researcher-led projects. Robyne’s own specialism is as a Cultural Historian with research and teaching experience in the history of art, design, fashion, and architecture, including PhD supervision and researcher development. She is also a Research Affiliate in History of Art at the University of Glasgow.
Rhoda Stefanatos
Researcher Development Specialist (Research Staff)
Rhoda leads on Researcher Development for Research Staff, including the implementation of the Researcher Development Concordat, through development of a wide range of opportunities, experiences and resources for Research Staff. She is committed to empowering researchers to communicate, create, collaborate and make informed strategic choices about their career and development while contributing to a positive and open research culture.
Elaine Gourlay
Research Culture Specialist (Communities & Collegiality)
As Research Culture Specialist for Communities & Collegiality, Elaine facilitates our researcher communities, networks, and mentoring programmes. Having gained her PhD at UofG, Elaine is passionate about finding ways to ensure that UofG staff and students are able to get the most out of their experiences at the university. Elaine is enthusiastic about fostering strong relationships and believes everyone can find their place in the UofG community. Therefore, her work is centered around ‘Collegiality’, which is a Research Culture priority for UofG.
Calum Cameron-White
Research Culture Project Officer
Calum studied English Literature and History followed by Celtic and Scottish Studies at the University of Glasgow, and then he carried out postgraduate research in History. He has taught at the University of Glasgow and the University of Stirling. Calum started work at Research and Innovation Services in January 2023. He works on the Research Staff Leavers Survey, the Pathfinder Career Contacts Register, the Pathfinder Career Narratives blog posts initiative, and the Pathfinder LinkedIn page. Calum also helps the Research Culture and Researcher Development team with communications, content development and web design.
Yinka Somorin
Research Culture Specialist (Career Destinations)
Yinka is committed to helping researchers maximise opportunities at UofG to prepare for careers outside of academia. He brings onboard experience and passion for mentoring and supporting researchers in their career journeys. His work within the Research Culture & Researcher Development Team is focused on the design, implementation, and evaluation of the Pathfinder Mentoring programme, aimed at facilitating mentoring of UofG researchers for careers outside of academia. He also contributes to the Pathfinder Interview Panels which will provide mock interview services to prepare UofG researchers to maximise job opportunities and advance their careers.
Rachel Lyon
PGR Administrator
Valerie McCutcheon
Research Information Manager
Valerie sits within the University Library and leads on the areas of Research Data Management and Open Access publishing for the University of Glasgow and plays a key role in supporting transparency, rigour, and reproducibility through facilitating early sharing of research data, software, code, and materials to a wider audience.