CV page

Fiona Reid

Fiona Reid
Research Coordinator at the Grants Office, a unit within the Vice-Chancellor’s Office, placed in Ultuna. I support and advise researchers at SLU on developing and improving proposals for external funding, with a particular focus on large, collaborative projects at international (mainly EU) and national levels.

Presentation

I aim to help SLU’s researchers to write better grant proposals, and to increase the overall knowledge, skill and awareness of external funding at the university. I focus on proposals where SLU is the coordinator, and multiple partners are involved, particularly funding from the EU and strategic Swedish national funders. However, I can offer advice on many different types of applications, from various funding agencies.

When you are coordinating a proposal, I will work with you to:

  • understand the background/scope of the topic and how to incorporate this into your concept and text
  • consider which types of organisations you should partner with to show an effective multi-actor approach
  • review and suggest edits to your drafts to improve the tone, structure and narrative, and highlight any weaknesses
  • act as a sounding board for any questions you have

In addition to supporting researchers with their proposals, I work proactively with my Grants Office colleagues to provide training and capacity building in proposal writing. I represent the Grants Office in the VH faculty’s EU-Team - an inter-departmental group which aims to increase awareness, participation and expertise in the EU funding programmes at the VH faculty.

My working language is English, although I have some understanding of written Swedish.

Background

I have a BSc (Hons) in Zoology from the University of Edinburgh, and a PGDip in Library and Information Management from Manchester Metropolitan University. After starting my career as an Academic Librarian in my home city of Edinburgh, Scotland, I spent five years working as Grants Manager for an SME (small/medium-sized enterprise) that developed wave energy technology. The company relied heavily on external funding, and prepared both national and international (including EU) applications for research, demonstration, infrastructure, and organisational development grant funding. I also managed the financial and project administration of successfully funded projects.

In 2016, I began working as a self-employed Grant Funding Consultant offering my clients quality reviews of their funding proposals and writing several proposals for companies who did not have the in-house expertise. I worked with various companies in the marine renewable energy and Scottish whisky sectors.

I had a strong desire to return to work within a team setting, and ideally in the area that interests me the most - natural sciences. Therefore, I moved to Sweden in late 2017 to take up the newly created position of Research Coordinator, here at SLU. During my time here, I have worked with many researchers, across all four faculties, on proposals from a wide range of funders.


Contact

Research Coordinator at the Vice-Chancellor's Office; Grants Office
Telephone: +4618673242, +46722288689
Postal address:
Grants office, Box 7002
75007 UPPSALA
Visiting address: Almas allé 7, Uppsala