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After 18 and a half years, our Research Manager, Dr Douglas Ormrod, has retired. We would like to thank Douglas and acknowledge the significant contribution that he has made to the Neurological Foundation. We would also like to introduce you to our new Research Manager, Dr Sarah Schonberger. Research is our essential reason for being, and one of the key strengths of the Foundation is that we have always employed scientists to manage our grant rounds. Researchers can be confident that the Research Manager understands the way that they work and the different types of pressures that they face. Dr Douglas Ormrod has a PhD in Medicine and came to us in 2001 following 25 years as a scientist at the University of Auckland and 8 years as a researcher in Scotland. He is an avid reader and was always known as a “fount of knowledge”. Over the years, Douglas continually developed the grants management process to become what it is today. In his first grant round he received 16 project and small project applications, and the amount funded was $383,811. In his final grant round earlier this year, he received 27 project and small project applications, and the total amount funded was $1,383,126. He has administered all research contracts and reporting, and was a co-editor of Headlines for eight years, helping the Foundation to communicate to our supporters on the progress and outcomes of the research we funded. One of first changes that Douglas implemented was to interview fellowship and scholarship applicants. Our Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) was finding it difficult to rank the quality of applicants just by looking at their resume. By interviewing candidates, the SAC could talk to them about their career aspirations and see their enthusiasm, which they found was the best way to determine if someone was going to make a great neuroscientist. Douglas says that one of the highlights of his time at the Foundation was to see nervous, young students in their first interview come back a few years later to apply for a fellowship, then go on to build their own research team and progress to applying for project grants. He also introduced Summer Studentships, to spark an early interest in neuroscience with undergraduates, and Repatriation Fellowships, to help bring talented neuroscientists back to New Zealand (these have now been incorporated into our Senior Research Fellowships). When we invest in people, they reinvest in us, and often end up serving on our SAC. The SAC is the key to the success of Foundation-funded research, ensuring we only fund the best science. Douglas has a wonderful attitude of service and aimed to make life as easy as possible for the SAC, particularly through the acquisition of high-quality external reviews from international experts. Successful research involves taking on board quality feedback, and we are known for providing lots of feedback from our SAC and external reviewers. This helps researchers improve their applications, not just for us, but also for larger funders, and enables them to target high quality journals for publication. Right up until his retirement from the Foundation, Douglas supported the SAC Chair, Professor Cathy Stinear, in leading a review of our committee processes and incorporating feedback from the research community. He continues to support the local research community as Executive Director of Cancer Research Trust NZ. This year Douglas was involved in recruiting and training our new Research Manager, Dr Sarah Schonberger. Sarah completed a PhD in neuroscience with Professor Richard Faull and worked as an academic at the University of Auckland for more than a decade. After managing her own research projects, she developed an interest in research management. She obtained a position at the University of Auckland helping them to secure their main source of government research funding, then took up a role as a Senior Research Programme Coordinator in the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences. She has experience across all aspects of the research funding process, supporting researchers in applying for grants from all major funders, liaising with University research and finance offices to manage research contracts, and outcomes-based impact reporting. Sarah is passionate about advancing neuroscience research in New Zealand and helping the Foundation to effectively communicate with our supporters about the amazing work that we are funding. One of her first tasks is to bring our grants management system online. This will enable the Foundation to manage a larger number of contracts more easily, which is in line with our ultimate goal of funding more neurological research. A farewell to our Research Manager, Dr Douglas Ormrod 14 Headlines