Vanda Castle
Departmental Research Support and Administration Manager

Profile

Biography

Vanda has a central role within CRD, providing full oversight of the administrative support across the department and is a member of the Departmental Management Team (DMT) working closely with HoD and other Senior Members to support, coordinate and manage the activities of the department.  Some of the duties include:

• Overall management of the department's administrative team
• HR Administration - liaising with HR Services on complex matters, oversight and coordination in the department of HR processes (e.g. contracting, recruitment, inductions, visiting research fellows, PDR processes, sickness absence, onboarding and offboarding) 
• Finance management - overseeing the day to day finances in the department and being the first point of contact with the faculty accountants and finance department
• Planning - Providing input and support into medium term planning and its processes in terms of finance and resource requirements
• Grants - overseeing the admin team supporting research grant costings and monitoring of budgets as part of post-award research funding support, and acting as a point of contact with research grants and external sponsors 
• Overseeing the general finance and central administration support to the department
• Coordination of the building and fire safety issues, management of the department's space and facilities requirements ensuring space is best utilised and any issues are identified and addressed, and point of contact with with Estates and Facilities.
• Health and Safety Adviser for the Department (DSA)
• First Aid Point support for the Department