Dr Áine Ryan Email & Phone Number

Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom

At the Edinburgh Earth Initiative, I lead efforts to advance the University of Edinburgh's climate and environment research growth ambitions. Working collaboratively with colleagues across the University, the focus is on connecting academic researchers with transdisciplinary partners, both internally and externally. The goal is to secure large scale external income to fund research, innovation, and impact that will deliver solutions to the climate, environment and biodiversity crises.

Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom

At the Edinburgh Earth Initiative, I lead efforts to advance the University of Edinburgh's climate and environment research growth ambitions. Working collaboratively with colleagues across the University, the focus is on connecting academic researchers with transdisciplinary partners, both internally and externally. The goal is to secure large scale external income to fund research, innovation, and impact that will deliver solutions to the climate, environment and biodiversity crises.

Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom

On behalf of the University and the Una Europa Alliance, working alongside the Vice Principal International, I won funding for and now lead the €2M, 3 year, eight partner, EU Horizon 2020 funded project 'Una.Resin'. From initial concept development, writing the proposal, through to project implementation, I direct a multi-disciplinary team of senior academics and professional services staff from across eight European universities.The project ‘Una.Resin: Towards a common Una Europa RESearch and INnovation eco-system’, aims to further strengthen the research and innovation (R&I) aspect of the Una Europa Alliance, in synergy with the education aspects developed through the ERASMUS+ sister project ‘1Europe’.Una.Resin has received funding from the EU's Horizon 2020 programme under grant agreement No. 101017416, and is coordinated by the University of Edinburgh.

Edinburgh, United Kingdom

As lead for international research development, I led the development and delivery of the university’s EU and international research strategy, covering research funding, research development, and international research partnerships. This was achieved by working closely with the international relations office (Edinburgh Global), key funders, external organisations, and strategic university partners. Additionally, I led the EU and International pre-award team (6 FTE), delivering specialist advice directly to researchers and research support staff. Annually, the team supported on average 450 applications to the value of £200m, leading to 240 individual awards totalling £60m. My tenure coincided with a period of post-Brexit uncertainty, where the future of the UK’s access to the multi-billion euro Horizon funding programmes was unresolved for a period of seven years (2016 – 2023).In response to the changing external environment, I developed the International Research Strategy, which set out a series of initiatives aimed at growing the university’s international research collaborations, income, and outputs. This strategy was developed with key senior stakeholders and led to the creation of a new International Research Engagement Team.During extended uncertainty post-Brexit, I focused team resources on proposal support for the high value (€1.5M – €2.5M) European Research Council (ERC) fellowships. In 2020, Edinburgh was the 3rd most successful University in the UK, recovering to pre-referendum levels, having been placed 6th in 2019 and 2018. In the 2022 Starting Grant round, Edinburgh was the most successful UK university, with 7 awards. Success rates for Marie Sklodowska Curie Postdoctoral Fellowships (MSCA-PF) doubled under my direction. The success of the EU proposal development team formed an evidence base for the creation of a broader ERO Proposal Development Team, which is being built upon the reputation, processes and resources developed in the EU team.

Edinburgh, United Kingdom

As a member of the central pre-award team, I delivered specialist expert advice to academics and school research office staff on the planning, development, and submission of research funding applications to a wide range of UK, EU and international funders of academic research. Additionally, by building relationships with funders and key government bodies, I provided research development intelligence to senior management to inform strategic planning.

Glasgow, United Kingdom

Based in the central pre-award team, I provided expert advice to researchers and research related staff to guarantee the accurate, timely submission of high quality, high return research funding applications.

Saarbrücken Area, Germany

York, United Kingdom

Phd, Chemistry

Bsc (Hons), Chemistry