Laura Austen-Gray Email & Phone Number

Dublin, County Dublin, Ireland

County Dublin, Ireland

- Led team of 3 Strategic Engagement Officers overseeing Policy, Inclusion & Diversity, and Languages initiatives. Delegating work; Setting clear, measurable KPIs; and Proving training, support, and coaching.- Designated 'Appeals Officer' for organisations appealing Erasmus+ funding decisions. - Created end-to-end processes for grant schemes, aligned to programmatic and organisational objectives. This included processes and procedures for: making application; checking eligibility; scoring applications; awarding grants; monitoring funded activities; and beneficiary reporting.- Oversaw team's execution of procedures for assessing, awarding, and monitoring 'Microgrants'. +100 grants distributed in first year.- Researched & documented policy developments, writing about legislation and complex initiatives in accessible language, for a European Commission website and papers. - Developed workplans. Provided operational leadership and direction to ensure the effective running and management of national delivery of several European Commission and Government funded programmes. Responsible for ensuring achievement of programmes' deliverables.

County Dublin, Ireland

Enclude is the largest technology charity in Europe.• Managed portfolio of non-profit client projects. • Led project-based teams of varying sizes, composed of Computer Engineers; Data Analysists; IT Support Staff, and/or Administrative Staff. • Project managed the development / customisation of IT systems. • Liaised with stakeholders to gather high level requirements as part of discovery projects. Established & agreed project objectives. Developed proposals.• Conducted research on policies potentially affecting projects.• Planned project implementation. Delegated work to team members. • Managed resources. Ensured project requirements, deadlines, & schedules were on track.• Analysed & tracked project risks. Communicated with team members & stakeholders to pro-actively identify & resolve issues.• Prepared status reports for review with the Strategy & Operations team.• Managed change requests. • Tracked project deliverables, ensuring they adhered to specifications & high standards. Obtained client acceptance of deliverables.• Ensured successful handover from my project team to the Support team (which worked with the client post-project completion). Managed client adoption/satisfaction within the project transition period. • Presented to clients. Applied sectoral & functional expertise to enhance the value offerings to clients.

• Headed organisation's advocacy initiatives, reporting directly to CEO & Board's Subcommittee.• Developed data-driven advocacy strategy. • Monitored & reported on the organisation’s lobbying of Designated Public Officials.• Researched policies, trends, & statistics. • Engaged politicians, the Department of Health, hospitals, funders, & clients.

County Dublin, Ireland

Nationally managed two European Commission's policy programmes 'Youth Wiki' & 'ECVET': • Researched, tracked developments in, analysed & reported on national policies. • Nationally launched policy programme 'Youth Wiki'. Event management. Stakeholder engagement.• Managed team of 6 Subject Experts.• Chaired Sustainability Committee. Devised org's Sustainability Policy.

Dublin, Leinster, Ireland

Nationally coordinated the full lifecycles of 2 European Commission programs 'EPALE' & 'ECVET'. • Managed Programme Team (6 Subject Experts, 4 Ambassadors & 1 Administrator). • Devised national project plans. Monitored & evaluated projects. Made data driven decisions (e.g. tailoring campaigns based on insights derived from Matomo Analytics). • Developed marketing & communication strategies. Increased platform's Irish users 61%. • Conference/event management.• Gained significant funding through writing grant applications. Managed material budgets. • Worked with EU Commission's Directorate-General for Informatics (DG DIGIT), on the EPALE Usability Working Group, to review the IT platform and create alternative IT solutions to increase usability and stakeholder experience. • Reported to Government Departments / bodies & European institutions.

Dublin, Ireland

• Rotated in coordinating 150 Relief Staff. Assigned staff across 18 services, based on requirements, logistics, skills, & experience. Liaised with Service Managers to find solutions, where issues with Relief Staff arose. • Monitored, evaluated & managed programs for circa 400 service volunteers/students. • Wrote successful grant applications. Developed new initiatives, increasing Service Volunteers 125%. • Created/updated policy documents. • Collected research, interviewed service users, measured KPIs & analysed statistics. • Reported to senior management & funders. • Liaised with government bodies & donors.

• Researched & designed course curriculum, lecture content & handbooks. • Presented interactive lectures.

Dublin, Ireland

Professional Cert. (Nfq Level 9), Governance, Distinction

Master'S, Psychology Of Education, Distinction

Activities and Societies: Elected Class Representative.

Ba (Honors), Sociology And Social Policy

Erasmus Study Abroad, Psychology, 3.67/4.00 Gpa