Mira Lindner, Research Finance Manager

13 October 2026

Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and how long you’ve worked at Queen Mary? 

I started my career at the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, where I specialised in European grant funding. I then moved to King's College London joining my former manager from Karolinska Institutet. As a small team we worked successfully together and I learnt a lot - I personally had 60 projects in my portfolio which is an extensive workload! I was also heavily involved with the streamlining of processes and trying out new systems, which was a great experience. It was useful to have had these experiences when starting my career at Queen Mary.

I’ve worked at Queen Mary for close to four years now. I joined the International team because of my prior knowledge on EU and US funded awards, which meant that I had the experience to manage the International Post-Award team at the time.

Describe your average day/week 

Working within Research Finance, or better known as ‘Post-Award’, every day is different. You might have an idea of what you would like to do and then you get an email early in the morning or late in the night and it will completely change everything you wanted to do on that day - it’s quite reactive sometimes. We are there to support, to advise, to guide and to ensure that researchers have everything from a financial and knowledge background that might be needed on finances. It is very fulfilling because you can truly support the research taking place at Queen Mary. We do, however, need to be very neutral to some extent, because we are representing the funders' interests as well. We need to know all the funders' terms and conditions off by heart, so we can say, “hey, those costs are actually not eligible - however, if you have X, Y, and Z ready to go, then they would be eligible”. There is a lot of knowledge that we need to hold across all the funders, which makes us an important part of the wider research wheel.

Our role is particularly valuable because we are there to support and advise researchers. I always encourage colleagues to come to us before making a purchase if they are unsure, as we can help them navigate the requirements and ensure they are making informed decisions. We can advise on whether costs are eligible, ensure the appropriate contracts and approvals are in place, and help initiate the relevant processes. Where circumstances change, we can also work with researchers to assess whether a change is permissible and, where necessary, approach the funder to seek approval - for example, where the direction of the research has evolved and funding needs to move from one area to another.

Ultimately, our role requires us to understand both the researchers and the research environment in which they operate, while also having a strong understanding of funder requirements and expectations. It is about finding the right balance between enabling research to progress and ensuring that funding is used appropriately and compliantly.

Are there any key projects you are currently working on that you would like to highlight?

We are currently working on historical cleansing exercises. We're also doing a lot of process improvements. There has been a huge amount of work done on new and updated reports on Unit 4, for example, that we have been immensely proud to share with researchers. We are trying to get as much information onto our Joint Research Management Office and SharePoint because we realise, we really need to ensure that the researchers and the faculty have a baseline knowledge too.

What do you see as your role in helping the University achieve its Strategy 2030?  

I am doing an apprenticeship and there was actually a question around how we are connected to Strategy 2030. I said it is not really obvious sometimes how we fit into the Strategy, but I would say we are part of preventing risk. If we ceased to exist, there would be huge risk to the University because there is no income without the funding for research we secure. We are responsible for all research funding coming through and ensuring that we are invoicing and reporting the costs and that the costs are eligible.

We are also part of the reputation piece, for example if researchers know that Queen Mary has an excellent research funding office, they might be more interested in doing their research at Queen Mary. There is that knock-on effect that if the funding office made continuous mistakes, the funders would come and audit us more regularly, and when mistakes are found the funding needs to be returned. This makes our team an important part of the wider research world. Also, we are there to support the lead investigators, work with them on budgets and make sure they can focus on research by taking some of the admin burden away.

What is your favourite place on any of our campuses?

We are based in Department W, and I feel lucky with the office space we have (fun fact, Dept W used to be a department store!). The research teams are dotted around, and with Dept W being between Mile End and Whitechapel we can be at any office space when needed. So Dept W is where work-home is (so to speak).

What are your hobbies and pastimes outside of work?

I received a fellowship from National Council of Universities Research Administrators (NCURA). I’ll be going away for two weeks with them to Chicago and later in the year, I'm extremely excited about that. This is something that aligns with my hobbies, I do enjoy a lot of travelling and connecting. This opportunity to visit the University of Chicago for two weeks and learn from them, while also getting to see friends means I get to combine two things I enjoy.

Are there any Queen Mary activities that you'd recommend staff getting involved with? Or is there any training that you've done either with Queen Mary or externally that you would recommend?

I would recommend the Corndel Leadership and Management Diploma Level 5 I am currently doing but it is no longer available! However, generally speaking I think it is always important to find conferences that are connected to the work you are doing. So, for administration, it would be Association of Research Managers and Administrators, European Association of Research Managers and Administrators and NCURA, being involved in those organizations gives you the opportunity to learn and network. Expanding your network is so important, you might have one or two colleagues in your own university who have similar knowledge, but the wider your network the more you can learn, especially when you can see how other universities work. Also from the other side, there is such a rewarding element of giving a little bit back and sharing your knowledge, while also ensuring that the profession is being recognised.