Staff profile: Dr Catherine Kibirige, Research Manager

Catherine Kibirige is our newly appointed Research Manager for the Department of Metabolism, Digestion and Reproduction, as well as the Department of Immunology and Inflammation. Here she talks about her career journey and what she is looking forward to during her time in the department.

Introduce yourself – who are you and what do you do?

My name is Dr. Catherine Kibirige and I am the new Research Manager on secondment, within the department.

Tell us about your career so far – when did you join the college, and where were you working/studying before this?

Previously, I was a Research Associate within the Department of Infectious Disease initially within the Human Immunology Laboratory of IAVI (formerly the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative).  I worked on several projects developing assays to aid in vaccine screening.  I started on a temporary contract for 6 months in 2016, then went on to begin the postdoctoral position in 2017.  I developed a sensitive HIV quantification assay with broad subtype specificity and went on to explore its commercialization potential within the Centre of Immunology and Vaccinology from 2021 to March of this year.  I obtained a Healthy Society Impact Acceleration Award to support this work as well as participating in the MedTech Accelerator, WE Innovate, WE Accelerate and ICURe business accelerator programs.  I founded and acted as the entrepreneurial lead for “The HIVQuant Project”.

What is the most challenging part of your role so far?

The most challenging part of my role so far is getting my head around all the different researchers and projects within the two departments I oversee.  It is all very exciting and interesting to learn about all the amazing work that is going on within my departments, but it has been a lot of information to digest.

What aspect of your role are you most excited about?

I’m excited about being able to support researchers who are going through similar challenges to the ones I faced as a postdoctoral researcher.  I’m actually very excited about learning  and disseminating information about the different funding opportunities and best practice for successful applications.  I’m excited about being able to help researchers advance their careers as best as they possibly can.

When you are not working, what are your main passions and hobbies?

I am passionate about my spirituality / Church and love gospel music.  Although I currently do not sing in a choir, I have done that a lot in the past.  I enjoy swimming, going to the park and meeting friends for dinner or seaside / beach vacations.  I am a bit of a foodie and love South-East Asian and African food.

Finally – what’s one thing you would like staff in the department to know about you that we haven’t already covered?

I would like staff to know that no question is too silly or irrelevant.  I would like new staff and early career researchers in particular, to feel free to contact me with whatever queries they have.

More about the Metabolism, Digestion and Reproduction Research Committee:

The Departmental Research Committee will support MDR’s research funding strategy, promote funding opportunities including new research partnerships both within and across faculties, and support Early Career Researchers (Postdoc to Lecturer) with the grant funding cycle.

The Committee has responsibility for executive oversight of the Research funding strategy within the Department and will provide specific guidance to the Department on the implementation of research funding initiatives.

Specifically, our goals are:

  • To develop and implement the Department’s Research Funding Strategy
  • To monitor the implementation of the Research Funding Strategy and to evaluate its impact
  • To monitor internal and external developments and trends and take account of them in the development of strategy
  • To ensure a uniformed approach across the Department for research grant activities such as peer review
  • To identify methods of supporting the funding and research activities for groups requiring specific support e.g. early-career researchers

Have an upcoming grant application in mind? The MDR Research Committee invites individuals to present their ideas for funding proposals in a 5-minute, 3 slide pitch for feedback and discussion at our committee meetings, usually held in the last week of each month. If you are interested in pitching, please contact Aylin Hanyaloglu or Catherine Kibirige.

In addition, the committee also invites ECR’s to submit draft full grant proposals for review and feedback 6 weeks prior to funder deadline. If you are interested, please contact Aylin Hanyaloglu or Catherine Kibirige.