Meet our consultants

Gordon McGurk PhD, JD, GDLP, BSc, FGIA, GAICD

Gordon has a long history in research and in Government. He spent 15 years as an Executive in the Australian Public Service, most recently working in the areas of policy development and implementation. His areas of experience were particularly in the areas of clinical trial governance and research governance. Gordon is a Fellow of the Governance Institute of Australia, a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, a former Director of the Association of Biosafety Australia and New Zealand, and currently chair of an Australian Standards sub-committee on biosafety. He chairs two Human Research Ethics Committees in Brisbane. He is a qualified lawyer with an interest in health law and human rights law.

Gordon’s skills and expertise are in:

  • Human ethics
  • Research integrity (investigations and policy development)
  • Corporate governance
  • Research governance
  • Clinical trial conduct and compliance
  • Biosafety and biocontainment
  • Policy development
  • Regulatory reform
  • Regulatory affairs
  • Auditing
  • Compliance
  • Statutory interpretation

Tim Dyke PhD MBA BVSc DiplACVCP FANZCVSc MVSc GAICD

Tim provides consultancy and leadership coaching services, following a diverse career as a veterinarian, academic, researcher and most recently as a senior executive in the Australian Public Service, working in the areas of human health research and ethics policy and chemicals and drug regulation.

Tim is a graduate member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and holds a European Individual Accreditation from the European Mentoring and Coaching Council.

Tim has provided consultancy services on reviews of international veterinary drug regulation, regulation of new technologies and review of partnership research centres.

He has also led development of government reforms in:

  • Harmonisation of multi-centre ethical review
  • The inaugural Australian Health and Research Translation Centres
  • National clinical trials governance
  • Animal ethical review

Sue O’Brien BSc (Hons) PhD (Melb) GCEL (UQ)

Sue has worked for the past 15 years in senior research management roles in the not-for-profit sector and in a research intensive university. Her roles have included managing a peer reviewed medical grants program and being the responsible person in relation to the conduct of research and research integrity. Sue was Deputy Chair of the Better Practice Guides Working Group in association with the review of the Australian Code for the Responsible Conduct of Research (2018). She was also Chair of the Go8 Research Ethics and Integrity Group (2015-16). Sue is the Australian adapting author for the Oxford University Press Research Integrity online and is an experienced presenter, trainer and facilitator.

Sue has skills and experience in

  • Research management
  • Research integrity
  • Training and education of researchers

Kate Henderson GAICD

Kate has extensive human research ethics assessment experience in both university and health settings. She has a background in the disability and mental health sectors, local government, business and process improvement and HR systems and information management.

Kate is passionate about using her skills and knowledge gained through broad professional and lived experience to increase the quality and effectiveness of research in Australia through the involvement of consumers and community members.

Kate’s ethics and governance roles include:

· Board Member and Chair of the Nomination Committee for Rare Voices Australia

· Chair of the Governance, Risk and Ethics Committee at Making Good Alliance

· Consumer Advisor on NHMRC Medical Research Future Fund grant assessment committee

· Deputy Chair and lay member of University of Queensland’s HREC

· Community Member on Queensland Health’s Forensic and Scientific Services HREC

· Community Member of University on Queensland’s Ethics Advisory Group

Her areas of expertise are in:

  • Consumer and community involvement in research (CCI)
  • Lived experience of rare disease, aged care (as carer) and mental ill-health
  • Human research ethics assessments/reviews
  • HR policies, processes, systems, and data

Emma Raymond BSc Grad Cert BA Grad Dip BA MBA (Distinction)

Emma is an experienced finance and business manager with over a decade’s experience in the health and research sectors. She specialises in the financial and accounting management of grants, clinical trials fee-for-service models and, the establishment of research institutes.

She is an expert in biobanking, having established multiple state and national biobanks including the Australian Autism Biobank, the Australasian Skin Cancer Tissue Bank and the Queensland Brain Tumour Bank.

Emma is a Board Member for Kidsafe Queensland, and a Biobank Expert for Brain Cancer Biobanking Australia.

Emma’s skills and expertise include:

  • Biobanking
  • Project management
  • Financial and accounting management, budgeting, and contracts
  • Research management
  • Clinical trial conduct, monitoring and auditing
  • Laboratory management, design, and workflows
  • Change management
  • Organisational development and transformation

Veronica McCabe PhD, MBA

Veronica has over 20 years’ experience in the health and medical research sector and has held senior executive management positions in Government and the not-for-profit sector.

After completing a PhD she transitioned to a career in research management and has implemented several health and medical research programs across a range of organisations in the UK and Australia.

Veronica’s is the Principal and Founder of  Research Collective and has skills and expertise in:

  • Development, implementation and management of research grant operations
  • Grants peer review
  • Change management

Tony Willis PhD, BSc (Hons)

Tony has extensive experience of working at the intersection of science, strategic policy, higher education and research, with particular interest and expertise in research funding, strategy and evaluation.

He was a Senior Executive in the Australian Public Service for many years, working in diverse agencies including Health (Office of the Gene Technology Regulator), Foreign Affairs and Trade, and the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.

Tony held senior leadership roles at the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) and was the Executive General Manager at the Australian Research Council (ARC). He has sought-after people skills, a deep understanding of the Commonwealth’s higher education policy and research-funding and research-evaluation landscapes, and a strong network of professional relationships in Government and in higher education.

Tony holds a PhD in Plant Sciences (Botany) from the Australian National University. He held post-doctoral research fellowships at Imperial College and at CSIRO Plant Industry.

Contact us on 0408 291 840 or send a message by clicking the link below.