Billy Crashaw

Funding Manager, NIHR Maudsley Biomedical Research Centre (BRC)  

I work at the NIHR Maudsley Biomedical Research Centre, which is hosted by South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust in partnership with King's College London. 

What’s your role?  

I’m the NIHR Maudsley Biomedical Research Centre’s Funding Manager. We’ve just received £41 million from the government, awarded by the National Institute of Health and Care Research (NIHR), to continue our work researching novel tests, treatments and technologies to understand and treat mental health conditions.  

What is your working day like? 

My working day involves spreadsheets, spreadsheets, and more spreadsheets! I produce finance reports for internal and external stakeholders, forecasting expenditure and variances, providing costings etc. I liaise with Business Managers and our Theme Leads who head up our nine different research areas. 

The main aim is to make sure that the full budget is spent, as we want to make sure we spend all the funding to maximise the benefit whilst making sure we don't spend too much.  

Who do you work with?  

I work closely with the central BRC team, researchers, and the finance team at South London and Maudsley.  

Why did you want to work here?  

I already worked in the finance department at another Higher education institution, Imperial College London, and liked working in a university setting but I wanted a change of role. Incidentally, I saw the job advertised as I was sitting in the waiting room at King’s College Hospital for an appointment, so that could be why I applied too. 

What does research mean to you?  

It’s exciting being part of a centre that is conducting innovative research and driving change in mental health and looking at ways of building on existing knowledge and processes.