CVR Behind the Scenes: Meet Linda McMonagle
Author: Lois Mason & Linda McMonagle (25/08/2022)
Take a peek behind the scenes of the CVR and get to know our Professional Services and Technical staff. We chatted to Linda McMonagle who is the Head of Operations at the MRC-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research.
Actors take centre stage in front of the camera, but behind that camera are a whole host of extremely important people who are essential to create the final production. Professional Services and Technical staff often sit behind the scenes in the research industry. These people are essential to keep a research centre moving forward and functioning at an incredibly high standard. We recently chatted to Linda McMonagle, the CVR’s Head of Operations to learn about her role in the CVR, her journey towards this position and her very early career as an Irish dancer!
Please summarise your main focus in your current position.
Maintenance and development of general and specialist laboratory infrastructure and related services. Project management of capital refurbishments. Space planning. Management of lab equipment maintenance, repairs, assets and reports. Responsible for ensuring efficient services and support from Estates, facilities and University central services. Oversight of all operational matters and associated resources.
What has been your career path to working at the CVR?
I started as a research assistant in the Vet School in 1980 shortly after graduating with an Honours Degree in Molecular Microbiology and worked on development of equine vaccines and cytokine adjuvants over a 12-year period during which time I was promoted to Research Associate. I was also responsible for managing the labs, supervising students and setting up new lab workflows. In 2002 I moved from the McRobert building to the Jarrett retrovirus lab to work with Professor Willett on FIV, which at that point was used as a model for HIV infection studies, primarily concentrating efforts on virus receptor usage and development of pseudotype libraries.
In 2014, I took up a new post supporting Massimo Palmarini as lab manager, CL3 manager and floor coordinator as well as supporting the relocation of staff to the new Stoker building. This included additional works required to set up the new Stoker labs and I then gradually moved from working in the labs to working full time as technical operations manager for the CVR. Over a 6-year period I developed the post in line with the operational needs of the facilities and associated equipment including project management of several capital refurbishments of key specialist facilities including electron microscopy, bioinformatics, insectaries, CL3 and viral genomics labs. as well as developing spaces to support new workflows. I took up the new post of Head of Operations in October 2021 and my current role is summarized above.
What's a fun fact about yourself?
I used to be a champion Irish dancer when I was 5 and went to modern dance school until I was 16. I was also part of my high school athletics team as 800m and cross-country runner. I also went to gymnastics but wasn't very good at it which was apparent when I nearly broke my back spring boarding over a horse when I was 11 but had a go at everything nevertheless.
I have always had a passion for animals, nature, astronomy and philosophy and I love a good giggle.
