Sonia Goncalves

Work experience

Head of Global Operations

June 2023 - present

Develop the global operational strategy and roadmap for implementation.
Strategically lead and manage the delivery of large scale genomic surveillance operations in the UK and globally across partner organisations; lead the delivery of an implementation programme for the decentralisation of genomic sequencing.
Driving key projects and initiatives to deliver operational excellence in a multi-disease model.
Develop and implement a quality control policy for the organisation (accreditation, quality management systems).
Develop and maintain relationships with key stakeholders from government, global health organisations, funding organizations, partner organizations across academia and public health.
Strategic and operational oversight of operational budget; preparation of funding bids
Full line management responsibility for a team of >40 staff (with managers), overseeing activities for recruitment, retention, performance, management and career development.

Head of Service Delivery

September 2019 - May 2023

Accountable for the delivery of multi-million£ service contracts to UK Health Security Agency (UK-HSA) for the end-to-end sequencing operations for national genomic surveillance of SARS-CoV-2; strategically lead and manage delivery of activities across one cross multidisciplinary team of over 160 staff.
Responsible for implementation of changes for continuous improvement of the service and quality control practices.
Develop and maintain relationships with external senior stakeholders in the UK Health Security Agency, NHS labs and COG-UK Consortium partners.
Responsible for the preparation of service proposals (with costing) and negotiation of service contracts with internal and external legal teams.
Lead the delivery of full end to end malaria genomic surveillance operations in the UK and in 6 countries across Asia and Africa.
Full line management responsibility for a team of 20 staff (with managers), overseeing activities for recruitment, retention, performance, management and career development.

Senior Scientific Manager

February 2016 - August 2019

Strategic oversight and delegated responsibility for the operational management of the Kwiatkowski group scientific programme, within the framework of the Malaria Genomic Epidemiology Network MalariaGEN (https://www.malariagen.net), and the Sanger Parasites and Microbes Programme.
Coordination and prioritisation of activities of research and translational work, liaising directly with the laboratory, bioinformatics and software development teams in Cambridge, Oxford and Bangkok, Thailand.
Oversight of the MalariaGEN Partner Network, in the context of collaborative projects and individual partnerships.
Accountable for the implementation and delivery of internal sequencing operations to support the successful delivery of the scientific programme.
Accountable for management of laboratories and compliance with Human Tissue Act and Health and Safety regulations.
Direct line management responsibility of 6 staff.

Chief Executive Officer

January 2009 - January 2014

Strategic oversight and delegated responsibility for the operational management of the Institute (30 staff).
Responsible for external communications and building of relations with key stakeholders, associates, partners, funding agencies, regional and national government, general public and media.
Fundraising to support the scientific strategy of the Institute (infrastructure projects, recruitment of postdoctoral researchers and sponsors, co-participation in research projects by private companies).
Preparation of annual report and financial statements.

Principal Investigator

January 2008 - January 2016

Establishment of a research group focused on the molecular regulation of cork formation (direct line management of a team of 7).
Implementation of a genomics research programme on cork oak – Lead PI in the project for the sequencing of the genome of cork oak, a multi-institution pioneer study in the country, 1M€. Responsible for raising 20% of project funds from private companies from the cork industry.
Establishment of national and international collaborations.
Lead Scientific Representative of BioData - ELIXIR Node in Portugal.
Grants preparation and submission, scientific papers writing and review.

Chartered Manager, Chartered Management Institute, ongoing
Management and Leadership Training Programme, Talented Woman Impact Programme, Wellcome Sanger Institute, November 2018 – March 2019
Good Research Practice, Medical Research Council, 2019
Research and Human Tissue Legislation, Overview of Human Tissue Act 2004 and Human Tissue (Scotland) Act 2006, Medical Research Council, 2019
Management in Action Programme, Wellcome Sanger Institute, ILM (Institute of Management and Leadership) certification, September-December 2016

2022 - 2025: Global Health Research Group on Establishing Regional Hubs for Genomic Surveillance in West Africa”: £3M
2019 - 2022: Global Health Research Group on genomic surveillance of malaria in West Africa”: £3M

2023 - Present: Member of the International Pathogen Surveillance Network working group, World Health Organisation (Berlin Hub)
2023 - Present: GSU Infrastructure Transition Programme Board, Wellcome Sanger Institute
2021 - Present: Sanger Institute and Connecting Science Research Ethics Committee, Genome Campus
2020 - 2022: Covid-19 Project Board, Wellcome Sanger Institute
2020 - 2022: Genomics Programme Board, UK-Health Security Agency

2023 - present: MSc in Global Health Policy, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
2001 – 2005: PhD in Biology, NOVA University of Lisbon
1993 – 1998: BSc in Plant Biology, Faculty of Science of the University of Lisbon (pre Bologne)