Success story of Michael White’s and the Grants Office

By Nazaré Guimard, Head of Grants Office 

Behind every successful research consortium lies the often-unseen work of project coordination and grants management. The story of PvSTATEM and PvSeroRDT, two ambitious European-funded projects led by Michael White at Institut Pasteur, illustrates how scientific leadership and strategic project support converge to drive impact. From conceptual design to contract negotiations, from field trials in Ethiopia and Madagascar to manufacturing innovation in Senegal, these projects bring together multidisciplinary teams across continents with a shared goal: advancing the control and elimination of P. vivax malaria. 

At the heart of this success story stands not only scientific excellence, but also close collaboration between Michael’s unit and the Grants Office—where our project managers, Despoina Mademtzoglou and Angela Donald — work side by side to transform complex objectives into effective operational reality. 

Interview with Michael White  

Tell us a bit about your projects (objectives ...): PvSTATEM & PvSeroRDT 

P. vivax Serological Testing and Treatment in Ethiopia and Madagascar (PvSTATEM) and P. vivax Serological Rapid Diagnostic Test (PvSeroRDT) are consortium projects funded by the European Commission which aim to develop the evidence base and tools for a new testing and treatment strategy to support the control and elimination of Plasmodium vivax malaria.  

In PvSTATEM we are conducting clinical trials to demonstrate that by detecting people infected with P. vivax malaria and providing effective treatment, we can substantially reduce malaria transmission in affected communities. In this trial, diagnostic testing is done in centralized laboratories far away from the communities affected by malaria. To bridge this gap, the PvSeroRDT project will develop a point-of-care version of the test allowing patients to be rapidly and effectively treated. We will also establish manufacturing capacity for this diagnostic test in Senegal, allowing this test to be widely used. 

PvSTATEM clinical trials in vivax malaria-affected communities in Ethiopia (top) and Madagascar (bottom) 

What is your experience with the Grants Office? 

Horizon Europe and EDCTP consortiums are complex undertakings: the proposal requires a challenging 45-page application; following notification of award, multiple contracts must be drafted requiring interactions with several support services; and finally, consortium coordination confers responsibility for reporting to the European Commission. The Grants Office has provided professional, friendly, and timely advice on all these aspects, and more.  

What is the value of getting dedicated Projects Managers from the Grants Office on your projects? 

A dedicated Project Manager is invaluable for large projects, as they provide support and expertise in the day-to-day running of a project. As Project Managers frequently also have scientific training, they are often valuable scientific contributors. Being fully dedicated to a project means that they have an extensive overview of all scientific details of a project and can support scientists in strategic decision making. Maintaining a joint affiliation between a host Unit and the Grants Office ensures that Project Managers have access to the wealth of expertise based within the Grants Office and that they can access ongoing training opportunities. 

Interview with Angela  

What is your background? I have always been fascinated by science and health more broadly, so a Bachelor of Science was a natural first step post-high school. From there, I decided to pursue further studies that would allow me to have an impact at a population level as opposed to a patient-centred approach, so a Master of Public Health was the perfect training ground to understand how science can be translated at the public health interface to have real-world impact. My Masters also provided the opportunity to undertake a year-long research project, where I dabbled in the life of a scientist and soon realised academia was not the right fit for me. 

After completing both degrees at the University of Melbourne based in Victoria, Australia, I accepted a role at the Doherty Institute where I was responsible for managing state and national grants focused on the use of pathogen genomics for public health response and management. The four years spent in this role provided a wealth of exposure in managing the lifecycle of a research grant, and effectively engaging stakeholders to advance research objectives. I look forward to expanding this experience within Michael’s team at Institut Pasteur, where I will manage the PvSeroRDT project alongside a brilliant multi-disciplinary consortium based across Europe, Africa, and Australia.  

What are your main responsibilities on the project as project manager? 

On paper, my role as project manager is to ensure all deliverables and milestones are achieved within the agreed timeframe and that budgets remain on target throughout the project lifecycle. In reality, this looks like:  

• Liaising with internal departments (Legal, Finance, DARRI) and external organisations (project partners, funding bodies, external stakeholders) to progress research contracts and project activities  

• Strategic planning and aligning of activities to drive efficiency and seeking opportunities to promote the project  

• Preparing meeting agendas, documenting discussions, and following up on action items  

• Drafting and publishing project communication materials 

• Monitoring compliance with funding agreements  

• Budget planning, forecasting, and project reporting  

TLDR; ensuring researchers can focus on the research, and taking everything else (administrative burden, reporting, contract management etc.) off their hands.  

What are the major milestones coming up? 

We just celebrated our project kick-off meeting which took place across 20-21 October in Dakar, Senegal, and brought together our consortium of 8 partners across 7 countries. Key upcoming milestones will be (1) development of a new diagnostic test for malaria control intervention, and (2) establishment of African-based manufacturing capacity for rapid diagnostic tests.   

The PvSeroRDT consortium in the kick-off meeting in Dakar (October 20-21, 2025) 

Interview with Despoina 

What is your feedback as PM over the past three years on Pvstatem? It has been very rewarding to see such an interesting and well-designed project unravel since 2022:  

• After 14 years in fundamental research, I appreciate being involved in a project that can have direct impact on public health.  

• From the project management perspective, PvSTATEM’s strong leadership shines through our weekly coordination meetings that pre-empt issues, the formation of a highly engaged consortium of experts from all eight fields in the core of this truly multi-disciplinary project, early visits in Ethiopia and Madagascar to foster alignment, the balanced management that avoids meeting/message overload.  

• The collaborative spirit was always evident. I still remember our cluster selection effort with field workers, serologists, molecular biologists, epidemiologists, mathematical modelers, geospatial modelers, doctors, statisticians, and anthropologists working on the same excel file to find the 12 best cluster pairs for the trial that is the cornerstone of PvSTATEM.  

What do you think is the best advantage of being attached to both the Lab and the GO? 

 It’s exciting to see research from the frontlines, through the unit’s meetings where people share updates on their work. It also helps frame the project’s broader impact, which is valuable for writing reports, drafting new proposals and alerting researchers to funding opportunities.   

Not working directly in research, it’s equally important to exchange good practices and tools with other GO members, to save time and streamline our work. On a micro-level, seeing Angela’s approach through PvSeroRDT was an opportunity to start improving my own project management style. On a macro-level, Pasteur’s project managers benefit from an active GO, rich in experienced grants specialists, networking opportunities with other research managers, and initiatives that feed back to our project management work like graphic design, newsletter development, or impact assessment. 

Conclusion 

PvSTATEM and PvSeroRDT, supported by the European Commission and implemented across multiple continents, have the potential to transform malaria control by introducing innovative diagnostic and treatment strategies adapted to real-world contexts. The collaborative synergy between Michael White’s research unit and the Grants Office—thanks to our project managers Despoina Mademtzoglou and Angela Donald—is instrumental in navigating the complexities of EU funding that include countries beyond Europe (Madagascar, Ethiopia, Senegal), ensuring compliance, and enabling scientific teams to focus fully on their research goals. Congratulations for these wonderful projects, looking forward to many more successful initiatives in the future!