ARMA’s Treasurer Ushma Gudka

The ARMA Board is made up of nine members and, this year, one of the appointments was a new Treasurer, Ushma Gudka.

Ushma is Head of Post Award at Brunel University London and focused on research-related roles since 2010. She currently leads the Post Award Team and has been actively involved in the introduction of post award processes to support grants.

A strong advocate of the professional development and networking opportunities available through ARMA, Ushma is an active member of the community and joined the Professional Development Committee in 2021. She has delivered training events; mentored on the ARMA programme and presented at ARMA Conference. She leads the Brunel ARMA membership and has recently reinvigorated Brunel’s own research administrators and managers staff network (BRAM-NET) as a community of practice.

Ushma, who started in the role in April 2024 following former Treasurer, Alison Evans, stepping down, said: “It’s always daunting starting a new role but I have enjoyed my time on the Board so far – learning so much more about what happens and the amazing effort put in by our members. I’ve had an excellent start by shadowing Alison Evans before starting formally in April. As we prepare for our new strategy, I’m really keen to make sure that we develop our organisation to meet the needs of our members whilst also recognising that the sector is going through quite a challenging period.”

As Treasurer, Ushma is responsible for overseeing the general financial position of ARMA – working closely with the Exec Office to ensure that the budget is set in line with the ARMA strategy and monitoring income and expenditure against this. Ushma has also taken on the role of ARMA representative on UKRI’s Research Organisations Consultation Group (ROCG).