Ms Janice Besch
Ms Janice Besch
SENIOR ASSOCIATE
Janice Besch commenced as one of Outside Opinion’s Senior Associates in 2022, and in that role has provided strategic advice, grant development services and training to researchers across Australia with a focus on medical and health research. Janice also maintains her own professional portfolio including ongoing grant development services to the Hunter Medical Research Institute and a range of other advisory roles with industry and the not-for-profit sector. Janice’s contributions to the organisations and researchers she assists are informed by her significant experience over thirty years in research, policy, strategy and funding. She has held positions as a Board Chair, Executive Director and CEO for not-for-profit organisations (Australian and New Zealand Society of Palliative Medicine; NHMRC National Institute for Dementia Research; Australasian Research Management Society). Janice has also held high level government policy positions (Arts Queensland; Australia Council) where she led strategy portfolios and was charged with the development and implementation of significant national arts and innovation programs. Her skillset has been enhanced by her research strategy and operational leadership roles in the Australian university sector (Director Research Office UNSW; Operations Director Australian Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology and Managing Director NICM Health Research Institute). Janice has a strong commitment to improving outcomes for Australians living with life limiting diseases and in particular dementia and neurological diseases, maintains an extensive peer network in research and administration in Australia and internationally, and her work with medical researchers, clinicians and health and medical research funders in the time since 2012 has provided a highly developed understanding of our funding system and the challenges faced by this sector.