Helping ambitious health researchers achieve more
The Research Ally works with ambitious clinicians, researchers and health executives to take high-stakes initiatives from idea to delivered outcome, end to end, without adding to your workload.
18+ years working inside
the system
Trusted by clinician researchers, health executives & First Nations research leaders
$70M+ in competitiveresearch
funding secured
One person who owns the whole thing
When something important needs to move, a funding submission, a strategic plan, a program that has to get delivered, you don't need five different specialists and a project manager to hold it together. You need one person who takes ownership of the outcome, coordinates whatever's required, and doesn't stop until it's actually done.
That's what I do. I work as an extension of your team bringing clarity to complexity, keeping momentum through funding rounds, stakeholder groups and tight deadlines, and delivering outcomes that hold up, not just plans that sit in a drawer.
Built for people with more opportunity than time
My clients are research leaders, clinicians and executive leaders who are ambitious, with significant opportunities in front of them, but not always the time, capacity or capability to drive it all themselves.
They need someone they trust to:
Bring sharp strategic advice
Cut through complexity
Coordinate the people involved
Keep momentum through funding rounds and stakeholder groups
Deliver a genuinely high-quality outcome
Funding &Major InitiativesEnd-to-end development and project management of funding submissions and major initiatives, from the first strategic conversation through to delivery.
Strategy
& AdvisoryStrategic advice when you need clarity on direction, a second perspective on a complex decision, or a plan that will actually get used.
Workshops& FacilitationStructured sessions to align stakeholders, work through a specific challenge, or build momentum behind an initiative that's stalled.
The Work Speaks For Itself
One research program I've worked alongside has secured close to $20 million in funding to date. It didn't happen because of one grant application. It happened because someone stayed with it: coordinating stakeholders, maintaining momentum, and making sure the strategy behind it held up round after round.
I've also been asked, more than once, to rewrite strategy documents originally produced by big consultancy firms, because polished doesn’t always mean usable.
Celia has been helping my team win over $4 million in Research & Development. She is exceptional in strategic orientation of specific projects, has a deep knowledge of the R&D landscape, and provides valuable guidance. Celia’s involved in every step, including engaging strategic partners, drafting, finalising and submission.
Prof. Kiarash Khosrotehrani
DIRECTOR OF FRAZER INSTITUTE
ATTHE UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND
Who's behind The Research Ally
I'm Celia Webby, founder of The Research Ally.
With a PhD, an MBA, and close to two decades spent inside institutions like UQ, University of Oxford, Health Translation Qld and Children's Hospital Foundation, I've worked across the full research pipeline, from shaping strategic research agendas to leading funding submissions to project-managing initiatives from idea to impact.
I set up The Research Ally because too many good ideas stall, not from lack of merit, but from lack of capacity to drive them. I bring the strategic thinking, the sector knowledge, and the follow-through to make sure that doesn't happen, and I stay with the work until it's actually delivered, not just recommended.
Have an initiative that needs to move?
If you've got something important on the table and not enough capacity to drive it yourself, let's talk.