[Course] Grant Writing

Short course

In the current highly competitive funding environment, with success rates for the most coveted grants and fellowships sometimes dropping below 10%, finding the right funding call and navigating its multiple requirements have become a crucial scientific skill. In this workshop, we explore funding from discovering the grants and fellowships that are best suited to your project and career stage to writing a competitive application. The workshop will discuss funders’ scope, priorities, and restrictions to help participants tailor their applications to each call’s specific requirements.

Credits: 1 ECTS=28 hours

Target audience
Researchers at all career stages
 

Number of participants

12-20

Applications

From 04 JUL to 30 JUL 2024

Registration fee: 25€

Tuition fee: 470 €*

* - Fellowships are available for eligible students, under the PRR regulations (see Official Notice).

Applications to the course must be made through this link.

Course Dates

From 30 SEP to 01 OCT

Learning objectives:

-     To improve understanding of the current funding environment for grants and fellowships.

-     To develop grant and fellowship writing skills.

-     Introduction to writing research impact statements and narrative CVs.

-     Standard grant and fellowship elements.

Session 1. The funding ecosystem: identifying the priorities of funders and how they may (or may not) align with your research. Understanding the scope of specific funding calls. How to discover funding sources at the national and international level. Funding for individuals, research groups, and consortia. Practical exercise: finding the right funder for your research.

Session 2. Workshop on writing your research statement for grants and fellowships.

Session 3. Standard elements of grants and fellowships. Eligibility criteria, application procedures and requirements, and understanding the selection processes. Identifying bottlenecks such as pre-selection or screening steps. Adapting your application to the selection process and review panel. Is your application eligible and competitive.

Session 4. Introduction to research impact and impact statements. Workshop on writing effective impact statements. Introduction to the narrative CV; group exercise identifying non-traditional research output and transferable skills.

Course participants write research project summaries before the course, and these provide the basis for the course workshop sessions. After the course, students submit revised versions of these texts to receive individualized feedback on their progress.

Official Announcement

Instructors

Thiago Carvalho received his Ph.D. at the Gulbenkian Institute of Science in Lisbon and postdoctoral training at the University of Alabama, Birmingham, both in immunology. Thiago was Head of Graduate Programs for the Gulbenkian Institute of Science, Graduate Studies Coordinator for the Champalimaud Foundation, senior writer for the Director (EMBO), and senior scientific editor of the Journal of Experimental Medicine. Thiago writes a column on drug development for Nature Medicine and produces the EMBO podcast.

David del Álamo received his Ph.D. in developmental biology at the Severo Ochoa Center for Molecular Biology in Madrid and postdoctoral training at the Mount Sinai Hospital in New York and the Pasteur Institute in Paris. David was scientific editor for The EMBO Journal and EMBO reports, managing editor of Review Commons, and the head of the EMBO Fellowship Programme.  David obtained a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree in 2017. He collaborates as an editorial consultant for The Journal of Cell Biology and Life Science Alliance.

This course is supported by European funds under the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR) of the Portuguese Republic, following the approval of the "CIVIC and GLOBAL" project of Universidade NOVA de Lisboa (RE - C06.i03.03 - Impulso Adultos), through fellowhips for elegible students under the PRR regulations.

The Recovery and Resilience Plan is a nationally applicable programme. The Plan will implement a set of reforms and investments aimed at restoring sustained economic growth, supporting the goal of convergence with Europe over the next decade.

The European Union, faced with the serious impacts of the pandemic on European economies, has created Next Generation EU, a strategic instrument to mitigate the economic and social impact of the crisis; this is capable of promoting economic convergence and resilience, helping to ensure long-term sustainable growth and meeting the challenges of the transition to a greener and more digital society. The Recovery and Resilience Mechanism has been developed on the basis of this instrument, and the RRP fits into this framework.

The RRP is an investment plan for all Portuguese people, based on three structuring dimensions: Resilience; Climate Change; Digital Transition.

More information.