https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-03238-5
"I’ve always hated writing grants.
Like most scientists, I love having scientific ideas, and I love drawing
diagrams and writing up my ideas. But grant applications require an enormous
amount of work beyond conveying an idea for a research project. This takes a
lot of time and effort.
For example, grant applications usually require you to make the standard case
for support, in which you detail your proposed research. But as many
researchers know, you might also need to submit a lay summary; a long abstract;
your CV; impact statements; public-engagement plans; an explanation of how
other staff members will be involved; a project-management plan; letters of
support from colleagues; a case for how you will handle data; and the predicted
timescale of the project. And don’t forget the risk analysis! Here’s the
kicker: all this for a 90–95% chance of getting rejected.
Despite having to do all of this preparation, the brutal truth is that once you
start on the research, there is a good chance things won’t proceed as expected.
It’s possible that few of the milestones will be met, and some of the projected
outcomes might not be achieved. If experiments go wrong, you might not have
time to do all of the public-engagement activities you added to the grant
application. Nevertheless, when the project is finished, you might well have
managed to produce great science, although this could easily differ from that
outlined in your original proposal. And that’s OK.
Panel members tasked with deciding who gets a grant also find the process
cumbersome. I’ve been on panels myself, and sometimes there just isn’t time to
read everything. As a panel member, you are usually asked to focus on three
main questions. Does this proposal fit the call brief? Is the proposed science
good and novel? And are the candidates experts in the right field? The abstract
and a small part of the research proposal answer the first two questions, and,
when it comes to the third, I prefer to use Google to learn more about the
candidates."
Via Dave Farber.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
