Transferable Skills Course: Getting Funded With Good Grant Writing

  • Start: Sep 21, 2022
  • End: Sep 22, 2022
  • Speaker: Daniel Mertens
  • PD Dr. rer. nat. Daniel Mertens heads two research groups, one group at the German Cancer Research Centre (DKFZ) in Heidelberg and a research group at the University Hospital Ulm. As a scientist, Daniel Mertens is the author of 96 publications that have been cited more than 4400 times by colleagues (https://publons.com/researcher/2780960/daniel-mertens/). He has received more than €5 million in grants from external third-party funders for his research and coordinated international research networks (cancerepisys.org and leukemia-resistance.de). Since 2011, he has been training scientists, physicians, administrators and staff in transferable skills (www.scientistsneedmore.de). So far, >7000 participants took part in international workshops in Europe, USA and Africa.
  • Location: MPI-MG
  • Room: Seminar room 4
  • Host: Anne-Dominique Gindrat
  • Contact: imprs-bac@molgen.mpg.de
Transferable Skills Course: Getting Funded With Good Grant Writing
In order to get grant funding, applicants have to convince reviewers that their project is interesting and that they are able to plan and run the project.







This involves i) identifying your message and storytelling in order to get the message across and ii) key elements of project management: setting SMART goals, identifying strengths, weaknesses, threats and outlining opportunities (SWOT), identifying stakeholders (RACI matrix), planning a timeline (GANTT chart) with workpackages, tasks, interdependencies, milestones and deliverables and ultimately budgeting (forward and backward planning, accounting for staff, consumables, investments and overheads). After theoretical workup, participants will implement their knowledge into real-science interdisciplinary projects they develop. At the end of the workshop, the participants will dispose of a personal toolbox that will allow them to communicate efficiently as scientists and write successful grants, skills that are key to success! Participants will experience interactive lectures, and perform activities followed by moderated group discussions in order to learn from first-hand experience. We will safely move them outside of their “comfort zone” to the “learning zone” (Gerald Hüther) to enhance acquisition of novel skills. Participants will learn by supervised “trial-and-error”. The shortcoming experienced by participants is subsequently resolved in carefully moderated and focused review sessions, using peer-to-peer feedback as powerful tool.


Please email imprs-bac@molgen.mpg.de to register for this course.


Writing good proposals is a critical skill for successful scientists. The goal of a proposal is to gain support for your research by informing the appropriate people. Your ideas or suggestions are more likely to be approved if you can communicate them in a clear, concise, engaging manner and by showing you will be capable of managing the project. Knowing how to write a persuasive, captivating proposal is essential for success.


1. “Four Laws of Communication”: Adapt to the audience – Maximize signal-to-noise ratio – Use effective redundancy on multiple channels – Tell a story.
2. Pitch your key message – An informative and memorable project title is the summary of the proposal. It should open a drawer in the reader’s mind.
3. Stay focused – Be clear, be organized, be easy to understand. Research plans should be ambitious, coherent, and focused.
4. Consider risks carefully – your proposal can be 1/3 solid, 1/3 challenging and 1/3 high-risk high-gain approach. Generate reasonable contingency plans.
5. Plan collaborations in your grants cleverly and strategically. Nurture these collaborations to render scientific projects and relationships successful and sustainable. Install trustful relationships.
6. Show that you can manage your projects – Use professional project and time management tools, e.g. PISPAR, SWOT analyses, GANTT charts, etc., to generate your proposal.
7. Partner with a funding agency – Select an appropriate funding agency, get to know its vision and make personal contacts within the agency. Check carefully guidelines of the funding organizations (DFG, BMBF, EU, ...) about template, format, ethics, financials, deadlines etc. and call them.
8. Administration is your friend – Ask for support from the funding office at your institution. Try to establish a personal relationship to administrative staff. You will need them to successfully acquire and run the project!
9. Get feedback – Ask colleague(s), mentor(s), student(s) to read your application for constructive feedback.
10. Get funded.


Program

21.09.2022 Morning: Fundamentals of Getting Information Across

09:00 10:30 Introduction incl. Memory survey of what participants want, 4 laws of communication, ABT, Pitching

10:30 10:50 Coffee break

10:50 12:00 Change in perspective, Worst figure, Bulletproof figure


21.09.2022 Afternoon: Turning the story into a project

13:00 14:30 Reinitiation, Introduction, Graphical abstracts, Drawing graphical, Pitching graphical

14:30 14:50 Coffee break

14:50 16:30 Project management I, Scientific collaboration, Stakeholders, Wrap-up


22.09.2022 Project Management and "Use it or lose it": Putting it into practice

09:00 10:30 Project management 2, Use it or lose it break

10:30 10:50 Coffee break

10:50 12:30 Peer to peer feedback, Q&A round, Last scientist standing, Back 2 back kinesthetic evaluation, Feedback, Goodbye, Individual Q&A



Before signing up for this workshop, please make sure that you can attend all the dates and write them in your calendar. If you do not show up or cancel at very short notice, other interested students will not be able to participate.

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