Connect:

Politicians say NIH funding is “perfectly adequate”. Bullsh*t.

March 9, 2012

The message below was forwarded to me by a colleague about the dire funding situation, and in particular, about the lack of understanding that the present Whitehouse/administration/congress has of its effects.  These colleagues have started an official petition via the “We the people” site (sponsored by the Whitehouse), and if this petition gets enough digital signatories, there will be an automatic trigger for the executive branch to consider and respond to this issue “officially.” 

So, if you’re at all concerned about ...(read more)

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Is Science a Hobby?

February 28, 2012

One of the most difficult jobs I have in teaching people how to write better grants boils down to convincing them of one simple thing:

A grant is not about promoting or pursuing your own interests, it is about promoting and pursuing your funders and reviewers’ interests.

If you are so lucky as to be at a place where you can find the juncture between your interests and reviewer/funder interests, then you’re in the sweet spot.  But most people aren’t.

I have worked ...(read more)

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How could she get THAT proposal funded?!?

February 23, 2012

I get great questions from webinars and emails that give me a chance to illustrate important points about grant writing (I’ve got a webinar happening this Saturday, sign up here).  I just got an email question that brought up an important issue:

Recently, I read a proposal written by a tenured faculty member who recently got her R01 funded. She has a record of getting grants, so, I expected to have my socks blown off by her proposal…. The proposal wasn’t ...(read more)

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Science for the sake of it, or science for dollars (euros)?

January 31, 2012

After a recent web seminar I hosted to help people write grants that are more likely to get funded, I got a note from a writer overseas that raised an interesting point about “fundability” and the progress of science (we’ll call him A to preserve anonymity).

He wrote:

THe major point I am raising though refers to the type of science. IN the western society model, incorporating science as one among other activities, the spiral has been closing down and down on ...(read more)
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Crafting your NIH biosketch “personal narrative”

January 16, 2012

On a recent webinar about State of Grants in 2012, I mentioned that the personal statement part of the NIH biosketch is a great opportunity to additionally “market” your project. In my experience, most people waste this opportunity by listing a very bland and generic statement.

The most common (ineffective) approach I’ve seen seems to be to just recapitulate the publications and achievements in a narrative format. But that’s not adding any new information, it’s just repeating what’s already ...(read more)

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