There is a huge misconception that most grant writers have. You may think you’re talking to another rational adult in your grant, but you’re not. You’re actually talking to the “lizard brain.” Misunderstanding this leads to rejections, miscommunications, and frustrations. Check out the video to see why that is and what to do.
If you want more help understanding the layers of the brain, and how to communicate to each one in your grant, register for the Grant Dynamo 2.0 course, ...(read more)
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free grantwriting advice,
grant writing,
nih grant writing tips,
NIH grants
Grants are now officially “hyper-competitive(TM).”
I’ve seen more than one great grant not quite make the cut, because there were even better grants in the pool for that round.
Dealing with this requires a shift in thinking. In the past I’ve focused exclusively on “quality” of proposal, but the reality is changing. You now need quality and quantity.
Don’t mistake me. Quantity and quality in grants are often opposed. If you go after too much quantity, your quality will suffer, ...(read more)
Tagged as:
grant writing tips,
grantwriting,
NIH grants,
nsf grants
For years I’ve been teaching that grants aren’t a lottery. I’ve been teaching that if you write a sufficiently good grant, you can skew the odds enough in your favor to have a good chance of success. I’ve taught that because I’ve seen some people use the “grants as a lottery” attitude as a motivator to write a whole bunch of not-well-planned grants, submitting them almost willy nilly to “improve the odds.” This clogs the system, and rarely ...(read more)
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grants,
grantwriting,
nih,
NIH grants,
science
Recently the NIH completely redefined the format requirements for research grants. There were many changes, but one that seems to create a big mess of confusion is the redefinition of the sections of the proposal.
The old NIH proposal format had these sections:
Specific Aims
Background & Significance
Preliminary Studies & Progress Report
Research Design and Methodology
The new NIH format has these sections:
Specific Aims
Significance
Innovation
Approach
In this blog series, I’m going to take you on a tour of the sections of the new NIH format, to explain ...(read more)
Tagged as:
grantsmanship,
grantwriting,
NIH grants
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)
Tagged as:
grant writing,
NIH grants,
science careers
