Applying for grants is an important part of conducting research. Many research projects would be stopped dead in their tracks if they failed to secure funding. And while researchers have a thorough knowledge of their discipline, the question is: how skilled are they at successfully navigating the grant application process? Is it something they can do on their own or does writing a grant proposal take a village? In this article, Ginie Servant-Miklos and Welmoed van Deen share their experiences with grant proposals and offer some pointers on how to navigate the application process.
Virginie (Ginie) Servant-Miklos is a Senior Lecturer in the Humanities Department of Erasmus University College in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Her research focuses on the intersection between pedagogy, identity and sustainability issues. She currently holds a grant for an education action research early outreach project from the Erasmus Trust Fund.
Welmoed van Deen is an Assistant Professor at the Erasmus School for Health, Policy and Management. She uses real-world evidence to evaluate the effectiveness of care-delivery processes and uses concepts of behavioural psychology to understand how to change these processes in a patient-centred way. She is Deputy Director of the IBD Qorus Learning Health System in the US.
Don’t underestimate the process
Applying for a grant can be complicated and challenging. Indeed, Servant-Miklos has described writing an application as an Olympic sport. ‘It’s something we’re expected to do on top of our regular duties,’ she explains. ‘But it’s so time-consuming. If you’re serious about applying for a grant, then you had better clear your schedule for two weeks before the deadline, because it’s full-time work. And the grant organisations aren’t generally flexible, nor are they very helpful when you need assistance or information.’
So that begs the question, is writing a grant proposal something a researcher can do on their own, or does it take a village? ‘That depends,’ Van Deen says. ‘Generally speaking, you could say it does take a village because you can always benefit from other people’s expertise. On the other hand, with personal grants, a lot of the work falls into your hands anyway, as the PI of the grant. For collaborative grants, you do need more people to be involved. Then people management becomes an important issue. I can definitely relate to the Olympic sports analogy. Writing grant applications is a ton of work.’
'I can definitely relate to the Olympic sports analogy. Writing grant applications is a ton of work.’
Welmoed van Deen
How training and grant advisors can help
Both Servant-Miklos and Van Deen are seasoned grant applicants, and both have gotten mileage out of different kinds of support, whether during training prior to an application or from grant advisors. Servant-Miklos received an Erasmus Trust Fund grant after completing her post-doc, which will end in June. She used the money to build a research consortium for an education action research project. And in 2021, she applied for two major grants: an NWO Veni grant and an NRO Comenius senior fellowship grant. She received training on the NWO VENI scheme designed and delivered by Tatiana Ivleva, a grant advisor from Erasmus Research Services (ERS), and grant advice from Adhemare de Rijk, a grant advisor working at Erasmus School of Economics (ESE) and Erasmus School of Philosophy (ESPHIL).
‘Most of the grants I’ve applied for involved at least two rounds,’ Servant-Miklos says. ‘With the Veni, for example, there’s a pre-selection round, and if you make it through that then you go through to the full proposal round. Based on that, they send you comments and then you have to write a rebuttal. I’m still going through the process with the Comenius senior fellowship. I should hear about the outcome in the near future.’
Servant-Miklos explains why support is so important. ‘The first time I tried for the Veni, I did it on my own with no help, and I didn’t make it through the pre-selection round. The next time around, I signed up for the ERS training by Tatiana, and then I got support from Adhemare. And that made a world of difference.’ That extra support got her through the pre-selection round, after which she submitted a full proposal. ‘I was at the rebuttal stage and was invited for the interviews, but I dropped out for health reasons. But it was thanks to the excellent funding advice and training that I made it that far.’
Grant advisors can provide different kinds of support. To start with, advisors can steer applicants in the right direction to make sure they apply for grants that best suit their needs. For non-Dutch applicants, advisors can provide the right forms in English. And they read through the applications to make sure they don’t contain jargon and are written in plain, clear language.
Van Deen went to a training session organised by ERS for a European Research Council (ERC) Grant that she wants to apply for in January 2023. ‘I spent most of my professional career in the United States and applied for grants there,’ she says. ‘So I’m not familiar with how things work here yet – the fact that there may be three rounds, for example. The ERC training was extremely helpful because Tatiana talked me through the process and advised me what to focus on. How to read the request for the proposal and announcement effectively, for example. The training helped me to really understand what to look for and what is expected from an applicant. The grant advisors are people who have been in the system, know the grants inside out and know what gets awarded and what doesn’t.’
In Servant-Miklos’ case, ERS hired professionals from the field of arts, John Rouvroye and Monique Colen from Vanafnul training, for the Veni training. ‘It was a couple who ran a workshop on how to craft a personal narrative. They talked to every single candidate, coaching them on how to present themselves and how to put a convincing story together. They talked us through everything, rephrasing parts that needed work. If I look back at my first draft of my personal narrative for the Veni, I clearly hadn’t understood what was expected.’ With the trainers’ help, however, Servant-Miklos’ personal profile got excellent reviews, for both the Veni and the Comenius grants. ‘In fact, there were no negative comments at all on my profile for the Comenius Grant.’
'The next time around, I signed up for the ERS training by Tatiana, and then I got support from Adhemare. And that made a world of difference.’
Ginie Servant-Miklos
Not all training is equal
According to these researchers, not all training programmes are equal, however, and therefore not all training outcomes are equal either. According to Servant-Miklos, it’s a shame that not everyone can take the Veni training. ‘My training for the Veni gave me the skills I needed to apply for the Comenius. But I also took the training organised by the NRO for the Comenius, and that wasn’t as useful or personalised as the ERS training. So I think these workshops could be held more frequently and be made available to anyone who wants to apply for any kind of grant.’
Van Deen also recommends the ERC training. ‘It was excellent, much better than any other grant training I took. It teaches you how to highlight the right things. You learn to convey clearly what you're going to do, why you're going to do it and what you're going to get from it. But a lot of it comes down to presentation, both how you present your research plan and how you present yourself. Also, make sure other people read your work, and present it over and over again until you’ve crafted an effective narrative. It’s really important to get that right, and good training will help.’
Do you wish to know more about the grant-specific workshops and training sessions? Then please visit the Funding Training Calendar for more information or to register for one of the upcoming workshops.
If you want to apply for a grant, please contact your grant advisor.