At the start of the year, we launched our “fresh look” grant editing service. We have already started working with many of you and look forward to learning the outcome of your proposals later in the year. Meanwhile, IEL’s Director and senior editor Dr. Neil McCarthy has put together a three-part blog on “How to write winning grant applications”.
About Neil
Before finding out what Neil has to say in the final part of his blog, let’s find out why he is ideally placed to provide IEL clients with some useful hints and tips on successful grant writing!
Many of you will know Neil as a senior editor with Insight Editing London (IEL), but he is also a Lecturer in Immunology / MRC Career Development Fellow in the Faculty of Medicine at Queen Mary University of London. Neil is Research Lead in The Blizard Institute’s Centre for Immunobiology, as well as Infection and Inflammation Lead in the cross-faculty Centre for Predictive in vitro Models. He has secured more than £1M in personal research funding to date, including research council grants, via charitable sources, and through various commercial projects. Let’s hear what Neil has to say, in part 3 of his blog, “Fellowships: Person – Project – Place“.
Fellowships: Person – Project – Place
In the case of fellowships (UK), there is a heavy focus on the individual candidate applying in addition to the standard elements of a conventional project grant. When looking at track record, will the reviewer be convinced that this is the ideal person to deliver a given piece of research? Is the project itself important to conduct, and will this be done in the ideal place to achieve the study goals. Ideally, the experiments will appear exciting and necessary, but difficult to imagine how these could be delivered except by funding this specific individual and their current application. Given the major emphasis on a particular candidate and their expertise, it is often useful to explain how any new skills needed to deliver the project will be obtained by training at second institute. This helps demonstrate that the applicant themselves will also develop and progress alongside their study. As with all project grants, it is vital to convince reviewers that you will be using the best possible techniques to address an important biomedical question. Will the relevant field have moved forward significantly upon completion of this study? Will the funded individual then be in a position to ultimately become a world leader in their field? How likely are the data generated to lead to new technologies / therapies / knowledge in critical areas? These questions are not easily addressed and it will take time to construct a compelling case to tackle each. Which brings us back to the golden rule, that you should always START EARLY!
If you would like to get in touch with Neil to discuss your grant writing projects, please email (early!): neil@insighteditinglondon.com