Educators:
Olaf Wolkenhauer (RBC / de.stairs)

Date:
16th March 2020, 10:00 – 12:30

Location:
Online

Contents:
In this seminar I would like to share my experience as an applicant and reviewer for proposals submitted for DFG, BMBF and EU funding. Why? (i) Because I find it difficult to write successful proposals. (ii) Because, as a young scientist I would have liked to receive help for this important part of being a scientist and (iii) because I was elected to a DFG Review panel, by my community, and this is an opportunity to reward that trust.

My experience is of course limited, and the advice will not be universally valid. However, I do hope to provide inspiration and motivation for your own grant proposal. Given that my own research is focused in the areas of bioinformatics, systems biology/medicine, the seminar should be of interest for colleagues working on interdisciplinary research in the life sciences.

Ideally, the seminar is a conversation and discussion, with lots of questions being asked by the participants. During the seminar, we shall identify general pattern in successful grant proposals, which also apply to other forms of communication, say in publications, conference posters, or websites. The goal is to provide practical advice for your next application for a research grant.

Learning goals:
- Motivation and mindset (grantmanship)
- Differences between BMBF and DFG proposals.
- Analysing calls
- Identifying a suitable DFG programme/panel
- Drafting/outlining the proposal
- Length and effort
- Dividing the proposal into sections
- Identifying a research gap
- Designing work packages
- Creating visual representations
- Describing the state of the art and own preliminary work
- Things to watch out for and common mistakes
- Additional documents and their role in the evaluation
- Submission and rebuttals
- Practical advice for summarising and communicating your research

Prerequisites:
The seminar is targeted at postdocs and junior group leaders. PhD students in their final year may benefit if they are in the process of writing a proposal at the time of this seminar.

Keywords:
Grantmanship, Grant proposals