Today, I took a little vacation
away from my desk and went along to a grant-writing workshop which had been brought
to my attention by my local UCU branch. Even though I’m still just a lowly 2nd
year PhD student, I figured that this kind of training would be useful for any
applications for travel grants I might write over the next 18 months and for
any future projects further down the line.
Plus, there’s never really a
bad time to learn something new, and I guess this kind of workshop qualifies as
useful #phdprocrastination.
The workshop was run by Andrew
Derrington, who has used his experience both in academia and on research grant
committees to put together some useful formulae and tips for writing clear,
well-structured, and easily accessible research grants. The
day began with an outline and explanation of the various steps to writing an acceptable
grant application, which was then followed (after lunch!) by a session which
encouraged us to write some of the key sentences and project aims which had
been outlined in the first session. Andrew encouraged discussion and
interruption throughout the day, which certainly helped me understand some of
the nuances of the ‘magic formula’ being described, and made the sessions feel
more interactive and engaging.
I took three main things away
from this workshop:
1) I
actually learned how research grants work:
I found it interesting to hear
from people in so many different fields and learn about the diverse projects
they were planning on undertaking and how they had approached the issue of
funding in the past. As someone who hasn’t
actually started their academic career and who has limited experience in this
department, hearing these stories, alongside Andrew’s own accounts of the
workings of research councils and the decision processes surrounding grant
applications definitely helped answer many of the questions I’d had about the
whole matter.
2) It’s
ok to think big:
As I’ve probably already
mentioned on this blog, as a Classicist, I’m often asked how/why my research
matters to anyone else, and how my work can have any relevance to the rest of
society. During this workshop, I
discovered that I was not alone! During the writing session in the afternoon,
Andrew encouraged us to consider the biggest possible picture for what our
proposed project hoped to achieve, forcing us to look beyond disciplinary
boundaries and the limits of our own immediate research, to think in broad,
overarching terms which would engage and intrigue a non-specialist reader.
3) It’s
all about technique:
So, I used to hate it whenever people
told me to ‘just make your writing clear’, or ‘writing successful pieces is all
about technique’, without actually
specifying what is meant by ‘clear’ or ‘technique’. Andrew showed us how (and
also explained why!) grant writing requires a different approach and style to
the academic writing we do in our day-to-day lives. During my PhD, I’ve been eager to pick up new
skills wherever possible, be that training in research methods, foreign languages,
or presenting, so I’m excited to try and develop the writing styles which were
discussed in today’s session.
Overall, I found this workshop
really helpful. ‘Helpful’ (or indeed the three points above) doesn’t really
cover what I’m taking away from today. This
was one of the few occasions where funding has been discussed without an introductory
spiel about how you will never be successful in getting funding/any kind of
position and you should ‘keep your options open’ and ‘think about other things’. This isn’t to say that I was given any kind
of false hope today. I know that applying for funding is incredibly competitive. I know it's hard. I know the odds aren't really in your favour.
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But I came to learn
more about research funding, writing grants, and the grant application and
selection process, and that I did. I left feeling inspired, rather than deflated. Even though I was probably by far the most
junior (and clueless) attendee, my questions and concerns were welcomed and answered, and I am
much clearer on the grant process than I was yesterday. And finally, the way
Andrew encouraged us to think about projects for which we might apply for
research grants was handy for thinking about how to break down a large task
into smaller goals. I really wish that I’d
attended a session like this before applying for my PhD! I’m not going to be
applying for any grants any time soon, but I am going to go back over my PhD outline with Andrew’s advice in
mind and do some reshuffling of my research goals to help better visualise its progress
and development.
I really cannot recommend this
workshop enough. If you get the chance to attend another one of Andrew
Derrington’s workshops, or want to check out some of the great tips and
resources he has to offer, head to his website to find out more: www.parkerderrington.com
E over & out
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