Category Archives: Application advice

Book review: The Research Funding Toolkit (Part 1)

Posted on September 10, 2012 by Adam

The existence of a market for The Research Funding Toolkit, by Jacqueline Aldridge and Andrew Derrington, is yet more evidence of how difficult it is to get research funding in the current climate.  Although the primary target audience is an … Continue reading →

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News from the ESRC: International co-investigators and the Future Leaders Scheme

Posted on July 24, 2012 by Adam

I’m still behind on my blogging – I owe the internet the second part of the impact series, and a book review I really must get round to writing.  But I picked up an interesting nugget of information regarding the … Continue reading →

Posted in Application advice, Career Young Researchers, ESRC, Funding, Funding Policy, Research Costs, University culture | 1 Comment

Responding to Referees

Posted on March 20, 2012 by Adam

This post is co-authored by Adam Golberg of Cash for Questions (UK), and Jonathan O’Donnell and Tseen Khoo of The Research Whisperer (Australia). It arises out of a comment that Jonathan made about understanding and responding to referees on one … Continue reading →

Posted in Application advice, ESRC, Frustrations, Funding, Funding Policy, University culture | 1 Comment

Coping with rejection: What to do if your grant application is unsuccessful. Part 2: Next Steps

Posted on February 28, 2012 by Adam

In the first part of this series, I argued that it’s important not to misunderstand or misinterpret the reasons for a grant application being unsuccessful.  In the comments, Jo VanEvery shared a phrase that she’s heard from a senior figure … Continue reading →

Posted in Application advice, ESRC, Funding, Funding Policy, University culture | 5 Comments

Coping with rejection: What to do if your grant application is unsuccessful. Part 1: Understand what it means…. and what it doesn’t mean

Posted on January 15, 2012 by Adam

Some application and assessment processes are for limited goods, and some are for unlimited goods, and it’s important to understand the difference.  PhD vivas and driving tests are assessments for unlimited goods – there’s no limit on how many PhDs … Continue reading →

Posted in Application advice, Career Young Researchers, ESRC, Funding, Funding Policy | 11 Comments

Outstanding researcher or Oustanding grant writer?

Posted on December 5, 2011 by Adam

The Times Higher has a report on Sir Paul Nurse‘s ‘Anniversary Day’ address to the Royal Society.  Although the Royal Society is a learned society in the natural rather than the social sciences, he makes an interesting distinction that seems … Continue reading →

Posted in Application advice, Frustrations, Funding, Funding Policy, Research Costs, Research Impact, University culture | 2 Comments

Estimating Investigator and Researcher Time on a Project

Posted on November 13, 2011 by Adam

Prompted in part by an interesting discussion of the importance of the budget in establishing the overall credibility and shape of a research proposal at the ever-excellent Research Whisperer, I thought I’d put fingers-to-keyboard on the vexed issue of estimating … Continue reading →

Posted in Application advice, Career Young Researchers, Funding, Research Costs, University culture | 4 Comments

ESRC Demand Management Part 5: And the winner is…. researcher sanctions!

Posted on October 25, 2011 by Adam

The ESRC today revealed the outcome of the ‘Demand Management’ consultation, with the consultation exercise showing a strong preference for researcher sanctions rather than the other main options, which were institutional sanctions, institutional quotas, or charging for applications.  And therefore…. … Continue reading →

Posted in Application advice, ESRC, Funding, Funding Policy, University culture | 1 Comment

A visit from the British Academy….

Posted on October 18, 2011 by Adam

Ken Emond, Head of Research Awards of the British Academy, came to visit the University of Nottingham the other week to talk about the various and nefarious research funding schemes that are on offer from the British Academy.  To make … Continue reading →

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From Research Whisperer: Research Grant Applications 101

Posted on July 27, 2011 by Adam

Just a quick post to highlight an excellent article by Tseen Khoo over at Research Whisperer containing some invaluable advice for anyone applying for research funding.  Although it’s written in the context of the Australian funding environment, it’s all highly … Continue reading →

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