Cash for Questions: Research funding, policy and development

I’m going for a very long walk, please sponsor me…

TLDR: I’m going on a very long walk through the Peak District – 100k over two days. About 62 miles, so well over a marathon a day. I’m raising money for Move Against Cancer. You can sponsor me here.

From 2021. Hoping for better weather for this year’s event.

It’s Tuesday, May 28th, 2024. I’m sat in the Elizabeth Suite in Nottingham City Hospital, waiting for an appointment with my oncologist. Because, as I was told the week before, the cancer is back. I don’t want to overstate the issue. It’s testicular cancer, which is among the most treatable, and of the types of testicular cancer, the one I have is the least serious. Also, because I was still being monitored, it was caught early.

Reflections on university research strategy

Science Advisor, Civilization II (Meier, 1996). If you know, you know.

Below are both parts of a short series of articles I wrote for Research Professional back in May 2025.

The first is ‘Research strategy: what the strategists get wrong’. It’s a summary of everything I’d liked to have been able to successfully articulate in response to research strategy consultations, often led by people whose understanding of strategy and planning far exceeds their knowledge of research.

The second has the subtitle “Asking the right questions” and is a more positive look at what questions strategists should be asking when considering a new research strategy.

Combining the two into a single article does make it a longer read. But the two are companion pieces and are best read together, rather than published a few weeks apart as originally.

The hard sell is hard

[A version of this article first appeared in Funding Insight in January 2023 and is reproduced with kind permission of Research Professional͘. For more articles like this, visit https://www.researchprofessionalnews.com ]

Tips on overcoming modesty to present your achievements in the best light

Bob Odenkirk as Saul Goodman in Gilligan and Gould’s ‘Better Call Saul’ (2015) and Gilligan’s ‘Breaking Bad’ (2008)

Talking ourselves up or self-promoting is difficult for most people. But there are ways to make it a little bit easier and do it a little bit better without nearly cringing to death. Some involve writing techniques (of which more later) but others involve ways of thinking that may give you permission to write about yourself.

Getting better feedback on your research grant proposals

A version of this article first appeared in Funding Insight in December 2021 and is reproduced with kind permission of Research Professional. For more articles like this, visit www.researchprofessional.com

How to nudge your draft-bid reviewers to deliver their sharpest insights

A picture of Edmund Blackadder with a caption asking if he can change one tiny aspect of the document he is erading — Rowan Atkinson as Edmund Blackadder, in Blackadder the Third. The one tiny aspect of the document that he wants to change is ‘the words’.

Have you ever asked a colleague for feedback on a draft grant proposal and been told: “looks fine to me, but it’s not really my area”? Not particularly helpful, is it? Well, in this article I’m going to help you avoid ever hearing those words again, by detailing how you can raise your chances of getting better feedback on draft bids. (Next week, I’ll try and help you avoid ever uttering those words again with some tips on giving good feedback.)

A peek inside a research funding panel

Understanding how funding panels usually work can help you write a more competitive application, says Adam Forristal Golberg.

A version of this article first appeared in Funding Insight in November 2021 and is reproduced with kind permission of Research Professional. For more articles like this, visit www.researchprofessional.com

When it comes to research funding, I’ve been poacher and gamekeeper. I’m a research development manager, but I’ve also served two terms as a public member of a research funding panel, and I still review the odd proposal. I’m going to draw upon that experience to try to explain how funding panels tend to work. They obviously vary depending on funder and scheme. So treat this article as based on a true story, but with certain scenes invented for dramatic purposes.