Grant Proposal Writing – How to Design and Communicate your Project Convincingly

Target group

Postdoctoral researchers in the natural and life sciences who have no or little experience in grant proposal writing; advanced postdocs who want to improve at writing grant proposals are also welcome. 

Content

Successful grant proposal writing is a fundamental basis to fund a career in research. In four morning-sessions from 9:00 am to 12:30 pm, you will work on you own ideas for a grant proposal and learn

1. how to develop your idea for a project into a sound work program,
2. how to match it with the requirements of the funding program, and
3. how to facilitate the communication with the reviewer by presenting your complex ideas in an easy-to-understand way.

Objectives

At the end of the workshop, the participants will have:

• an overview on funding possibilities and helpful sources of information
• a list of contact points, websites, and phone numbers, which provide support and detailed answers to questions
• a set of tools for efficiently developing research ideas into research projects and designing them for a funding program of interest
• commented examples on proposal building blocks
• concise building blocks for different parts of a proposal: work plan, Pert-diagram, objective, innovative aspects, and impact
  

Methods

Short theoretical inputs, group work, individual work, feedback on grant proposals

Technical and other requirements for a successful participation

Workshops in a virtual room have their own technical challenges. Before the first session, please make sure that you prepare

• an idea for a research project for which you have not written a grant proposal yet. If you do not have one you can work on your current research project
• a computer or laptop with a keyboard, a mouse (!), and one or two monitors (mobile phone is too small)
• a headset