Why I’m running a grant writing course
And how learning how to write successful proposals for BIG FAT GRANTS changed my life
Goooooooooooood morning, afternoon, or evening, wherever you might happen to be!
This is a Monday morning *BONUS* post because it’s a special occasion: I’m running a 4-week course on ‘The Fundamentals of Academic Grant Writing’ starting next Thursday! Participants will get:
two dozen examples of successful proposals of all kinds to browse through
concrete tips and prompts to help develop/revise their grant proposals
a free one-year paid subscription to Page by Page (woohoo!)
and—for those who sign up before 8 November—the chance to get one-on-one feedback on grant proposals at no extra charge!
I wanted to take this opportunity to explain why I’m running the course in the first place. The short answer is that I wish I could’ve taken a course like this years ago.
A life-changing opportunity
Ten years ago, I was coming to the end of my early-career-researcher period. I had published a monograph and a couple of edited volumes, and I had a lot of teaching experience. I’d even gotten a grant from my university that gave me teaching relief for a semester—the biggest grant I’d ever gotten, but nothing huge.
My fixed-term teaching contract was coming to an end, and none of my job applications had been successful. I was staring unemployment in the face. So I thought, What the hell, why not go for something big?
The big something: a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellowship at the University of Oxford, which has fabulous manuscripts and equally fabulous medievalists (my kind of place). There was just one small detail: it would be a six-figure grant. A BIG FAT GRANT. And definitely the biggest pot of money I had ever applied for.
What did an application like that even look like??
Learning a new genre
I contacted a friend of mine who had been fortunate enough to get a Marie Curie fellowship a couple of years earlier. Reading her proposal was a revelation.
I’d never seen such a detailed research plan. It included tons of specifics about the resources she would use, her methodology, her planned outputs, her plans for public impact, and even her contingency plans in case something should go wrong. She had planned out 3 years of research down to the month. The overall impression was that this was a super-ambitious project that was also totally feasible.
Oxford’s Faculty of English requires people who want to hold such research fellowships to submit a preliminary, ‘internal’ application, which is assessed by the entire faculty before it’s approved (or not) and the actual application can go ahead. That meant I had to get a head start on drafting my proposal well before the European Commission’s deadline.
Remembering my friend’s detailed proposal, I put together a first draft using a similar structure and style. Because Oxford is such a research machine, I was also connected with someone in charge of helping Marie Curie fellowship candidates draft their proposals. Her name was Kate. And WOW did I learn a lot from her, too (thank you, Kate!!!).
Kate had an uncanny ability to zero in on a proposal’s strengths and weaknesses. With her guidance, I learned how to write about my methodology with precision, and to state my aims and objectives clearly. I learned how to create something called a ‘Gantt chart’ (ugh) to map out my timeline and project milestones in a logical and feasible-looking way. Most importantly, I learned how to communicate what every single funding committee and reviewer looks for in a proposal: scientific importance, feasibility, style, and how the proposed project fits into ‘the bigger picture’.
Not only did my grant proposal get me that fellowship, but the skills I acquired while writing it came in handy the following year, when I decided to go for something even BIGGER: a seven-figure grant in Switzerland that was equivalent to $2.3M. I still remember the day I learned I had won that grant (the first time anyone working in English literature had won a grant like that in Switzerland!)—I ran out of the Bodleian as fast as I could to call my husband!
Living the freelance academic dream
Three years ago, I wrote about how I think of myself as a freelancer in academia. I’ve managed to be very successful at hopping from one opportunity to the next. And learning how to write strong grant applications has enabled me to live what I can only describe as the freelance academic dream.
It’s taken a lot of time and experience to get here. Before I applied for those two massive grants, I applied for dozens of other, smaller pots of funding, which is how I discovered what I call the ‘10% rule of funding applications’ (that is, the fact that it’s perfectly possible to win a bigger grant than you’ve ever won before if you’ve already won a grant whose value is at least 10% of the value of the grant for which you’re applying). That enabled me to work my way up from book-buying grants of £100 to a seven-figure fellowship.
Because of two massive grants, I was able to:
pursue my dream project, on a topic I still can’t believe I persuaded Switzerland to fund
research and write full-time (with a little teaching and admin on the side)
hire two postdocs and a doctoral student
be my own boss
publish my very first book for the general public
continue to work with fabulous academic colleagues around the world
And I’ve gotten to do all that for nearly EIGHT YEARS. It’s been utter bliss, and it’s opened up so many unexpected doors, both for me and for the people on my team.
I’m teaching others how to do the same thing
If you want to learn about grant writing from me, I’m launching the first of what I hope will be many online workshops on ‘The Fundamentals of Academic Grant Writing’. This is for you if:
You’re an ECR who wants to apply for your first big research grant so you can start to raise your profile within your field
You’re someone whose teaching/admin commitments don’t leave you with much time for research, and you want to change that
You’re precariously employed in academia and want to explore grant writing as a way to stay in the game.
Here’s some of the feedback I’ve gotten from people who’ve used my grant consulting services in the past:
‘Mary supported me through a grant application for the ERC, both the written proposal and preparation for the interview. Mary has an incredible insight into the way that grant applications work, and her feedback was always precise and actionable. I appreciated how much Mary was invested in the success of my project, and also the ways in which she tailored her advice to my field and to my personal strengths. I’m in no doubt that my application was a hundred times better because of Mary’s input. Thank you so much!‘
Z., Bern, Switzerland
‘Grant editing is a skill that’s overlooked and under-appreciated. The best grant writers are full of opinions and are talented writers. Mary is both. If you’re willing to engage with serious feedback, the quality of your work—from rough draft to final copy—will meaningfully improve.’
Research assistant, Johns Hopkins University
I’m only offering this course to a very small cohort this first time around (8 participants), and thanks to LinkedIn there are only a couple of spots left. Don’t wait to register.
I’m also offering an early bird bonus to those who register before 8 November: the chance to get one-on-one feedback from me on a grant proposal in progress! Register before then and it’s yours. (**Note: spots are only guaranteed once payment has been received.**)
Classes begin Thursday 13 November and run until 11 December (we don’t meet the week of Thanksgiving). We meet live over Zoom at 4-6pm CET / 3-5pm GMT / 10am-12pm EST / 7-9am PST. I also check in with workshop participants and other paid subscribers every Monday, when you can ask me questions about your project and join in the conversation.
Share this post with a colleague who told you they have no idea what you have to do to get your hands on research funding in this day and age!
As ever, thanks for reading. This is a reader-supported publication, and the best way to support it is to become a paid subscriber (either at $6 per month or $60 per year). Paid subscribers can access everything on the site, from the archives to the ‘Things That Worked’ sample materials.
If you’re really feeling generous, and you’d like access to everything above and regular feedback on your own writing whenever you need it, you can become a Founding Member ($150).
VB,
M
This is very generous of you, thanks