* Chicago College of Pharmacy, Midwestern University, Downers Grove, IL, USA.
Introduction
The ability to obtain extramural funding is a critical part in developing a successful research programme and a career in science. Grant writing is about raising money to bring your research ideas to success. It is an extremely competitive process because funds are usually limited. Securing funding has been compared to winning a lottery.1 Purchasing a lottery ticket requires less time and effort than preparing a grant proposal. However, the chances of success in both cases are slim.2 Competition for funding is intense; however, the rewards are great because it increases the researcher’s credibility and helps in accomplishing researcher’s plans and goals.3 Good ideas alone are not enough and funding applications increasingly require determination, organisation and clear strategies to succeed.4 Primary sources of funds include support within the institution, governmental agencies, private foundations and industrial support for research. There are few who are fortunate enough to conduct research that has commercial relevance and such scientists may be able to support their research from royalties from their inventions.
Young and aspiring researchers often have to learn ‘grantsmanship’ through trial and error and through good mentoring. Writing in a manner that is easy-to-read and effectively communicate your ideas is a skill which takes years of experience before it becomes a habit. Formal grant writing is, by and large, a part of the mentoring process between supervisors and trainees. However, many senior researchers do not involve junior colleagues in grant writing. On the other hand, several graduate programmes require students to write at least one grant application as part of their course curriculum. Likewise, several institutions through grant writing seminars and workshop try to prepare young investigators to teach on the fundamentals of grant writing and grantsmanship. Irrespective of the method, whether it is learning from a mentor, or taking a formal course, or educating oneself through materials supplied by the funding agencies, it is important to start the process early in one’s career and not wait for a postdoctoral or faculty position to begin learning how to secure funding. Some important and common elements of a grant proposal are described in the following few paragraphs.
Elements of a Grant Proposal
Specific Aims
The following information should be provided in the Specific Aims section of the proposal:
1. Opening statement
2. Current state of knowledge
3. Gaps in knowledge and importance/relevance of those gaps
4. Overall and long-term goals
5. Objectives
6. Hypothesis
7. Rationale and evidence to support hypothesis
8. Aims
9. Investigator and environment
10. Outcomes and expectations
11. Innovation
12. Importance
The following should be kept in mind while writing this section:
1. This is the most important section in the grant proposal and one should spend as much time as possible and exercise utmost diligence and patience in writing this section.
2. This section should stand on its own and have sufficient information to give a good level of understanding of the entire project.
3. Each statement should be logically related to the next statement and should flawlessly lead to the next statement.
4. The section should contain all the elements described above and convey the message that the proposed work will extend vertical advancement of our knowledge in a very specific field.
5. Provide details of the importance of the field you are investigating in terms of its significance to mankind and the society.
Significance and Background
The following should be kept in mind while writing this section:
1. Start this section with statements of significance because it would provide a seamless flow to the background section from specific aims section which ended with the importance of work.
2. Provide references after each statement to substantiate your claims. Use current rather than the old references. Preferably cite references by the name of the author followed by the year (e.g. Jones et al., 2009) and arrange the reference list alphabetically. Do not cite debatable, controversial or review articles as references. Try to cite references from established, high impact factor journals.
3. The importance of the area being investigated should be highlighted in terms of its medical and clinical significance. For example, provide statistics on the number of individuals affected by the disease, morbidity or mortality, cost of care, lack of diagnostic, prognostic markers or treatment for the disease.
4. Highlight how the outcome of your research will impact fields other than your area of interest.
Preliminary and Pertinent Findings/Progress Report
The following should be kept in mind while writing this section:
1. Present data in a logical order divided into sections that are compelling and persuasive enough to support the proposed hypothesis.
2. Provide all the relevant information indicating that you will be able to carry out the technical work outlined in the proposed grant. The message should be clear that all the requirements are adequately presented to successfully accomplish the goals of the proposal.
3. Provide data or information that you are uniquely qualified to carry out the work.
4. Present the findings in the form of tables, figures and diagrams. For each of the illustrations, provide a title and a legend that describes how the data were generated.
5. At the end of each section, present the conclusions that have been drawn from the available studies.
Research Design and Methods
The following should be kept in mind while writing this section:
1. For each specific aim start writing a conceptual framework that will enable you to successfully accomplish the goals of that specific aim. Then, write details of the experimental design and how the experiments will be conducted. Next, present the expected findings for the proposed series of experiments. Describe all the foreseeable problems and pitfalls that may emerge while conducting the experiments. Also, describe the solutions and alternative strategies for addressing those problems.
2. Repeat the same for each one of the listed specific aims.
3. At the end, provide the future directions that would allow you to crystallise your long-term goal.
4. A timetable should be provided with an estimated time for completion of the experiments described under each specific aims.
Each of the specific aims of the grant proposal typically contains the following elements:
1. Title of the first specific aim as it appears in Section A
Only gold members can continue reading. Log In or Register to continue
