FWO Postdoc Grant Writing

Cluster

Career management

Target group

Members of the Doctoral School and Ghent University postdoctoral researchers, who are applying for an FWO Postdoc Fellowship (junior or senior) in December 2024.

We strongly encourage that you only apply for this course if you intend to submit an FWO application. Given the limited number of spaces, we may need to reject enrolment applications from PhD candidates who are not preparing FWO applications should that be necessary to guarantee places for those who are.

Objective

To support FWO Postdoc applicants with writing a grant proposal.    

Topic

Grant reviewers often say that many excellent projects do not get funded because the idea was not communicated clearly enough. Strong science is not enough for writing a successful proposal: to get funded, you also need excellent persuasion skills. So how do you make sure the advantages of your work are understood and appreciated?

In this workshop, you will learn how to:

1. Interpret correctly the FWO application form and scoring grid in order to respond accurately to the expectations for a competitive research grant.
2. Use strong structure in the key proposal sections: State of the Art, Objectives, and Methodology & Work Plan.
3. Provide clear, convincing answers to the key evaluation criteria of originality, high-risk, methodological ambition, and project impact.
4. Present persuasively your academic record, and convey a strong message about your growing maturity and research independence.

Programme

Live meeting 1: 4 hours with two 5-min breaks

• Session 1: Analysis of the funding vision and evaluation criteria encoded in the FWO application format, with a broader discussion of persuasion strategies in a funding application at the junior career stage.
• Session 2: Structure in the 10-page FWO project outline, with focus on the main proposal sections: Rationale in state of the Art, Objectives, and Methodology/Work Plan.

Live meeting 1: 4 hours with two 5-min breaks

• Session 3: The Work Plan: conveying project management and career development plans via tools such as dissemination, milestones, the timeline chart, and mobility / networking arrangements.
• Session 4: The candidate’s profile: CV proposal sections and motivation statement.

All sessions include the following pedagogic components: lecture time, Q&A, analysis examples based on funded proposals shared online as open access.

Final consultation meeting (optional)

Two-hour online meeting in which final questions can be asked. The meeting is optional and there is no need to register.  

Time schedule

Registration procedure

Follow this link for the registration and waiting list.

Registration fee

Free of charge for members of Doctoral School and UGent postdoctoral researchers.

The no-show policy applies.

Lecturer

Julia Staykova-McKinnon, PhD (Scriptorium)

Format

The workshop includes two live meetings supported by a set of lectures for self-study in podcast format. Each live meeting includes lecture time, space for discussion, and analysis of examples from publicly available funded grants.

Teaching method and materials

Zoom for live meetings, Scriptorium website for podcast lectures. The podcasts are accessible from the workshop dates until the FWO deadline in December. 

Language

English

Number of participants

Maximum 25 participants per course

Evaluation criteria

Participation in all sessions (including self-study through podcasts).

After successful participation, the Doctoral School will add this course to your curriculum of the Doctoral Training Programme in Oasis. Please note that this takes up to one to two months after completion of the course.