The ability to write successful research grants is now more important than ever, as university budgets are shrinking and external funding sources are becoming more and more competitive. Therefore, graduate students and postdoctoral fellows and scientists should gain experience in this critical skill of successful grant writing early in their careers by applying for extramural funding, especially individual fellowships.  Yet, grant writing is not necessarily a skill that is easy to learn without guidance and advice from those who have successfully applied for these type of grants. In fact, grant writing can be more difficult than the actual research proposed.

Join Science Alliance for “Grantsmanship for Graduate Students and Postdocs” to learn the skills for concise and persuasive writing that is not only vital in academia, but essential for any career path. During this evening seminar given by Dr. Jaime Rubin and follow up by a panel with recipients of these fellowships, we will focus on best practices for effective grant writing, specifically applied to individual pre-doctoral and post-doctoral fellowship applications in the biomedical fields.

“Hearing about how the various documents involved in a grant application can help or hurt the chance of being funded was helpful.”

-Participant

During this seminar you will learn about:

• Types of funding agencies (government and private)
• Types of private agencies (e.g. voluntary health organizations, professional societies, private foundations)
• Review criteria for fellowship applications
• Key components of fellowship applications
• Strategic approaches for competitive applications
• Common but overlooked mistakes made by new investigators
• Tips to increase your chances for success

Following the seminar, we will have a panel discussion with graduate students and postdocs who have successfully applied for various types of individual fellowships.