Playing ‘Fantasy Grant Applicant’

Distilling tips and tricks from Funding Insight to become a virtual grantsmanship champion

My scientific career extends to nine months of intensive pipetting in a research lab 20 years ago. I have never written a grant application in my life. But I reckon that if a novel testable hypothesis fell out of a tree and into my waiting arms I could decant it into a bid that would knock the socks off the folks at Wellcome, UK Research and Innovation, or any other funder you care to mention.

My confidence stems from the fact that I have been assistant editor for Funding Insight for the last four years. I have read more accounts of what worked and what didn’t in grants, more exhortations from funders of what they are looking for in bids and more tips from seasoned research office pros on good grantsmanship than maybe anybody else in the UK.