#nih-grants — Public Fediverse posts

At NIH, a power struggle over institute directorships deepens The research agency has 27 institute and center directors. Will those roles become politicized? https://s.faithcollapsing.com/rdi8a#national-institutes-of-health #nih #nih-funding #nih-grants #science #syndication

The government has slashed lifesaving cancer research. I try to channel my anger in to positive things, so I donated $50 to Winship Discovery Fund for cancer research. #EmoryDayOfGiving dayofgiving.emory.edu/amb/andisheh #cancer #research #NIH #NIHgrants #CDC #publichealth

Reminder that if you have a progress report due, make sure to start it early, because there will be some part of it you forgot about, or that got added since last year, and it will take longer than you think.

-Brought to you by someone who procrastinated working on their progress report

#NIHgrants

Today I'm facilitating the first in a series of grantwriting sessions for junior faculty in my department. The goal is for each of them to submit an NIH grant on a new topic in February 2025—so lots of time for planning, writing, feedback, preliminary data, etc. Sessions are designed to give us all time to write and also get feedback from guest speakers. Wish us luck! #NIHgrants

Euler diagram of the day 😬 #grantwriting #NIHgrants

Grantwriting complaints and advice

It's always frustrating when reviewers miss an important thing, especially if it's about an investigator (i.e., ME) that seems obvious.

One time I had a comment that the research team should have someone with experience doing language (which I think I've been doing since 2000).

I recently had a comment that the PI (me) did not have experience with fNIRS (I've been doing optical brain imaging since 2012).

BUT, as frustrating as these are, it's also a good reminder that quite often the things we think are obvious to reviewers based on our biosketch or whatever are often not. And it's on us to try to fix that in our grant application, because reviewers will always be over-worked and over-tired etc.

(Also sometimes a reviewer is just an idiot but that's hard to defend against so I try to assume the best and figure out what I can do on my end.)

#NIHgrants #GrantWriting #PIlife

If your grant has 5 point font in the figure captions, you're doing it wrong 😬 #NIHgrants

When you remember study section is meeting today #NIHgrants

If you are the PI of a grant proposal and your draft budget is over the limit and someone’s first advice is “drastically decrease your effort” please get a second opinion.

Also here is your second opinion: don’t

#GrantWriting #NIHgrants #PIlife #protip

Researchers, please give your input re the NIH request for information on a proposed revision of the framework for evaluating and scoring NIH research grants.

Deadline for providing input is March 10, 2023. Link below:

#NIHgrants #researchers

https://rfi.grants.nih.gov/?s=638509b5409baa49f803e572

One thing I love about mastodon is how easy it is to follow tags, especially in @icecubesapp ❤️

One thing that makes me sad is how few posts are tagged #NIHgrants

i’m going to work on changing that—help me if you’re able! 👍

KEEP YOUR GRANT ADMINISTRATOR HAPPY

(that’s the person who helps you put together your application and navigate both NIH and institutional requirements and preferences)

If they want you to update your biosketch to a "new" form that is literally identical to the old one, do it.

If they want PMCIDs added to your references, do it.

If they want everything a week earlier than you think they need it, do it.

Being on their good side is worth it.

(This is all assuming they aren't a disaster...which hopefully they aren't. I've been lucky to have excellent ones.)

#GrantWritng #NIHgrants

The evolution of grant length

1 week before deadline: my grant is too short but that’s OK I'm writing
2 days before deadline: still a little short…😬
1 day before deadline: omg too long! too long! cut cut cut
2 hours before deadline: wait how do I have half a page left to fill
deadline: it just so happens that everything I have to say fits in exactly 12 pages and if you even think about resizing a figure I will end your life

#GrantWriting #NIHgrants

Use styles. For example, headings.

All you LaTeX people are used to this (\sec, \subsec, etc.) but I am always shocked at how many users of Word (etc.) style everything by hand.

Is it a top level heading? Heading 1.

Next level? Heading 2.

And so on. My grants usually go down 5 levels.

The beauty is not only consistency (although that's nice, too) but that if you need to change something, you just change it one place (the style) and it magically changes everywhere in your document.

I first became aware of the content vs. presentation thinking when working with HTML and CSS in the olden days, followed by LaTeX - so styles in word processors seemed only natural. But I realize that's not true for everyone!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Separation_of_content_and_presentation

#NIHgrants #ECRgrantAdvice

When possible, before and during writing look at 5-10 examples of grants written for the same mechanism (funded or not). This will help inspre you both positively and negatively. The specific topic may not be as important as overall style.

#NIHgrants #ECRgrantAdvice

I was today years old when I learned that

1. NIH grant instructions say all public access articles need a NIHMS or PMCID in your Bibliography and References Cited section and

2. Some grant administrators enforce this rule 😱

#NIHgrants #GrantWriting

Sometimes, when I’m writing a grant, I have a huge sense of accomplishment once I’m happy with the specific aims, and the budget is finalized. After I get to that point, I almost feel like the whole grant is written.

This is not necessarily a good thing, because I still have to, you know, write the grant.

and no, there is no particular reason I mention this now with a February 5 deadline coming up why would you even think that

#NIHgrants #GrantWriting

NIH funding is not a meritocracy. Luck — both good and bad — plays a huge role, as does bias. This truth can be depressing to acknowledge but can also set you free (e.g., from being too hard on yourself).

Corollary: until we fix the system, submit a lot of (respectable, if not perfect) grants if you want to get funded.

#NIHgrants #ECRgrantAdvice

Make the reviewer's job easy. You want them to know what the goal of the grant is? Include a sentence that says "The goal of this grant is to...".

Reviewers judging innovation? Include a heading called "Innovation" and have a bulleted list of innovative aspects.

This isn't a Jedi mind trick and can backfire if what you make clear isn't convincing. But in general I like this strategy.

#NIHgrants #ECRgrantAdvice

The difference between study sections and institutes/centers was also confusing for me at first. Understanding the different kinds of science reviewed by different study sections, and the fact that my study section request would not always be honored, were critical points in my development.

#NIHgrants #ECRgrantAdvice

What are the most important pieces of advice for early career researchers thinking about writing an NIH grant? What was most useful to you, or what do you wish you had known but didn’t?

Happy to hear the worst advice also… 😬

#GrantWriting #NIHgrants #science #neuroscience #ecrchat #ECRgrantAdvice @academicchatter

One thing I try to keep in mind when writing grants: Only propose things I actually want to spend 5 years doing. It’s so tempting to think: “Well, if I just change this task, and add this special population, this grant seems stronger and is more likely to be funded”—but these compromises may not be worth it in the end.

(Having told myself all of this, the next grant cycle I think: “Well, if I just change this task, and add this special population…🙄)

#GrantWriting #NIHgrants