I first read the 𝘓𝘰𝘳𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘙𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 series when I was in third grade. I would have been around 8 or 9 years old.
(Why yes, I was a precocious child, thank you for asking).
This was long before the movies, and I fell head over heels in love with Middle Earth. It was my first exposure to literary world building on such a large scale.
I even memorised the Ring-verse:
One ring to rule them all
One ring to find them
One ring to bring them all
and in the darkness bind them
It’s been going through my mind recently for a very different reason though.
𝗜𝘁 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀𝗻’𝘁 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗳𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴.
There is no one set of guidelines that can help whether you’re applying to UKRI, Wellcome Trust, or Leverhulme Trust.
The funding requirements and processes will vary whether you’re applying to funders in Canada, India, China, the UK, or the US.
There 𝘢𝘳𝘦 a few principles that are helpful regardless of funder, funding opportunity, and country:
1️⃣ Read the guidance (and follow the funder’s guidelines to the letter).
2️⃣ Communicate clearly to make sure your proposal is accessible to any reviewer.
3️⃣ Demonstrate how you meet the assessment criteria.
But the assessment criteria itself will differ from funder to funder and funding opportunity to funding opportunity. The same funder may have different requirements for different types of grants.
Some funders may ask for a plain English summary, intended for a lay audience.
Others want a technical abstract.
Some are looking for high-risk, high-return research.
Others are fine if the project is more incremental.
Some request a traditional track record.
UKRI in particular uses the Resume for Research and Innovation (R4RI) narrative CV format.
And we haven’t even got to the ins and outs of the funding process itself yet.
The moral of this post?
𝗢𝗻𝗲 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝘀𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗹𝘆 𝗰𝘂𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗽𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗮𝗹 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗮𝗹.
When it comes to applying for a grant, it’s important to understand what is foundational and applicable everywhere (like the three points I’ve listed above) … and what is specific to a particular opportunity.
Your proposal is precious. Make sure you treat it as such.