Ok, we need to talk about rest. In a recent conversation, an amazing, brilliant, hard-working academic researcher lamented to me that their time off over a long holiday weekend didn’t restore them as hoped. As we chatted through why that might be, several things came to light: 1) They still checked email and other notifications over this “time off”—just like … Read More
From Dread to Productivity: Transforming Your Writing Habits for Research Success
In my many years of working with academic STEM PIs, I’ve yet to encounter one who said they got into their career because they just love writing. Even among those who enjoy writing (and they do exist), that part wasn’t the major driver of their decision. Yet, for PIs, writing is central to advancing curiosity-driven pursuits, for example, by preparing … Read More
Diversifying Your Research Funding Portfolio: A Strategy to Increase Resilience
If you are performing grant-funded research within the US, you’ve likely experienced a number of highs and lows related to federal research funding trends. Many federal grant programs fall under Congressional budget appropriations and thus are subject to delays, uncertainty, and yes, even cuts depending on when a new budget law is passed and what funds are set aside for … Read More
Why—and How—to Talk with Program Officers at Funding Agencies
Advice abounds on what to do when applying for research grants, and one common suggestion causes a sticking point for less-experienced PIs: contacting the funding agency’s program staff to discuss the upcoming application. We use this advice across our workshops, Q&A sessions, and one-on-one consultations, and investigators often provide some insight into what prevents them from taking this advice. The … Read More
The secret to effective communication: Concepts to help your grant proposals, papers, and more
Whether you’re writing a grant proposal or technical manuscript, giving a research talk, or having a conversation with a senior or junior colleague, you probably want to be understood. You might also want the other party(ies) to agree with your perspective, or to take action based on what you share. No matter the desired outcome, there is one key to … Read More
What is ‘grantsmanship’? How strategic thinking improves your chances of success in the grant application process
In sectors where grant funding provides key support to the research enterprise, grant writing is a valued skill. In fact, training and support for grant writing represents the top service demand for our team at CareerVolt. In the context of these services, we often emphasize the equal value of “grantsmanship” (which we sometimes refer to as grant crafting or grant … Read More
Averting an Energy Crisis
The laws of thermodynamics describe the behaviors of energy in systems. Famously, the 1st law states that energy cannot be created or destroyed; energy can only change forms. This change in form is more specifically captured in the 2nd law of thermodynamics, which in part indicates that every energy transfer will result in some amount of energy becoming less useful … Read More
Preparing a Compelling Scientific Grant Application
Grants, especially from federal funders, provide an important source of support for advancing scientific and public health research. For example, within the US, federal grants are the second-largest source of research and development dollars, after private businesses (before the 1980s, federal funds were the largest share). Yet, you are probably also intensely aware that there is a lot of competition … Read More
Cultivating Thought Partners to Enhance Your Research
Research is an intellectual pursuit in which discovery arises from asking questions and thinking deeply about where to go next. We often assume that we must have our ideas all worked out before we verbalize them to someone else, especially in the professional setting where we might be concerned about the way our ideas are received (i.e., looking like we … Read More