This article was originally published in the journal
Nature
Nervous about your grant application's chance of success? Get help to make every word count.
Jiri Lukas' research centre was at a crossroads four years ago.
Bankrolled by the Novo Nordisk Foundation, the organization was facing a
mid-term evaluation, and its funding was at risk. Lukas, executive
director of the Center for Protein Research at the University of
Copenhagen, wanted to apply for a grant extension, but was worried that
his efforts would be wasted. It was rare at the time for foundations
that award grants for biomedical research to further their support
beyond one-time, limited-term funding.
A colleague told Lukas that the science in his application was
strong, but that the application itself didn't make the best case for
the societal impact and unique nature of the centre. The colleague
advised Lukas to consult with scientific-communication specialists at
Elevate Scientific in Malmö, Sweden. “The rest was kind of a fairy
tale,” Lukas says. With help from Elevate, the centre won the extension.
Nic McPhee
When it comes to seeking either government or private funding, grant
writers and editors are a useful resource for scientists in both
academia and industry. Scientists call on them for a variety of reasons.
Some simply don't have time to do it themselves. Others know that they
aren't good writers, or lack a sufficient command of English. Some are
struggling to get funding. Grant writers can help with finding the right
organizations to fund a project, as well as with writing the
application. They can hone and focus the message, ensure consistency
between sections drafted by different authors and assure adherence to
strict page limits. Grant writers and editors help with everything that
isn't the science, yet can still significantly affect a proposal's
chance of success.
Many researchers still go it alone in preparing grant applications,
but the funding landscape has changed, and scientists are now less
hesitant to ask for help, says Sheila Cherry, president of Fresh Eyes
Editing in Dayton, Ohio. Many funders expect applicants to seek
assistance. The written guidelines from the US National Institutes of
Health (NIH), for example, make that clear: “If writing is not your
forte, seek help!”
There should be no shame in asking for guidance, says Anders Tunlid, a
microbial ecologist at Lund University in Sweden who has reviewed
grants for the European Research Council. “We need to accept that this
is the way we all do it,” he says. “I don't think that everyone has
written their proposals themselves.” Colleagues may be willing to review
an application's scientific content — but they are typically too busy
to spare the hours needed for fine-tuning.
“Everyone needs a little bit of help, if only to find typos,” points
out David O'Keefe, senior grant writer at the Salk Institute in La
Jolla, California.
The Salk offers the service for free to its researchers, but external
help comes at a price: basic editing services can run from US$500 to
thousands of dollars, depending on the application. “It's an investment,
for sure,” says Stefano Goffredo, a marine ecologist at the University
of Bologna in Italy. But after spending months on a proposal, he thinks
it's worth opening his wallet to get a professional polish.
Without that polish, it's all too easy for reviewers to quickly
discount an application, says Laura Hales, principal of the Isis Group, a
scientific consulting and communications service in Cambridge,
Massachusetts. She has served as a reviewer herself and can attest to
the fact that first impressions count for everything. “You have,” she
says, “one chance.”
Independent data are essentially non-existent on how professional
grant-writing services affect success rates. Companies' claims for
success range from more than three times the average rate for NIH grants
to six times the average rate for the European Union's Horizon 2020
grants. But the companies themselves concede that they can offer no
guarantees. “Just because I know the formula doesn't mean I'm going to
get every one,” says Hales.
Find your match
Institutions might pay for support for a junior scientist's first few
grants, says Susan Marriott, president of BioScience Writers in
Houston, Texas, but the support can be useful for mid- to
later-stage-career researchers, too. Working with Elevate Scientific was
a “humbling” experience, says Lukas, even as a senior scientist. The
editors identified unclear sections, improved graphics and strengthened
the logic in the proposal to communicate the message more effectively.
Senior researchers in a collaboration may also use a grant editor as a
project manager to ensure that all the pieces come together in a neat
package by the submission deadline. It was just such a
multi-investigator project that led Bruce Johnson to call in Fresh Eyes
Editing. Every author tends to use their own formatting for elements
such as headings and references, he notes, and editors can give the
document a consistent style. “It makes it look so much more
professional,” says Johnson, chief clinical research officer at the Dana
Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, Massachusetts.
Editors also catch inconsistencies and redundancies in the content.
For example, a large document on lung cancer does not need to repeat in
every author's section that it's the leading cause of cancer deaths in
the United States. And one scientist might cite a statistic that 15% of
people with lung cancer have a certain mutation, whereas another might
write 25%. That inconsistency could cause reviewers to think that the
collaborators aren't talking to one another, Johnson says, which would
not inspire a sense of confidence that the team could carry out the
project together.
Box 1: How to become a grant writer
When Laura Hales founded a biotechnology company, her
first grant application was an abysmal failure. “I think I made every
mistake in the book,” she recalls. But with time and resubmissions, she
got the hang of it. Now she helps others to play the grantsmanship game
through her communications company, the Isis Group in Cambridge,
Massachusetts.
She's not the only one; grant professionals say that business is
booming. “The demand is larger than the service supplied,” says Dan
Csontos, editorial director of Elevate Scientific in Malmö, Sweden.
“It's definitely a good job market if you want to get into it.”
And it's a job market with significant perks. One advantage: “You can
do it anywhere,” says David O'Keefe, a senior grant writer at the Salk
Institute in La Jolla, California, who started editing while living in
Indonesia. O'Keefe also maintains a side gig of his own called pzerofive
Editing.
Certain personal attributes help for wannabe grant writers, advises
Eran Har-Paz, vice-president for sales at Sunrise Projects in Rosh
Ha'Ayin, Israel. “You have to be a quick learner.” A good dose of
self-confidence is required too, he says, as grant writers may need to
exert a bit of authority to convince scientists they know the right way
to pen a proposal.
Manuscript editing is a common place to start, as is working under
someone else. Grant-writing courses and certificates are available,
although not crucial, particularly if one has other experience.
But the main training is simply to read and write. “There are always
people who would be happy to have an extra pair of eyes on an
application,” points out Cath Ennis, a project manager and grant editor
in Vancouver, Canada. It is also possible to get a feel for the grants
world by participating in study-review panels or working for funders.
One thing to be prepared for, advises O'Keefe, is that it gets very
busy when grant deadlines roll around. “Three times a year, you're going
to have a horrible month,” he says, referring to deadlines for the US
National Institutes of Health's R01 grants, the organization's most
commonly used funding mechanism.
Nonetheless, grant writing and editing is a good option for someone
who enjoys writing about science more than actually doing research, says
Ennis. “It's a great way to stay at the cutting edge of science without
having to go into the lab and pipette anything.”
Grant helpers vary in the assistance they provide, and at
different stages of the proposal process. Some get involved at the very
start, strategizing about where to apply for funding. “It's not only
about how you write an application,” says Ram May-Ron, managing partner
with the FreeMind Group in Boston. “The search starts with identifying
which funding opportunity is the best one for a particular part of a
research project.”
Scientists may have heard of big funding initiatives, such as Horizon
2020, but there might be other opportunities they should consider, says
Eran Har-Paz, vice-president for sales at Sunrise Projects in Rosh
Ha'Ayin, Israel. “We try to build a strategy, a few alternatives to
submit to,” he says. “Don't put all your eggs in one basket.”
At this level, grant helpers may reach out to programme officers,
says May-Ron. For example, they might ask whether an agency has funded
similar research recently, and whether they're at all interested in
doing so again. “If you go to the right place, you're already in a
better position,” he points out.
This full-scale service comes at a price, of course. Har-Paz
estimates that the simplest proposal might cost a few thousand euros,
with the cost escalating to €20,000 (US$21,414) or more for elaborate
applications. That includes not only the strategizing, but also writing
the majority of the application.
Some scientists already hand off much of the writing to others. Cath
Ennis, a project manager and grant writer in Vancouver, Canada, might
contribute an abstract, literature review, impact statement or budget,
depending on the scientists' needs — but never the research plan itself.
“Our role is to take all the jobs that we can from the principal
investigator, so they can focus more on the research,” she says.
"
Our role is to take all the jobs that we can from the principal investigator, so that they can focus more on the research.
"
Other grant professionals stick to editing — but that's more than
just dotting i's and crossing t's. Grant editors consider content,
clarity, logic and flow.
Grant professionals can be found in a variety of places: some work
for a company and others as freelancers whereas some institutions have
in-house specialists (see 'How to become a grant writer'). “Start
talking early,” advises Marriott, who is also a virologist at Baylor
College of Medicine in Houston. “Even if you don't have a grant ready
yet, even if you don't know what you're going to write.” It's beneficial
to get on an editor's calendar as early as possible, because by the
time the deadline rolls around, they could have many scientists
clamouring for their attention. Later on, editors may be still able to
help, but in a more limited fashion, she says.
Scientists tend to look for someone with a PhD and the right
technical expertise. But the match doesn't have to be exact. “I've
edited grants about nuclear physics,” says Ennis, whose background is in
cancer biology. “I can still catch a typo when someone's put 'proton'
instead of 'photon'.”
Equally important, Ennis says, is to look for editors who specialize
in the kind of grant one's after — say, NIH, Horizon 2020 or foundation
grants. Every programme has its own requirements, and the professional
should know those inside out.
With candidates in mind, the next step is to get to know them. Ask a
potential editor or writer about their process, and the services they do
and don't provide, advises Cherry. “It's a lot more than just, 'What's
your fee and how soon can you get this done?'” she says.
Timing and costs are, nonetheless, key questions. It's best to get an
estimate in advance to avoid a surprise charge later. One should also
ask for a confidentiality clause in the contract.
Then, be prepared for plenty of back-and-forth. “Remember that it's a
collaborative process,” says Cherry. “Don't be afraid to bring up
concerns and make sure you're really collaborating.”
When it comes to seeking either government or private funding, grant
writers and editors are a useful resource for scientists in both
academia and industry. Scientists call on them for a variety of reasons.
Some simply don't have time to do it themselves. Others know that they
aren't good writers, or lack a sufficient command of English. Some are
struggling to get funding. Grant writers can help with finding the right
organizations to fund a project, as well as with writing the
application. They can hone and focus the message, ensure consistency
between sections drafted by different authors and assure adherence to
strict page limits. Grant writers and editors help with everything that
isn't the science, yet can still significantly affect a proposal's
chance of success.
