If you are at the start of your research career, applying for your own funding can seem like a distant dream. It is true that there are other priorities that will probably concern you at the beginning. However, if your aim is a long-term academic career (either as a lecturer or a ‘career researcher’) you will soon find that you need to consider ways of bringing in your own funding.
This isn’t an easy process. Even experienced academics find applying for funding to be tough, challenging work. So these pages are here to help you. They include information on:
- Who will offer funding
- Where to look to find information about funding
- How to write a grant proposal
- Eligibility criteria for research funding
- Learning from rejection.
When should I apply for funding?
Most research is funded on fixed-term grants. When the grant that is employing you runs out, you will need to be sure that there is other funding in place if you want to keep working on the project. If you are a researcher employed on a project run by another member of staff (usually called the Principal Investigator or PI) you might eventually want independence to do your own research, and become a PI in your own right. If so you will also need to secure your own funding.
You can think about applying for funding at any time in your research career. The best time might seem to be “as soon as you have a research proposal”. But there are other options you can explore even before this point. Consider whether you could help your line manager or PI to prepare a new funding application. You may be entitled to be named on the application, if funders’ regulations allow it.
Also, remember that there are other, smaller sources of funding which you may be eligible to apply for quite early on in your research career. Research Councils and many of the large charities often have travel grants to allow researchers to attend conferences or to visit other institutions. They may have funding for ‘public engagement’ and knowledge transfer activities. Some also have small grants to enable new researchers to establish themselves or to ‘pump-prime’ research into hitherto unexplored areas.
Sources of support
Your line manager. It is most likely that your line manager will also be a PI on a project that you are working on. He or she will have applied for a grant to fund the project and pay for your time working on it. So your line manager is a natural first point of contact if you need to talk to someone about successful grant applications!
Your mentor or other established members of staff who has successfully won grant funding. Talk to them; make use of their insight and expertise.
Your Research Office. Nearly all universities now have a Research Office which is responsible for administering the process of applying for and receiving grants. There may be a particular member of staff who is responsible for dealing with applications from your department or research centre. They will be able to provide a lot of information about how the process works.
Your Staff Development Unit. Most universities run courses on applying for grant funding. It is well worth attending one of these courses – if you can, before you submit your first research proposal. The courses offer a range of support. They may cover the process of turning your initial idea into a fundable research proposal. They will also cover the mechanics of the application process, information about funding bodies, and any internal requirements that your university may have before it will allow a grant proposal to be submitted.
Your prospective funding body’s website. Full details of how to prepare and submit a grant proposal are normally available online.