Masterclass: How to Write a Winning Grant Application

Who the course is aimed at: Marine Biologists seeking a better understanding of how to win Research and Development funding opportunities.

Date: 16 November 2023

Time: 10am - 2pm (GMT)

Location: Online (Zoom)

Requirements: No previous experience is necessary.

Hot off the press - Environmental funding rounds in Horizon Europe:

Course Tutor Kevin Brooks says “Horizon Europe is the EU's 7-year research and innovation programme, running from 2021 to 2027. It has a budget of €95.5 billion, and a significant portion of this funding is allocated to environmental research. The UK's Associate status with Horizon Europe is a positive development for UK research. It will help to ensure that UK researchers can continue to collaborate with their European colleagues on important environmental research projects.”

Scientific funding is a highly competitive world, and funders are often looking for very specific requirements. This masterclass will help focus your project to improve your grant writing skills and optimise your chances of being more successful in securing research funding. Describing your project, team, and potential market, etc, in the most clear, concise, and powerful way is important to optimising your chances of being successful. In addition, knowing your funder and understanding more about the way assessors score your application is vital to your success.

There is a lot of funding to be won in competitive research and development funding opportunities.

Kevin Brooks

Course Tutor

During this course, you will learn all about these keys to success, as well as general hints, tips, and hacks to improve the way you write your compelling funding application. We will also work through an example application to help you learn how to identify bid requirements. This will be based on a NERC funding bid. The skills you learn will also be applicable to other funders. This Masterclass draws on 30 years’ experience of successful national and international bid writer Kevin Brooks.

Bid surgery

For those who would like some time 1:1 with Kevin, we will be offering a limited number of 10 minute bid surgeries. These will give you the opportunity to ask Kevin specific questions about your own particular situation, a bid you are currently working on or help you to explore suitable funding opportunities.

Highlights and Learning Outcomes

As a result of this workshop participants will be able to:

Decide whether a specific funding round is for you and think about writing your application like a project.
Develop more powerful grant application responses through an enhanced understanding of the motivations of key funders.
Have a better chance of impressing the assessors by better understanding their motivations/human factors.
Have a better understanding of the importance of your team structures to best deliver the proposed project.
Appreciate how to identify key requirements from the questions set and how these can be developed into a framework.
The importance of reviewing your application – before submission and post-decision whether you win or lose