Intensive Cross-Organisation Grant Support Program
NHMRC Investigator and Ideas Grant Schemes 2021
These program, for women and non-binary people, are aimed at building the capabilities of early and mid-career researchers to participate and ultimately succeed in the research grant system.
Each program will consist of five progressive workshop sessions, plus a pre-workshop program launch, beginning in October-November 2021.
To give our early and mid-career researchers the best chance of success we are calling for senior researchers with experience on Investigator and/or Ideas panels to participate in these programs as Grant Experts. There is an honorarium associated with this role.
Program overview and requirements
Role and time commitment.
The workshops will be led by an expert facilitator, with each session focusing on a different aspect of grant preparation. As a Grant Expert, you will be assigned to one workshop group, which will consist of a maximum of eight participants. There will be five x 2 hour workshops, which you will be expected to attend, plus a pre-program launch and co-design event (optional, but recommended).
Your main role during the program will be to provide feedback on the participant’s presentations and discussions over the course of the workshops, as well as sharing your experiences and knowledge as both a candidate and a reviewer.
This could include:
commenting on strengths and weaknesses.
making suggestions on how to improve.
helping to build a positive, authentic and unique narrative related to each applicant.
questioning and helping to build connections between the skills of the candidate and those necessary for project completion.
A representative from one of the five WiSPP institutes Research/Grants Offices will also attend each session to provide expert advice & guidance to participants as required.
Recognition of service.
We know that senior women researchers are often called on to provide support for programs, such as this, aimed at supporting more junior women researchers to excel in their careers.
In recognition of your valuable time and expertise, for taking on this role you will be offered an honorarium to the value of $2000. This honorarium will be paid directly to your research account to use as you see fit.
In the event that the Grant Expert duties are divided between two researchers this honorarium will be shared.
We are committed to providing an inclusive space for all participants to safely participate.
Program Structure and Dates
Ideas Program
Pre-workshop event launch: Thurs 4th Nov, 1-3pm, online
Meet your team and contribute to program focus.
Workshop 1: Mon 15th Nov, 1-3pm (online)
Grappling with the Hook: Honing the significance of your research project
Workshop 2: Mon 29th Nov, 1-3pm (online)
Why US? Keeping Capability.
Workshop 3: Thurs 10th Feb, 1-3pm (location TBA*)
The Magnificent ‘Seven’: Innovation and Creativity in Medical Research.
Workshop 4: Thurs 17th Feb, 1-3pm (location TBA*)
It ain’t Swiss Cheese: Testing for Holes.
Workshop 5: Thurs 3rd Mar, 1-3pm (location TBA*)
Wrap it up and get it in.
Investigator Program
Pre-workshop event launch: Thurs 28th Oct, 1-3pm, online
Meet your team and contribute to program focus.
Workshop 1: Thurs 11th Nov, 1-3pm, online
Why This? Grappling with the hook.
Workshop 2: Thurs 18th Nov, 1-3, online
Why me? Your track record and the blush test.
Workshop 3: Thurs 25th Nov, 1-3pm, online
Why now? The ‘perfect’ project.
Workshop 4: Thurs 2nd Dec, 1-3pm, online
Strike with Impact.
Workshop 5: Thurs 3rd Feb, 1-3pm (location TBA*)
Bring it all together and get it ready.
*The 2022 workshops will be held in person in the Parkville Precinct - exact location TBA.
Program background
You might have been involved in one of the previous WiSPP grant support programs that took place over 2018-2019. Although some mentoring teams performed exceptionally well, analysis of the program showed that we needed more structured support. To further improve this program, we have combined what worked previously with other writing support initiatives, and road-tested the new version at Swinburne University of Technology with dedicated expert facilitators.
As well as the addition of dedicated facilitators, workshop groups will be smaller and will be stratified to contain researchers with similar levels of grant writing experience. These changes are aimed to promote more open discussion, as well as allowing us to target the sessions towards the needs of participants. We are excited that this new program has all the components to make substantive difference to submission and success rates.
Our facilitators
Our facilitators for this program are Professor Simone Taffe and Associate Professor Flavia Marcello, who have been sharing learnings and collaborating with the WiSPP team on grant support programs since 2018.
Together, they are leaders in the SWAN (Swinburne Women’s Academic Network) program and have developed and delivered several successful academic support programs that have had significant impacts on publication and grant submissions rates across Swinburne University of Technology.
A sustainable and scalable program for the future
The development of this program has attracted $356,000 in funding from the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet’s Office for Women, via a competitive grant scheme. This has enabled us to commit to running this program for the next three years to support 144 early and mid career researchers in the Parkville precinct in preparing for the Investigator and Ideas grant schemes. Research will be conducted throughout this period to ensure the program is meeting its goals, as well as informing any further improvements required.
In addition, we will be training past participants to act as facilitators in later rounds, and will develop a facilitator tool-kit to enable use of the program in the Parkville precinct and beyond into the future.
