Week 1.6: Getting Money

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Week 1.6: Getting Money#

Research is expensive, especially lab-based research involving high-tech equipment, special materials, and people with specialized skills. And if you add animals, the price gets even higher. As we discussed last week, there are financial stakeholders funding research, including universities, governmental agencies, Industry, and special interest groups (foundations). The available money is limited and the number of applications and projects is high. One of your jobs as a scientist is to convince funders to pay for your research to be done.

The main topic of this week is to discuss research funding and how to create a narrative for your ideas. We will discuss some of the more administrational sides of academia, such as how grant applications and research funding work. Further, you will learn the skills to tell the story of your research, and how to effectively use that story to convince people of the value of your project.

Monday:

Wednesday:

Friday:

  • Symposium

Workshop: Research Funding#

Doing modern scientific research (especially biomedical) is expensive between personnel, facilities, equipment, materials. The workshop presents the role of grant funding in paying for scientific research. Additionally, the workshop include the steps that need to be taken during grant applications and the people who are involved in each part of the process. Examples from real-life situations will be provided as well.

Key concepts#

  • How to write a good proposal

  • Importance of narratives in obtaining research funding

Relevant learning goals#

  • Students will understand the steps that need to be taken when applying for funds and their importance in the entire process

Workshop: Narratives#

Humans like to process information through stories. Being able to create narratives is a valuable skill in communicating the relevance of your research to various audiences (grant reviewers, experts, stakeholders, and the public). In this workshop, you will learn how to create a narrative and how to make it work in your favour by highlighting the importance of your research ideas. You will learn about different narrative types and key ingredients of an effective narrative. At the same time, you will work on constructing narratives about your projects. You will discuss how to apply these narrative tools in the context of text (grant proposal, research paper), visual (poster presentation) and oral (presentations to stakeholders). Storytelling skills are taught in the context of funding applications and explaining your research to diverse groups of people.

Key Concepts#

  • Narratives and storytelling

Relevant Learning Goals#

  • Theory of how narratives work in information processing

  • Present their research ideas in a persuasive manner

  • Integrating narratives into reports and presentations about research topic

  • Adapting stories depending on their audience (readers/listeners)

Group activity of the Week#

It’s important when developing a narrative to have a clear idea of what are the key elements to include. This week as you continue developing your project and proposal, think about the narrative elements you need to include. What are the most important things. This can help you communicate it better but also refine your research question.

Discussion Questions#

  • Can you begin to tell a story about your project? What do you think is important to include in a narrative about a research project?

  • Do you know enough to develop a narrative?

  • What do you bring as an individual to the story? Does that suit the expertise of our team?

  • Does creating a narrative to spotlight a specific result or approach of your scientific study conflict with scientific values such as objectivity, reproducibility, and transparency? How?

  • How is it to create a narrative collaboratively? How do you decide which ideas to include?

  • Do you tell yourself stories about the other people in your group?

Weekly Submitted Assignments#

Group#

Identify and describe 3 ideas/themes in your project that should be included in your narrative for both presentation and grant application. Explain why they should be included. No more than a paragraph per idea.

Individual#

What does it mean to feel heard? Which is harder for you, listening to others so they feel heard or being heard yourself? How are you working on this (½ page)

Note: This is also a reflection on your findings from week 4 on asking questions and listening to answers.

References#

Framing and the perception of scientific messages

For more in-dept information on the effectiveness of narratives in health communication:

Graaf, A. de, Sanders, J., & Hoeken, H. (2016). Characteristics of narrative interventions and health effects: a review of the content, form, and context of narratives in health-related narrative persuasion research. Review of Communication Research, 4, 88-131. https://doi.org/10.12840/issn.2255-4165.2016.04.01.011