How to write successful proposals a personal perspective by Moti Segev

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How to write successful proposalsa personal
perspectiveby Moti Segev
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Logic

• Excellence
• Novelty
• Credibility
• --------------------------
• Are ALL important!
• The myth that, if you have a fancy resume, its
  sufficient to send your CV and you get the grant
• This is untrue. It is just a myth
• Make sure you cover ALL 3 bases.

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But, BEFORE you start, plan ahead

• Main idea should be novel significant
• Do not propose something marginal or incremental
• Suitability
• make sure your proposal addresses the
  Call

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Team

• perhaps the most important item!
• Concentrate complementing strengths
• Do NOT dilute your own strength
• Do NOT add political partners
• Try to avoid duplication of expertise
  (desirable but not crucial)
• If possible try to assemble an interdisciplinary
  or multidisciplinary team
• Do NOT expect others to write your proposal for
  you.
• Not even your team. Certainly not your students /
  post-docs / KAMEA
• YOU, and ONLY YOU, are responsible!
• Be fair in distributing the budget! (including
  GIF/BSF), because
• Your good name is more important than a few
  dollars ..

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Excellence

• Should be reflected not only in the CV,
  but also in the
  proposal itself.
• The question is how to do it?
• Best way
• write intro emphasizing your contribution.
• But do NOT overdo it
• Write a reliable intro
• Give proper references (these people will
  be your referees!)
• Do not play tricks with referencing and credit

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Novelty

• Propose a meaningful idea
• Stay away from marginal or incremental work
  referees do not want to fund such things
• Best combinations
• Experiments theory
• Fundamentals applications
• Inter-disciplinary
• Multi-disciplinary

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Credibility

• Build on your proven strengths, and move
  forward to new grounds
• How to gain credibility?
• BEFORE you write, make sure you have at least
  SOME preliminary results in (almost) every
  research topic
• Make a clear statement, in the abstract, on
  having prelim results
• Describe the prelim results in the Detailed
  Research Plan
• Remember credibility is as important as
  novelty!

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Credibility - continued

• Do NOT pretend to be what you are not!
• Examples
• If you are a theorist, do not propose to start an
  experimental group if you do want to start
  experiments, first publish some experimental
  papers with just your own team, gain credibility,
  and then go ahead and propose starting
  experimental effort
• (there are lots of examples along similar lines)
• Remember credibility is as important as
  novelty!

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Time Table

• Write a reliable time-table
• Make sure that the first 2 years are solid
• After first 2 years, plan can be more vague.

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Budget

• Allocate mostly to stipends of graduate students
• Much smaller allocation for equipment
  (unless its equipment grant or a starting grant)
• Explain and justify every item!
• Unexplained / unjustified items are not funded
  even in a successful proposal!
• (Examples my own DIP and my ERC)

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Resources credibility again..

• Do not be HAFIF
• Describe all current / existing resources
• If a critical resource is missing, ASK for it.
  Do NOT hide it, because the referees will dig
  it out.
• Existing Technion resources are VERY helpful
• The RBNI / super-computer / microscopy
• Resources are very helpful in establishing
  credibility

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Educational impact

• Find an excuse to describe somewhere your
  educational impact
• List your former grad students / post-docs,
  especially those who are now university profs
• Emphasize undergrads participating in research
• Highlight youth activities, like visits by
  high-school students, etc.
• Highlight international educational impact HIBUR
  project, exchange students, etc.

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Before submission editing

• Include figures, if possible photos / simulations
• Do not use jargon
• Try to keep some consistent style
• Make it easy to find items

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Finally submission letter

• Write a submission letter, list
• Suggested referees
• Request not to send to competing referees
• List at least 10 referees, in Israel and abroad
• List ONLY senior referees. (senior referees will
  play less politics, and their good name is more
  important to them than playing tricks with
  competing groups).
• Do not be shy regarding referees not to send.
• But explain that the reasoning has to do with
  direct competition.

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Submit, and good luckand if you do not
pass, try again. Remember only those who
never try, do not get negative answers (as in
all other areas )
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Last but NOT leastProposals, and research
funding, are just a means to do good research.
They are NOT a goal by themselves!There is no
Nobel for excellent proposalsand tenure is not
given for research money. So do good research.
Thats the single most important goal. At
Technion.