FUNDING STRATEGY FOR MANAGING A RESEARCH GROUP Sari Mkel Professor of Food Development Functional Fo

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FUNDING STRATEGY FOR MANAGING A RESEARCH
GROUPSari MäkeläProfessor of Food
DevelopmentFunctional Foods ForumDepartment
of Biochemistry and Food Chemistry

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INTRODUCTION TOPICS

• This is a "case report"
• all research groups (and their history) are
  different, but they face many similar challenges
  and problems
• the academic world has changed, and there is more
  than one way to build and run a research group
• Obtaining sufficient level of funding is a
  continuous struggle - How to get started and how
  to survive?
• High quality PhD-students and projects are the
  key elements of a functional and successful
  research group
• recruitment of good PhD-students
• management of the PhD-projects

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HOW TO GET STARTED?From a post-doc to an
independent research group leader

• How to get the first big grants?
• How to find a good home for the group (a place
  with stimulating and supportive scientific
  environment and sufficient resources)?
• Fast track for the most outstanding scientists
  working on hot topics (the optimal combination of
  talent, vision, ambition and good timing)
• The long way for the most of us

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HOW TO GET STARTED?From a post-doc to an
independent research group leader The long way

• Get connected a good research network will
  support in fund-raising (being part of a research
  consortium coordinated by someone else is a good
  way to get started)
• Be creative and have open mind funding is
  available from a number of sources, but you may
  need to adjust your goals

• Finding a position in the academia is a challenge
  be patient, and accept the fact that for the
  most of us only temporary positions will be
  available
• Preparation of grant applications and project
  management is an essential and unavoidable part
  of the everyday life of a research group leader
  doing science full-time is a luxury we cannot
  afford

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HOW TO SURVIVE?Maintaing a sufficient level of
funding

• Keep connected and foster your research network
  good collaborators are extremely valuable as more
  funding is now directed to research consortia
• Take active part in the preparation of the
  consortium application make sure that the
  workplan is in line with your research goals
• Think twice before you decide to coordinate an
  (inter)national consortium application if
  successful, looks good in CV but is very
  time-consuming
• Funding from some sources (e.g. Academy of
  Finland) may be considered more prestigious than
  others (e.g. EU) however, the quality of the
  science and publications produced on the funding,
  and their impact are all that matters

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HOW TO SURVIVE?EU-funding How to make the most
out of it (1)

• Learn to understand and use the EU language and
  terminology
• Follow up and participate in the preparation of
  work programmes
• Your ideas can be integrated in the work
  programme
• You will know in advance which topics will be
  addressed in the call
• When trying to find suitable topics to pursue,
  ask three questions
• What do they (EU) want?
• How do my goals fit with the topic?
• How to make the topic and my goals compatible
  with each other?

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HOW TO SURVIVE?EU-funding How to make the most
out of it (2)

• Remember that it is not only the scientific
  excellence that counts there are several other
  important evaluation criteria
• relevance to EU policy objectives
• potential impact (e.g. European added value)
• quality of the consortium and management plan
• mobilization of resources
• Be prepared to lengthy negotiations during the
  contract preparation
• Be prepared to tedious reporting procedures
  reporting of scientific achievements is not
  enough (dissemination and integration!)

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HOW TO SURVIVE?Challenges and threats

• WITHIN THE RESEARCH GROUP
• Recruitment of good PhD-students and post-docs
• Making the long-term commitments with the
  research group personnel
• Researcher training and mobility
• Project management tasks

• WITH THE FUNDING BODIES
• Academic positions with no or little fixed
  resources how to meet the demands of the
  funding bodies as regards the own contribution of
  the participating organization?
• Resources (e.g. personnel) covered by the
  university budget