Abstract

The prestigious European Research Council (ERC) grants are awarded to excellent scientists, opening up exciting new opportunities for their scientific careers. ERC awards range from 1.5 million Euro for Starting Grants to up to 10 million Euro for ERC Synergy projects. These grants are highly competitive: only 10-15% of applicants obtain the funding. The sole evaluation criterion is scientific excellence. But is excellence enough to win? Is there an advantage of having an institutional Grant Writer to help ERC applicants stand out in this competition and increase their chances of success? How to keep their motivation during this long process of proposal preparation? I will address these questions in my presentation.
Based on my experience as a grant writer at Institut Pasteur, I identify 3 reasons why excellent scientists must be coached to go successfully through this fierce competition:
1. Scientists are used to producing scientific results and writing papers. However, the way they present their results in papers is very different from what is required for a competitive proposal, where evaluators need to be convinced that ground-breaking results will be obtained during the project.
2. Even excellent and experienced candidates may be afraid of rejection.
3. Scientists are very busy with various activities going on at the same time. How to optimize their efforts and motivate them?
At Institut Pasteur, we believe that tailored support is a must-have for excellent scientists. The fact that Institut Pasteur has an ERC - dedicated grant writer is recognized by our scientists, who find this very useful. There are five important benefits of this support: accessibility, confidentiality, trust, quality, and continuity.
During this session, based on my experience, I will present the three critical steps of coaching ERC candidates: 1. Strategic decision: when to apply; 2. Proposal preparation: presenting the project in clear and persuasive way considering the expertise of the evaluators; 3. Interview preparation: presenting and answering questions convincingly. In addition I will give some tips for research managers and grant writers on how to help researchers to stay motivated during this long process and to save their precious time for research.
Proper coaching can make applicants more successful, help them keep their motivation (even if rejected, because they can reapply and then have to go again through a new evaluation process) and spend less time on proposal preparation.
During this presentation, research managers and grant writers with or without experience in ERC grants will learn how to: 1. support researchers in preparing proposals and interviews, 2. make scientific excellence shine through and help them to stay motivated 3. organize regular exchanges with scientists to save their precious time for research. Last but not least, they will also learn why Grant Writer’s input may play a major role in this process. Proper coaching can be a key element to success for scientists applying for prestigious grants.