One of the most difficult parts of writing a grant is simply the act of writing the grant. The Division of Research and Innovation NIH Grant-Writing Boot Camp is designed to facilitate the writing process, while also teaching fundamental skills for writing a successful Research Strategy of an NIH grant application. The learning process is enhanced by immersing participants in two full days of learning, critically evaluating, and writing in a natural setting that takes them away from the distractions and demands of being on campus.
Boot camp participants will
- Dissect the most important part of the proposal—the Specific Aims page.
- Learn to see the proposal through the eyes of a reviewer.
- Learn how the parts of the proposal come together to create a good score.
- Produce a compelling Specific Aims page that makes reviewers enthusiastic about the project.
The boot camp will include lectures, small-group exercises (facilitated by a SciCom editor), directed individual work, and time to decompress and chat with peers. Each participant will begin the boot camp with a draft Specific Aims page that will be revised and refined over two days. The end products will be a polished piece of writing, as well as skills and knowledge for an iterative writing process and for compiling a competitive research proposal.
Agenda
Ferncliff Camp and Conference Center
Little Rock, AR
Day 1: April 10
- Welcome with coffee and tea
- Lecture: Anatomy of a Specific Aims page
- Directed individual writing
- Break
- Lecture: Wear the hat of the reviewer
- Lunch
- Small-group exercise
- Lecture: Significance and Innovation Sections
- Break
- Small-group exercise
Day 2: April 11
- Welcome with coffee and tea
- Lecture: Approach Section
- Directed individual writing
- Break
- Small-group exercise
- Lunch
- Lecture: NIH Biosketch
- Break
- Small-group exercise
- Lecture: Putting it all together
Applications due March 13, 2023
The boot camp is open to faculty and post-docs. Applicants must submit an NIH-style Specific Aims page with their application. Because of the small-group, interactive nature of this activity, we can only accommodate up to 16 participants. There is no cost to attend.
Participants should be prepared to share their Specific Aims page with the other participants and facilitators and receive critiques. Participants and facilitators will be asked to respect the confidentiality of the research ideas.
For more info, contact Kerry Evans, Ph.D., ELS: klevans@uams.edu