How many applications does it take to get a fellowship?
Many of you attended my talk last year at the department conference about my experience with grant and fellowship applications and some EMCRs attended the same talk a few weeks ago. As any of you who have written or supported people submitting grant applications know well, the take home message was that bringing money in is hard. Only about 10% of submitted fellowship applications are awarded by either the NIHR or the MRC. That means that for every 1 golden star, there are 9 other sitting quietly in a folder. But I think the process is still worth it because it is only one of the few jobs where you have the relative freedom to do what you really want.
A year after my PhD, I was lucky enough to be appointed as a BRC post-doctoral researcher for an initially 3-year post. This meant that I didn’t have to worry imminently about job security and I could focus my efforts on making the most of the post. I found it quite helpful to have the expectations set straight from the start. I recall my meeting with Susan on my very first day where she blatantly specified that the first goal of this post was to bring money in and the second was to write good papers.
Adding to that, Paul told me that you will come up with 10 ideas and maybe one will be good. And I think this helped me along the way, normalising the idea of “killing” the bad ideas quickly without take it too personally. I also recall the way that both Susan and Paul broke the news to me when I was unsuccessful in my £1m grant that I had put together over 8 months. Paul received that rejection email and instead of forwarding it to me, they both told me in a face-to-face meeting making together with a plan for the next submission. It might sound like small things, but they set the tone of venting for a couple of days, but then not to think too much about it, and take the feedback forward to the next application.
A lot of the mindset about grant application writing is about receiving feedback. Getting feedback early from people who were closely involved in the projects but also from people who only barely understood the subject was crucial. It helped shape arguments and expect the points a fellowship panel that is not expert on my field might raise. The department has a process where prospective fellowship applicants can get feedback on their application from senior academics. I have found this extremely helpful, and I would encourage you to use it.
As with most things, the more grants you write, the easier it becomes. This is not only because you get to learn to navigate the submission process and systems but because you can get to recycle either the application structure, the methodology, or parts of the text. You get to normalise some of the rejection along the way. Looking back, I can see why most of my applications were rejected and I am only disappointed about not getting funding for a few of them.
Finally, it does take a village to submit applications within what might sometimes be a very tight deadline. Choosing the right co-applicants who can be your critical friends and who you enjoy working with is essential to the process. We are fortunate to have a grants team that always makes submissions possible, even when it feels impossible. And having a supportive environment at home to celebrate the big wins and the small wins (e.g., invitation to interview) and to absorb some of the disappointment when the decision was not the one I wanted have been more useful than I can possibly describe.