UMCG Grant Navigator Training Programme

How to write a competitive grant proposal? Step-by-step guide to designing impactful collaborative research projects

Schedule

Module 1: 25 Mar 2025, 9.00-12.00

Module 2: 15 Apr 2025, 9.00-12.00

Module 3: 6 May 2025, 9.00-12.00

The modules are designed to build upon each other in terms of content, they cannot be attended individually but must be taken as a cohesive series of three.

Why attend?

Are you hesitant to start a collaborative research project because of the complex funding rules and requirements? Feeling lost about where and how to start? Disappointed by previous evaluations of your grant applications? Confused about what granting organizations want in the impact section of your proposal?

If you ever wondered about these questions, then our comprehensive training on "How to Write a Competitive Grant Proposal" will be a good fit for you.

This program is designed to guide you through the challenges of developing coherent and convincing research proposals where you need the expertise of a network of multidisciplinary partners. Learn how to demonstrate that your research can create meaningful societal change. Our training will equip you with the practical skills to craft convincing, data-driven proposals that show the unique potential of your research and achieve impact. Learn tips and tricks for efficient planning and distributing tasks, organising administration and budgets, and maintaining clear communication among consortium partners. Altogether the workshop will give you a comprehensive overview on how to navigate and secure (European) consortium funds.

Learning outcomes - 3 module overview

Module 1: Where to start? Strategically design your research project and consortium to meet the funding criteria

The focus of this module is to establish the basic structure of your project. By the end of this module, you will be able to:

Recognize the winning mindset for collaborative research grants compared to individual grants
Analyse and filter out the key expectations from the policy and call background
Design a project outline that closely fits the call
Strategically build your consortium (stakeholder analysis/gap analysis)

Module 2: Convince the evaluators: writing a proposal with a clear narrative, structure and impact

The focus here is sharpening your grant writing skills for the different sections of the proposal. By the end of this module, you will be able to:

Recognize the key differences between scientific writing and grant writing
Formulate objectives SMART and substantiate claims
Design the impact pathway to clearly show how your scientific results will lead to societal impact
Identify crucial elements that need to be described in the impact section
Design work packages based on activities, deliverables, milestones

Module 3: From chaos to clarity: getting overview of everything needed to complete submission, and getting it done within limited time

This module is about the organizational part. By the end of this module, you will be able to

Confidently navigate and drive the proposal writing process
Develop a complete overview of what is needed to prepare and submit your proposal
Confidently formulate non-scientific sections (gender, open science, data management, IP and valorization, etc.)
Effectively plan and delegate tasks related to the proposal preparation and submission
Engage and manage your consortium
Identify institutional and national resource of support

Maximum number of participants: 20

Tailored workshops

The workshops of the Grant Navigator Training Programme can be booked stand alone or as a series. The practical assignments within the workshops are interconnected and can be used to develop a full proposal and network. Departments or institutes can request tailored workshops with a minimum of 20 participants. Tailored workshops are dependent on the capacity and availability of our trainers.

The trainers

Hilda Veenstra-Korf, Eszter Ashlock-Kéthelyi, Natalia Loaiza Velasquez and Eleni Fitsiou

Conditions for participation

Open to researchers and research managers at UMCG and partner organizations (RUG, 4 schools connected to RUG, Hanze, Isala Hospital, Leeuwarden Hospital, Martini Hospital).
The modules of the Grant Writing Workshop are designed to build on each other, so they must be taken as a complete series of three and cannot be attended individually. The total participation fee for the full workshop is €300.
First come, first served basis. Priority registration for UMCG employees.