Tag Archives: grant funding

Abandon ship, or learn to swim: the gamble young scientists must make

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For scientists, there’s nothing more frightening than a major grant rejection. With the scarcity of funding at the forefront of everyone’s thoughts, it’s time to talk about options, says Atma Ivancevic.

Job stability and a career in research are rarely put together. Science is a windy, grueling, uphill climb that might end abruptly at the edge of a cliff. Halloween is a particularly scary time for Australian scientists, as it signals the release of #NHMRC project grant results. Right now, many laboratories are facing difficult decisions due to rejected funding for next year. It’s not a surprise — we see it everywhere — yet it’s a shock that affects the entire scientific community. For early career researchers across the globe, it’s a timely reminder to carefully consider and plan for the future.

So, what are your options?

 

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The faculty series: Top 10 tips on negotiating start-up packages

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Negotiating the best deal for your research is something few junior faculty members are prepared for. Here’s some friendly advice.

New faculty are often given a start-up fund by their new department, which is designed to be enough to cover equipment costs and other expenses before the grants start knocking on the door. The sum of the start-up isn’t set in stone, and this leads to a dreaded period of negotiation; the difficult and lengthy process that few junior faculty members are prepared for. Here, Naturejobs offers help and advice that any new faculty member should bear in mind when trying to get the best deal to carry out their research.

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1. Know what you need before beginning any dialogue

Before beginning any negotiation, make sure to know what you absolutely need to carry out your research. Whether this is a telescope, the latest interactive graphics package, a peptide sequencer or a good old-fashioned centrifuge, getting your essentials right will put you in the right position to begin negotiating.

2. There’s no point having equipment if you don’t have any hands to use it

One of the largest costs you can expect to come out of your start-up fund are the salaries of PhD students and postdocs. They’re the most crucial components of the lab for almost all researchers. These are also expensive and, unlike equipment, you have to keep paying for them. If you don’t have the hands available to do the science, all of the new shiny equipment in the world isn’t going to make a difference. Factor trainee costs into your budget. Continue reading →

How to bounce back from grant rejection

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Courtney Long

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Introducing Courtney Long, one of the London Naturejobs Career Expo journalism competition runners-up.

Courtney Long is a native of Texas and is currently working as a postdoctoral fellow at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf in Hamburg, Germany. She received her PhD in Microbiology and Immunology from the University of Oklahoma Health Science Center in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA.  She enjoys traveling around Europe with her husband Andy, reading, walking her two boxers dogs, mochas, baking, and being an all-around sassy southern belle.

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It’s all in the way you handle it. First of all, I take the news with a class not seen since the likes of Grace Kelly or Jackie O.

OK, I lied. For me, part of bouncing back is going through the 6 stages of scientific grief.

Stage one: The initial let down

You anxiously open your email every morning, hoping they have contacted you. Every so often hitting the “Refresh” button (as in every few minutes) because surely something is wrong with the server and you just know the winners should be told by now. Then the fateful day arrives and sitting in your inbox is THE email. You open it with bated breath, your cheeks already starting to arch up in a celebratory smile, you start reading about how many strong applicants there were this year and what a difficult decision it was. Compliment sandwich at its best. Bottom line: You got rejected. The full weight of the rejection hasn’t quite hit and here is where you enter stage two. Continue reading →