Transcript building capacity for writing competitive grant

BUILDING CAPACITY FOR WRITING
A COMPETITIVE GRANT
APPLICATION
R. M. JINGURA
‘Research is one percent inspiration,
ninety-nine percent perspiration’
- adapted from Thomas A. Edison
CONTEMPORARY ACADEMIA
• Pressure on academics
– publish or perish (h-index)
– do a PhD or perish
• Foster a gentle approach to a complex
system
– non-linear complexities
• Broaden the base – place research on the agenda
• Set the research culture
INTRODUCING THE UNIVERSITY
RESEARCH FUND (URF)
• 5% of recurrent expenditure allocated to URF
• Annual allocation
• Eligibility – all lecturers
Purpose:
– Pump-priming fund to grow research
– Support early career researchers
– Purchase research equipment
– Drive the research agenda
• Allocated $140,000 in 2011
• Expecting > $200,000 this year
• 60% allocated to research grants ($120,000)
MANAGEMENT OF URF
• Managed by SERC
• Broadcast call for proposals
• Selection done by SERC
• Equity – allocation to priority research areas
PRIORITY RESEARCH AREAS
1) ICT and manufacturing engineering
2) Energy and water
3) Biotechnology, food security and food quality
4) Entrepreneurship and community development
5) Environmental systems, hospitality and tourism
6) Art and indigenous knowledge systems
EXPERIENCES
REASONS FOR REJECTION OF
APPLICATIONS
1. Lack of academic merit
2. Lack of ‘goodness-of-fit’ with research
themes
3. Under- or over-budgeting
4. Failure to adhere to guidelines
5. Individualism
STATISTICS FOR 2011
Item
Number of proposals
Statistic
16 (9)
Number of academics in proposals
76
Number of Lecturers
56
Number of Teaching Assistants
18
Number of female academics
20
Total budget allocated
$95,000
WORRISOME
• Lack of progress
• Failure to consume grants
• ‘Fake teams’
PROPOSAL PROCESSING FLOW
PRE-AWARD PHASE
RESEARCHER
Researchers
submit proposal
DEPARTMENT
Dept. evaluates
proposal
SRC
SRC evaluates
proposal
SERC
Sub-committee
evaluates
proposal
Grantee signs
contract letter
Projects Officer
opens account
Score cards
sent to DRPS
SERC selects
grantees
Project
starts
Ethics
review
FUNDAMENTAL ISSUES OF
PROPOSAL EVALUATION
1. Compliance with guidelines
2. Relevance of research
3. Academic merit
4. Scholarship
5. Postgraduate training
PEER REVIEW SYSTEM
Self-assessment
Peers
Department
School
SERC
POSSIBLE OUTCOMES
1.
Fundable (score above 33/50)
•
but does not mean will be funded
2.
Needing revision (25/50 – 32/50)
3.
Not fundable (< 25/50)
RESPONDING TO SERC DECISIONS
1. Combative
2. ‘Sour grapes’
3. Progressive
COMBATIVE & SOUR GRAPES
•Retrogressive
•Non-academic
PROGRESSIVE
• Seek to understand reasons for rejection
• Find ways of improving the application
FUNDAMENTALS OF GRANT
WRITING
a) Relevance of research
b) Typology of research approaches
c) Academic articulation of issues
RELEVANCE OF RESEARCH
RESEARCH MUST SOLVE SOCIETAL
PROBLEMS
• Research must be relevant to the
country’s needs
• Speak to the realities of Zimbabwe
• Within the confines of our ‘strategic
niche’
Poverty
Transportation
• Produce outputs consistent with a
university of technology
– Patents
– Licences
– Business incubation
– Technology parks
– Start-ups
– Contracts
– IPs
metrics
RESEARCH CYCLIC – NOT LINEAR
IDENTIFYING
TOPICS
DISSEMINATION
EVALUATION
PRIORITISING
ANALYSING
RESULTS
COMMISIONING
UNDERTAKING
RESEARCH
DESIGNING
RESEARCH
MANAGING
RESEARCH
TYPOLOGY OF RESEARCH
APPROACHES
1. Disciplinary
2. Multidisciplinary
3. Interdisciplinary
4. Transdisciplinary
MULTIDISCIPLINARY
Discipline A
Discipline A
Watson and Crick
Discipline B
Discipline B
INTERDISCIPLINARY
Discipline A
Discipline C
Discipline B
TRANSDISCIPLINARY
Discipline A
Non-academic participants
Discipline C
•Interdisciplinarity + participatory
Discipline B
TEAM BUILDING
• Build a team and not a group
 whole > sum
• Commonage of understanding
• Leverage value of diversity
• Collegiality vs. individualism
ACADEMIC ARTICULATION OF
ISSUES
DEVELOPING A RESEARCH TITLE
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• First thing reviewer learns about your
proposal
• A mini-abstract
• Use key words that reflect focus of the
proposal
• Restrict to 15 words or 60 characters
• Word syntax very important
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TYPES OF TITLES
• Single-sentence title
• Two-part title – hanging titles
– Building Adaptive Capacity to Climate
Change: Role of farmer field schools
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EXAMPLE
1. Use of farmer field schools to build adaptive
capacity to climate change
2. Building adaptive capacity to climate change
through farmer field schools`
Avoid present participle e.g. ‘Analysing….’, and say
‘Analysis of ….’
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DEFINING THE PROBLEM
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• Be able to adequately define a problem to
make a case for the research
– What is the nature of the problem? (the discrepancy
between ‘what is’ and what you prefer the situation to be)
– What is the distribution of the problem? (who is
affected, when, and where)
– What is the size and intensity of the problem? (is it
widespread, how severe is it, what are its consequences)
• Show evidence of the problem by citing
sources and giving statistics
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 Avoid such terms (circular & uncertain) as:
 ‘Little is known about….’ or ‘no research has dealt
with….’
 ‘There is a general lack of information….’
 Rather, explain consequences of lack of
information on potential impacts
ANALYSE THE PROBLEM
• Identify factors that may have contributed to the
problem
• Clarify the relationship between the problem and
contributing factors
how it affects
PROBLEM
how it affects
FACTOR 1
relationship
FACTOR 2
FORMULATING OBJECTIVES
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 Correspond to core problem
 Define strategy to overcome problem
 Focus the study (narrowing it down to
essentials)
 Avoid the collection of data which are not
necessary for solving the problem
 Organise the study in clearly defined parts or
phases
 Specifies measurable outcomes of project
 Different types and are SMART
TYPES OF OBJECTIVES
Behavioural
(anticipates that a particular human action will occur , e.g. learn to
do something)
Performance
(a particular behaviour will occur at an expected proficiency level over a
specified time frame, e.g. pass an assessment)
Process
(document manner in which something occurs)
Product
(the end product is a tangible item e.g. a module will be produced)
TYPOLOGY OF OBJECTIVES
1.General objective
2.Specific objectives
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SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES
• Are logically connected
• Specify what you will do in your study, where
and for what purpose
e.g. of logical specific objectives
a) to identify the geographical spread of the
problem
b) to determine the causes of the problem
c) to find solutions to the problem and make
recommendations
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EXAMPLE
a) General objective:
 To increase maize yield in drought-prone areas
b) This can be through:
 Adopting drought-tolerant cultivars
 Improving agronomic practices
 etc
c) Specific objective should specify which
strategy to be used
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CHARACTERISTICS OF SPECIFIC
OBJECTIVES
• Are clearly phrased in operational terms
• Are realistic considering local conditions
• Use action verbs that are specific enough to
be evaluated
• Examples of action verbs are: to determine, to
compare, to verify, to calculate, to describe, and to
establish
• Avoid the use of vague non-action verbs such
as: to appreciate, to understand, or to study
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UNDERSTANDING GOAL,
OUTCOMES AND OUTPUTS
GOAL
Improved livelihoods
OUTCOME
Increased cotton production
OUTPUT
high-yielding cotton cultivar produced
METHODOLOGY
FUNDAMENTAL ISSUES IN
METHODOLOGY
• Validity
• Reliability
problem
DATA COLLECTION
METHODOLOGY
QUANTITATIVE
QUALITATIVE
VARIABLES
VARIABLES
ANALYSES
ANALYSES
QUANTITATIVE
EXPERIMENTAL
QUASI-EXPERIMENTAL
Variables
Numerical
Categorical
Continuous
Ordinal
Discrete
Nominal
DATA ANALYSIS
• Quantitative data
–
–
–
–
–
–
Descriptive statistics
Categorical data
ANOVA
Regression, correlation
Linear models, mixed models
Nested data
BUDGET
• Guided by inputs
• Inputs derived from activities
• Activities derived from objectives
• Budget line items
–
Consumables
–
Small equipment
–
Travel
–
Lab analyses
–
Data collection
END