“We refused to believe that we could not get a share of this money”

By Marie Hohnen, hoh@sdu.dk, 2/2/2022

In December last year, something happened that had not happened in the previous two years. 

The Carlsberg Foundation awarded, as it usually does at the end of the year, the Carlsberg Foundation Young Researcher Fellowships to younger associate professors.

But this time, not just one, but two researchers from the Faculty of Science (NAT) at SDU were awarded funding - even though researchers from NAT the previous years had not been able to get a share of the grant.

The success of the applicants could be due to the fact that the faculty's research support unit, the External Relations Team (ERT), decided to actively take part in the application process: 

– We refused to believe that we could not get a share of this money. Therefore, we set up a writing group for a total of six younger associate professors at the faculty who lived up to the criteria for the grant, so we hopefully could help them make some successful applications, says Philip Hallenborg, who is a specialist consultant at ERT.

In the writing group, Philip Hallenborg and his colleague from ERT, Marie Grimstrup, came with writing tips and ideas for the researchers. In addition, they reviewed an example of a granted application, and discussed what worked well and less well.

Subsequently, ERT gave individual feedback to the researchers who wanted to, and two out of six ended up receiving a share of the funds. 

Associate Professor Melih Kandemir from the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science received DKK 5 million, and Associate Professor Clare Kirkpatrick from the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology received DKK 4.2 million.

Grant "impossible" without ERT

Last year, Melih Kandemir moved from the Bosch Center for Artificial Intelligence in Germany to a position as an associate professor at the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science at SDU. 

He accepted ERT's offer of assistance in the application process for the Carlsberg Foundation Young Researcher Fellowships, and he is confident that the process with ERT made all the difference.

– I made two applications to two big domestic grant bodies, the Novo Nordisk Foundation and the Carlsberg Foundation, very soon after I moved to Denmark. It would literally have been  impossible for me to receive these grants without the support of ERT. I was very lucky to have worked with Marie Grimstrup, who reviewed my proposals with great rigor and made plenty of suggestions for improvement, says Melih Kandemir.

According to Melih Kandemir, Marie Grimstrup came up with proposals that were based on her knowledge of the Danish funding landscape, but she also came up with ideas that everyone who writes research applications would benefit from.

Marie Grimstrup is pleased that Melih Kandemir received the grants, and she calls their collaboration "absolutely perfect":

– Melih trusted that what I said was right. We wish to strengthen the collaboration with the new researchers who arrive at SDU and who do not know the Danish funding landscape, and we succeeded in this case, says Marie Grimstrup.

To explain the wider benefits of the research 

What can ERT specifically help with? First, the team has a knowledge of how to write competitive applications. It is a genre that can be difficult to master. 

– A strong application must explain why the research is broadly interesting - its impact, for example, what significance it has for society. In addition, the application must dive into the scientific detail so that the researcher shows that he or she masters it. You have to be able to lead the reader from the broad perspective and down to the small detail, explains Marie Grimstrup.

Secondly, the people at ERT themselves have a scientific background, so they can help with more than just language: 

– We have spent years building experience in what it takes to write convincing research applications. We work hard, and in our deepest co-writing processes, for example, we also read the scientific articles that the researchers refer to. If we think some important details are missing, we sometimes find new articles or reports they can use.

Marie Grimstrup adds that the thorough help requires the researchers contact the ERT well in advance of the deadline. 

Process and trust

One of the challenges of the ERT is to get researchers to say yes to their help, because it is not always easy.

– We can help move an application from being below the bar to being granted. Therefore, it is also important for us to say that we do not just deliver texts back to the researchers filled with red lines that they must correct. No, we actually also come up with solution proposals and ideas for ways to frame the research area, says Marie Grimstrup.

It is far from all researchers who want to work with the team in a co-writing process. Therefore, the ERT team spends a lot of time explaining what they can contribute with:

– These are some sensitive processes. We have to learn how the researcher wants our help from time to time and that requires building trust, says Marie Grimstrup.

That confidence building was successful in the process with Melih Kandemir, who recommends other researchers to use ERT's help:

– Overall, I can confidently say that I am a much better grant proposal writer than I was before working closely with Marie. This process also made me a sharper thinker on the impact of my research and a more accurate planner on my resources, says Melih Kandemir.