Dates: September 25 – 29, 2017
Venue: Nairobi, Kenya

Workshop aim

To equip post-doctoral early career researchers and other researchers to develop a successful and substantial proposal for a personal award to support their research or a research grant or large project that they will lead.

Workshop learning objectives

• To write a proposal that addresses a research question that is in the participant’s area of expertise and that they want to answer
• To understand how to structure and write the proposal including literature review, methodology, methods including analysis plans, and impact plans
• To understand the process of developing a research proposal including identifying funding sources, tailoring proposal to funding sources, drawing on expertise, developing a budget, management plan and dissemination strategy.
• To seek and receive critique of research ideas and plans and to integrate feedback into a proposal
• To successfully work to a submission deadline

Workshop structure and timetable

The workshop will run throughout the day Monday 25th September – Friday 29th 2017 inclusive. We expect attendees to spend the week working on their research proposal.

Individual and group sessions with facilitators will be scheduled throughout the week. Each attendee should expect to meet with a facilitator daily for an hour either individually or in a small group.
Attendees may choose to work some evenings. In general, facilitators are not available for consultation during the evening.

Attendee pre-workshop preparation

Prior to attending the workshop please undertake the following tasks in order to benefit fully from the workshop.

Identifying funding sources

Search as widely as you can for potential funding opportunities for your research proposal. Look within your institution, country and internationally. Identify different types and size of funding. For example, you may find funding streams that fund individual’s undertaking a fellowship, small grants for early career researchers or large project grants. List the funding sources to which you are eligible to apply and download the guidelines for applications for these funding streams. During the workshop you will develop a proposal specifically for one funding source but it is important to have in mind alternative funding sources for which you could adapt your proposal.

Literature review

Search for and read published literature on your chosen topic and ensure you have access to the papers during the workshop (pdfs on your laptop). You will need this for writing the sections in your proposal about what is already known, the gap in knowledge your research will address and the current need for the research. Bring with you a copy of the searches you undertook to find the literature (search words, search engines used etc). Familiarize yourself with the Wellcome Trust application form for grants. This will be used at the workshop.

Please download the application form here: CARTA Graduate Workshop Application Form