'A brilliant concept poorly explained has no chance'

At his masterclass last month Prof Paul Allain gave a very useful insight into the language which you should use when preparing a grant application. He highlighted the multiple different readers your proposal has to be seen (and understood) by, and gave pointers to help in this, including:

• Use a clear layout -eg bullet points, short sentences, paragraph breaks, signposts, diagrams
• Use repetition and emphasis, but be economic and brief
• Learn 'the language of funding', and follow the AHRC's suggested format.

His full slides are available on the Research Services website.