Instead, applicants need to direct their creativity
and enthusiasm to find a worthwhile long term aim, a driving force, in the believably
achievable part of the continuum. But what is your driving force? If it's promotion or fame, it's likely your
lack of real interest in the research will make the proposal feel hollow. No, the driving force has to be a commitment
and an intense interest in something important to you.
The next step is to think how you would ultimately
want to be ‘assessed’, that is, what your criteria for success are. What do you
want the lasting achievement of the project to be? What would satisfy you? This process tells you what your short term
aims need to be, and the activities you will need to achieve them. What
methodology? What outputs? What do you want in your papers, web pages,
performances? Theory, philosophy, data collection, analysis, computations,
textual analysis, experiments...
The next step is working out the resources you need
to fulfil these. These might include staff time, equipment, travel and
subsistence. For staff, you should think what kind of person (and at what
level) you want. You should also think what would make it attractive to them;
what professional development opportunities are there for them?
In addition, you should think about the time frame
and milestones for your project. How will it fit together? How will you manage
your team to ensure the milestones are met? What are you going to do if you do
not meet these milestones? You absolutely need a Plan B!
Prof Peter Taylor-Gooby (SSPSSR) spoke from experience and
added some detail to this outline. For instance, when the project has formed in
your mind and you’re beginning on the application itself, make sure that you’re
‘tuned in’ to the language of the call or the scheme. Look at the guidance and
pick out key words. Make sure that those key words appear in your proposal.
Once you’ve prepared the draft, remove the title and show it to a wide range of
people. Ask them what they think it’s about. If they’re not able to say, or
give wildly varying answers, you need to redraft, to keep the language simple,
and to concentrate on the essence of your project.
The second half of the session was an opportunity
for those in the audience to discuss the issues raised in the first. Ultimately
proposals need to reach a certain quality threshold to be considered. However,
above that it can be a lottery, and applicants need to do everything in their
own control to shorten their odds.
Hand outs and images of the diagrams that Elizabeth used are available, with these notes, on the SharePoint site.
