Recorded Workshop: The Write Stuff – The workshop

The recorded workshop (27 April, 2020) on proposal writing with Suzanne Darcy (University College Dublin, Sutherland School Of Law).

"Following on from my presentation at EARMA last year entitled ‘The Write Stuff – Saying More by Writing Less’ – I would like to facilitate a workshop – ‘The Write Stuff: The Workshop’.

My presentation was really well received and the Chair of EARMA at the time, Sharon Bailey, said it was one of the best presentations she had seen by a UCD staff member. The overriding feedback I received from the audience was that they wanted to see examples of the work first hand. They wanted the opportunity to sit down and actually look at proposals and pour over the content, the writing, the syntax, the grammar etc. I maintain, how we write is as important as what we write.

I propose to bring a variety of successful proposals I have worked on (redacted and anonymised) for the purposes of studying and analysing the ‘before’ and ‘after’. I have sought and gained permission from a number of researchers whose proposals I have edited and they are happy for me to use their work by way of example.

I’m in a position to bring Proposal A and Proposal B to the table, where the applicant was not successful under Proposal A, but was successful under Proposal B following a re-submission. Often there’s feedback to be used when working on a re-submission. I believe there are invaluable lessons to be learned through this process for any RMA that is involved in the editing and writing of funding proposals. This hands-on, real-time work will equip RMAs with new insights and expertise as they face the increasing challenge of securing research funding. For me, this is knowledge exchange at work in its truest sense.

I have access to excerpts from Irish Research Council Post Graduate and Post-Doctoral Applications, Marie-Curie IF Applications and finally an ERC Consolidator application."

This workshop is presented by EMDESK in cooperation with EARMA (European Association of Research Managers and Administrator).