Transcript Slide 1

Developing Collaborative
Grant Proposals
Robert Porter, Ph. D.
University of Tennessee
[email protected]
www.research.utk.edu
Collaboration: A Global View
“In a global society, in which timely
information is the most important
commodity, collaboration is not simply
desirable, it is inevitable. In all but the
rarest cases, one is too small a number to
produce greatness.”
Bennis & Ward, Organizing Genius: The Secrets of Creative Collaboration, 1997
Why build collaborative teams?
 Science evolves to converge disciplines
- Ex: Computational biology, nanotechnology
 Sponsors are increasingly emphasizing interdisciplinary research
- Limited budgets, bigger bang for the buck
 Most large grant programs require an interdisciplinary approach
- Complex problems best approached from multiple perspectives
 Problem: Institutions not structured to foster IDR
- Universities built on departments & colleges
- Funders want to solve problems
“Real world problems do not come in disciplinary boxes.”
- J. Klein
Levels of collaboration:
Unidisciplinary
Interdisciplinary
Multidisciplinary
Transdisciplinary
Benefits of collaborative
proposals:
For researchers:
For institutions:
• Bigger & better ideas
• Access to larger grant
programs
• Stronger research
outcomes
• Expanded career
opportunities
• Improved recruitment
• Enhanced academic
prestige
• Improved infrastructure
• Expanded service
delivery
• Greater capacity
utilization
• Improved recruitment
Miner, Miner & Griffith, Collaborative Grantseeking, 2011
Forms of Collaboration
• Institution/Institution: Partnerships to achieve a mutual goal
EX: NIH “Bridges to the Baccalaureate” (R25)
• Network support for institutions or researchers
EX: NIH IDeA Networks of Biomedical Research Excellence (INBRE
NSF Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (LSAMP)
• Training programs to encourage interdisciplinary research
EX: NIH NRSA Institutional Training Grant (T32)
• Targeted research programs focused on core theme
EX: NIH Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women’s Health
NSF Science, Engineering and Education for Sustainability (SEES)
• Institutional capacity building grants
EX: NIH Science Education Partnership (SEPA R25)
NSF ADVANCE: Increasing the Participation of Women
in Academic and Science Careers
Research collaboration:
A thought experiment
Epidemiologists have long known that door knobs
and elevator buttons are major links in disease
transmission. Your idea: Develop a durable
antimicrobial coating that would prevent the spread
of illness. What academic disciplines/research
expertise will you need on your team?
 ______________________________________________
 ______________________________________________
 ______________________________________________
 ______________________________________________
 ______________________________________________
A Starting Point...
• What are you passionate
about?
• What is the problem (and why is
it important)?
• How is existing knowledge or
practice inadequate?
• Why is your idea better?
• How is it new, unique, different?
• What will it contribute and who will
benefit from it?
Tradition & Change: A Tug of War?
Disciplinarity:
•
•
•
•
•
•
Tradition bound
Departmentally constrained
Conservative (rigid?)
Slow to change
Pride in high standards
Dedicated to order and
control
• Wary of interdisciplinarity
(“vague” “speculative”)
Interdisciplinarity:
• Trailblazing
• “Break down the silos”
• Liberal
• Seek change
• Excited by new approaches
• Embrace flexibility
• Frustrated with “disciplines”
(“narrow” “confining”)
Barriers to teambuilding
• Academics are accustomed to a single disciplinary focus
• Every discipline has its own culture; some mix easily, others don’t
• Rewards systems not consistent with interdisciplinary goals
• Deans, Department Heads not enthusiastic about crossing
disciplinary barriers
• Building trust is both necessary and difficult!
• Simple logistics can be a problem: Where to meet? Who leads
the discussion? Who “owns” the project?
• Junior faculty sometimes discouraged from collaboration
• Difficult to decide specific roles of team members
• Strong leadership is essential and rare!
Building a Research Team
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Bring together members with diverse backgrounds
Leader: establish expectations
Participants: know your role and responsibility to team
Agree on team goals—expect them to change!
Expect disagreements and conflict (especially early)
Agree on: a) sharing data
b) sharing credit
c) managing authorship
d) ownership of intellectual property
Collaboration and Team Science: A Field Guide
NIH, 2010
Collaborative grant writing tips:
1. Establish leadership. Every project needs a skilled leader(s) to succeed. Strong
communication, teambuilding, and project management skills required!
2. First meeting. Brainstorm ideas; seek strong core theme; work up rough outline
3. Schedule. Working back from deadline, outline schedule for proposal development
4. Team assignments. Assign proposal sections to team members (literature search,
data mining, graphics, project narrative, letters of support, budget)
5. Accountability. Set due dates and regular meetings!
6. Editor. Identify an editor (not necessarily team leader)
7. Compile drafts. Editor compiles draft materials and brings to each meeting
8. Red Team Review. Identify 1 – 3 experienced researchers to review late draft
(Note: For large grant, PAY an external reviewer!)
9. Incorporate review. Meet as team to consider reviewers’ comments
10. Final editing. Editor makes final changes
11. Checklist. Editor and Office of Research double check final draft
for compliance with RFP and funding agency guidelines
12. Submission. Proposal is submitted!
Critical points in a collaborative proposal:
1. Stress the need. Why does this problem/issue require a multifaceted
approach?
2. For new teams: Show how this project will lead to further advances
in the long term
3. For established teams: Emphasize past successes and how this work
will build on them
4. Team skills. Describe complementary skills and experience of team
members
5. Team roles. Clearly delineate respective roles and responsibilities of
team members in the project plan. Who does what and when?
6. Management plan. What mechanisms will assure the team will
accomplish assigned tasks on time, on budget (Leadership roles, team
meetings, administrative accountability, progress reports, etc.)
7. Value added. Highlight positive outcomes that cannot be achieved
without the collaboration (Note: these must be desired by the funder!)
Critical points in the proposal, cont’d:
8. Proposal development. Document how collaborators have worked together
on the proposal, start to finish
9. Common goals. Stress how project fits each collaborator’s mission and will
achieve common goals
10. Sustainability. Develop a pre-agreement on what will happen when funding
ends
11. Documentation. Enclose cover letters from collaborating organizations—
signed by leadership!
12. Institutional commitment. Describe all resources each party will contribute:
personnel time, facilities, equipment, administrative support, (and cash, if
possible)
Sample Gantt Chart, Proposal Development
How institutions can facilitate
more research collaborations:
• Ensure the faculty reward system (promotion, tenure)
adequately recognizes the value of interdisciplinary research
• Hold academic leaders responsible to reach beyond
disciplinary boundaries
• Restructure budget to reserve funds dedicated to common
good (as opposed to colleges/departments)
• Provide seed funding to launch new IDR groups
• Engage more undergraduates in interdisciplinary courses and
research
• Aggressively pursue funding opportunities that support
interdisciplinary work
Resources
Collaboration Success Wizard - University of
Calif., Irvine by Gary Olson
 Online survey tool to provide researchers
feedback to facilitate success
 Identifies strengths and weaknesses of a
collaborations
 Completed by an individual
http://hana.ics.uci.edu/wizard/
Resources, cont’d
 NIH Collaboration and Team Science website:
https://ccrod.cancer.gov/confluence/display/NIHOM
BUD/Home
 Team Science Toolkit
http://www.teamsciencetoolkit.cancer.gov/public/h
ome.aspx?js=1
Resources, cont’d
The COALESCE project provides on-line
learning resources to enhance skills to
perform transdisciplinary, team-based
translational research.
A Final Note….
“Finding good players is easy. Getting them
to play as a team is another story.”
- Casey Stengel