We offer a wide range of tailored workshops and training focusing on proposal development, which are flexible to your needs and schedule - see below or download our flyer here.
WHAT WE CAN OFFER »
Here is a list of our most popular workshops. The structure, content and timing of these events can be tailored to your specific requirements.
Grants Academy (3-day) Workshop
This 3-day workshop will equip you with the skills to optimally structure your proposals so that reviewers are excited by your research from the first paragraph. You'll learn how to use building blocks of argument, detail and justification throughout the document to inspire confidence in the reviewers. This approach will be used to develop the framework of your proposal.
Traps, Tricks, and Techniques
This workshop highlights many of the traps that applicants frequently fall into when writing proposals and some useful tricks and techniques that can be used to optimise applications. This session covers the component blocks of a proposal and strategies that can be used to assemble these blocks into a competitive document.
Funder-Specific Training
We provide training events which familiarise participants with the funding opportunities, objectives and priorities of specific funders such as the European Commission or any of the major UK funders (e.g. Research Councils, Innovate UK, Wellcome Trust, Leverhulme Trust, British Academy). These events equip participants with the knowledge needed to target these funders.
The Funding Landscape
This short seminar provides an overview of all major EU and UK funding opportunities. It details the funding that is available and recent changes relevant to research funding.
Introduction to Impact
Impact is a crucial component of research proposals and it is often the part that applicants find the most difficult to address. This workshop develops techniques and strategies for maximising the many and diverse arguments relating to the impact of research which are required to ensure that an application is competitive.
Our workshops and training programmes are informed by our expertise as well as your needs:
We have designed and delivered workshops for researchers that are new to the funding landscape, explaining where to find funding opportunities and helping them to learn about the building blocks that are fundamental to constructing a competitive funding application.
We have been invited by numerous universities and research institutes to provide training to researchers in specific topics, including Project Management, Your First Bid as a PI, Impact, and Theory of Change.
We have offered researchers bespoke workshops on specific funding opportunities, including the Global Challenges Research Fund, Future Leaders Fellowships, Marie Curie Individual Fellowships and, more recently, Covid-19 rapid response opportunities.
We have organised writing retreats with individuals and small groups of academics to allow them to prepare funding applications in one day.
We have been invited speakers at several Research Festivals at UK Universities.
We have worked closely with university Research Offices to design and deliver tailored workshops on the Funding Landscape in such a way that their support is fully-integrated into the messages that we deliver, and the individual support that we subsequently provide following training.
In Focus
GrantCraft’s Impact Workshop
Our Impact workshop is usually delivered across one full day, beginning with a session that explains what impact is, the types of impacts that are sought by the major research funders, and the ways in which impact should be a clearly integral part of funding applications.
Following a break, we then use theory of change as a framework by which participants are guided to develop their own impact strategies as relevant to their own research. This includes the articulation of impact goals and the identification of stakeholders and beneficiaries.
After lunch, we explore ways of growing your networks and how to engage with these networks through dissemination and communication.
Through collaborative learning, interaction, and guided exercises participants of this workshop not only develop an in-depth understanding of theory of change as it applies to their own research, but also develop the skills to use theory of change in the planning and development of research proposals.
In Focus
GrantCraft’s Traps, Tricks, and Techniques Workshop
The following example outlines our full-day Traps, Tricks and Techniques workshop. We begin by inviting participants to introduce themselves and their disciplines to enable us to focus the discussion to the interests and career-stages of attendees.
The first part of our Traps, Tricks and Techniques workshop then invites attendees to think about their own research objectives, as well as those of the funder that they are targeting. Participants are invited to complete an exercise designed to encourage them to think about what to consider when looking at funders. We then turn to looking at the peer review process and, prior to taking a break, participants are invited to complete a further related exercise.
The next part of this workshop outlines the key components of a
research proposal and explains the role and importance of each. Participants continue working through exercises, gradually outlining their proposal section-by-section. After lunch, attendees learn more about impact and dissemination, drawing upon theory of change.
Following the completion of our Traps, Tricks and Techniques workshop, participants are able to explain some of the tricks and techniques that can be used to generate a competitive research proposal and how to avoid common traps. They will also have developed a good outline of the key components of their application, having been given the opportunity to discuss their ideas with their peers as well as our experienced workshop facilitators.
Remote Workshops and Webinars
This is an exciting new service that GrantCraft has developed for staff working remotely. At present we are offering pre-recorded presentations based around our popular training and workshops.
Once you have booked and registered, you will be given access to the content through a secure password-protected login. No specialist software is required. Our experienced facilitators will be on hand for support via video call (Zoom, Skype, MS Teams, etc.) and/or phone for questions and related exercises to ensure you get the most from the content provided. These are available for download on an individual basis or for a team or department.
POPULAR WEBINARS INCLUDE:
Other webinars tailored to your specific requirements can be easily arranged. Please contact us to discuss.
I genuinely think the GrantCraft Grant Writing Workshop was one of the most useful types of grant training I've ever had! I have some experience writing grants but I am now starting to write large PI grants (which is a whole other ball-game). Previously I've found grant workshops ignore my field when discussing impact/objectives and instead focus on easier examples. I also often find them to be a little unintentionally patronising. However these GrantCraft webinars were exactly the opposite! They were informative, very sensible lengths, and included a great example of a research proposal with slightly fuzzier deliverables. Chris also provided really useful ways of thinking about each section of the grant - I made literally pages of notes and just found the whole thing really positive, helpful, and fun! Thanks to the Research Office for funding the session and thanks Chris for hosting!
- Grant Writing Webinar Attendee, Aston University.
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON ANY OF OUR TRAINING SERVICES
