Getting the research grant

SMU Office of Research & Tech Transfer – Following the success of the inaugural Research Grant Review Seminar series conducted by Professor Peter Coclanis in 2018, the Office of Research and Tech Transfer (ORTT) invited him back for an adapted version of the sharing session – the Research Grant Writing Workshop – on August 15, 2019, which attracted 53 SMU participants. 

Prof Coclanis, an Economic Historian by training, hails from the University of North Carolina, and has previously served on many grant panels over the years, including a ten-year stint on a Singapore funding agency grant review panel, for part of which period he served as chair.

Aimed at helping faculty and researchers to better develop competitive grant applications and to improve the quality of SMU research proposals, the 1.5-hour workshop kicked off with Prof Coclanis sharing useful pointers and insights for grant applicants, based on his experience and observations during his tenure as a grant review panellist both in Singapore and internationally.

Some useful tips that Prof Coclanis shared include:

• Keep in mind the difference between writing a grant application and writing a journal publication;
• A good proposal requires for the grant applicant to introduce the topic being researched at a more general level (without technical jargon), rather than getting right into the details;
• Grant panels will also look at the CVs, records of accomplishment, publications and letters of support to establish whether the grant applicants are capable of delivering the deliverables in the proposal; and
• It always helps to signal policy relevance in some way, especially when applying to Singapore funding agencies.

More useful tips on what to look out for in research grant writing can be found here.

Given our niche areas and compact size, Prof Coclanis also sees SMU’s potential in leveraging collaboration between researchers of different departments and Schools on inter- and multidisciplinary projects, and addressing SMU’s five Societal Challenge areas.

The Research Grant Writing Workshop is part of an array of research grant resources and initiatives that ORTT has put together to build up SMU’s research capacity and enhance the quality of grant applications. For more information on other available resources, please visit the Grants Intranet.

While faculty who have been successful in their research grant applications may make the most of it for the rest of their careers, applicants who have had less luck should not be discouraged. Resilience and grit will bring forth eventual success. We urge all faculty and research staff to continue to apply for research grants and to reach out to ORTT at ortt [at] smu.edu.sg.

ORTT is happy to support you on your research grant application journey!  

Back to Research@SMU Aug 2019 Issue