This page is for YOU! Students (and of course teachers) are welcome to ask me questions about my research, or life as a scientist or anything else relevant to these webpages! And feel free to answer each other's questions as well!
Hi Amanda, First of all, congratulation for being able to reserve some of your limit time to create this nice blog, under an altruism approach. I also have a blog about academic supervision, grant information... that I can tell you if you want to have a look into it.
Last year I finnished my Ph.D. in Spain. I continue with my contract as a high education teacher in my university and, of course, with my research. But in November, due to the critial finantial situation in the last 5 years, my contract did not promote and it finnished. Now, I am looking for a postdoctoral postion. I am planning an Individual european Marie Curie and an International Newton. It is going to be the firt time for me to develop a project proposal and I would like to read some examples of past-successful ones to get an idea of how to start. Due to your postdoctoral experience, what would you advice me?
Hi Mercedes, Congratulations on completing your PhD and for becoming a teacher (personally I think the later is way more important but I'm not in control of hiring new academics! ;) To answer your question about postdoc applications my first advice would be that you have to be in it to win it. I had many people tell me I would never get a Marie Curie but I applied anyway and the application was successful. That said, writing a good application is time consuming and hard work. Both the Marie Curie and the Newton fellowship applications took me about 3 months to get right. I have never been on a panel selecting successful applicants so my next comments are a guess at what matters most. Depending on the application your publication record is sometimes the most important aspect but not for all. The Marie Curie and Newton application put a lot of emphasis on the project proposal and the host lab. I guess it helps to have some preliminary data if you have any to show the feasibility of your proposal. Also granting organisations are ticking boxes too. They need to show the tax payers (or companies etc) that they are addressing questions of human relevance, bringing in intellectual resources to the country or institution and that the person can communicate that information to others. This means the boxes on 'significance of your research' and 'benefits to the host lab (or country)' are also very important. I don't know how best to answer these sections but often institutions have a research office (or similar) who deal with grant submissions and they may be able to help better. I didn't think of this when I was applying originally, but I will talk more with them in future. If you want to read successful applications I think it's best to ask around your current institution and that of the host institution. As for your happiness in your next position: make sure you have met the supervisor in person before you apply and if you have any doubts, go somewhere else. The supervisor can make or break your experience. You want to find someone who will give you the freedom to develop as an independent researcher but who will support you when you come across difficulties or wish to apply for the next step. The interaction between any two people is different for every two individuals and if you find someone you can work well with it can be very productive and happy time.
I hope this helps and I wish you the very best success! Good luck Amanda
Hi Amanda,
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, congratulation for being able to reserve some of your limit time to create this nice blog, under an altruism approach. I also have a blog about academic supervision, grant information... that I can tell you if you want to have a look into it.
Last year I finnished my Ph.D. in Spain. I continue with my contract as a high education teacher in my university and, of course, with my research. But in November, due to the critial finantial situation in the last 5 years, my contract did not promote and it finnished. Now, I am looking for a postdoctoral postion. I am planning an Individual european Marie Curie and an International Newton. It is going to be the firt time for me to develop a project proposal and I would like to read some examples of past-successful ones to get an idea of how to start. Due to your postdoctoral experience, what would you advice me?
Thanks!
Hi Mercedes,
DeleteCongratulations on completing your PhD and for becoming a teacher (personally I think the later is way more important but I'm not in control of hiring new academics! ;)
To answer your question about postdoc applications my first advice would be that you have to be in it to win it. I had many people tell me I would never get a Marie Curie but I applied anyway and the application was successful. That said, writing a good application is time consuming and hard work. Both the Marie Curie and the Newton fellowship applications took me about 3 months to get right.
I have never been on a panel selecting successful applicants so my next comments are a guess at what matters most. Depending on the application your publication record is sometimes the most important aspect but not for all. The Marie Curie and Newton application put a lot of emphasis on the project proposal and the host lab. I guess it helps to have some preliminary data if you have any to show the feasibility of your proposal. Also granting organisations are ticking boxes too. They need to show the tax payers (or companies etc) that they are addressing questions of human relevance, bringing in intellectual resources to the country or institution and that the person can communicate that information to others. This means the boxes on 'significance of your research' and 'benefits to the host lab (or country)' are also very important. I don't know how best to answer these sections but often institutions have a research office (or similar) who deal with grant submissions and they may be able to help better. I didn't think of this when I was applying originally, but I will talk more with them in future.
If you want to read successful applications I think it's best to ask around your current institution and that of the host institution.
As for your happiness in your next position: make sure you have met the supervisor in person before you apply and if you have any doubts, go somewhere else. The supervisor can make or break your experience. You want to find someone who will give you the freedom to develop as an independent researcher but who will support you when you come across difficulties or wish to apply for the next step. The interaction between any two people is different for every two individuals and if you find someone you can work well with it can be very productive and happy time.
I hope this helps and I wish you the very best success!
Good luck
Amanda
good answer
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