Telling Science Stories in Research Grants: Lessons from the Nonprofits
Nonprofit stories are about meeting a need. Scientific or research stories ask a question. Nonprofits use storytelling in grant proposals, marketing materials, annual campaigns, appeals, and other promotional documents. They do this so well that storytelling recently became a major theme of grant writing training opportunities. Similarities exist between the nonprofit world and the research university. Whether we like to admit it or not, an individual researcher, a laboratory group, or a larger collaborative effort are really nonprofit centers that function within the larger nonprofit that is the university.
So why not harness the power of story in research and scientific grant proposals?
Academic Grantsmanship: Writing, Acadecmic Writing, and Story
Academics are professional writers. We write all the time. We write books and scholarly articles about our research interests. We write a variety of proposals (grant, book, curriculum etc.). We write teaching materials for our classes. We write internal reports as a service to the university. We write reviews of our colleague’s work. Sometimes we get paid for it. The bad news is that academics and scientists are not always the best communicators. Steven Pinker’s talk at MIT on The Sense of Style: Scientific Communication for the 21st Century is long, but full of great examples and excellent advice.
What is Academic Grantsmanship? A few random thoughts.
Academic grantsmanship seems like a deadly dull topic for these late summer days. The summer is far from over, but it is back to school for many in higher education. It is an ideal time to discuss the meaning and significance of grantsmanship for those preparing for the tenure track, on the tenure track, the tenured, outside the tenure track, and even those moving toward promotion as a new academic year begins.
Grantsmanship matters because it is tied to employment. Both are uneasy partners in higher education, especially for scientists. Grants support both undergraduate and graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, research scientists, technicians, and even non scientific support staff with proper justification. Assistant and associate professors hear the term from colleagues and administrators when applying for tenure or promotion. Grantsmanship mattered before the current budget woes and funding sequester. It matters during these times and it will matter in the future.
What does this term mean to academics?