First up, in my experience, the vast majority of proposals I read are good. They are things that you would happily fund or give telescope time to. Unfortunately, there's never enough time/money to go around. Rejection doesn't mean your project was poorly received.
-
-
Prikaži ovu nit
-
So - although this is much easier said than done - try not to take rejection to heart. Take your idea, reshape it, and resubmit. If helpful feedback has been given, include it. And talk to your colleagues about it. We've all had rejections, we all know how that feels.
Prikaži ovu nit -
Probably the most important advice I can give is: make your proposal a self contained project, where the project, method, goals and/or implications of your results are clear to *someone who is not an expert in your field*. I cannot stress how much this can help.
Prikaži ovu nit -
Even when I've been on panels that are very focused on my narrow discipline of, say, resolved stellar populations in the Local Group, there are a ton of interesting science cases included in the panel remit. Many of these are unfamiliar to me, or other panel members.
Prikaži ovu nit -
Those proposals that rise to the top are usually those that: 1) give a clear, concise summary of the big picture *and* how this work will directly link into that (by e.g. advancing, constraining, discriminating between, theories/observations).
Prikaži ovu nit -
It's so much easier to score a proposal highly if it has a clear message on how this time/money will end up making a defined impact in a given field. If you don't link your work back to the big picture, a panel may wonder how this project will make a difference.
Prikaži ovu nit -
To make sure that you make your case clear, give it to a colleague who works in a different area to you. See what they did and did not understand. Use this audience to make you proposal more generally accessible.
Prikaži ovu nit -
2) Make your pathway to science clear. There are a lot of great proposals, which clearly elucidate the big picture, and the importance of making a specific measurement/prediction/study. But then they don't include a concrete summary of how they go from the idea to the result.
Prikaži ovu nit -
The panel may agree your end goal is important, and high impact, but if they don't understand how you will get there, they can't assess feasibility. So explain your method. Give concrete estimates of timelines and constraints. For observations, make clear what a null result means
Prikaži ovu nit -
And, if you have a pilot study/ test case /early indicative result, highlight these! This can demonstrate you have the tools and knowledge needed for this new project. Highlight your previous work too (if it's not an anonymised process). Showing your expertise is great!
Prikaži ovu nit -
3) Don't annoy the panel. If there are formatting guidelines, follow them. You may think a panel member won't notice your slightly narrower margins, or smaller font. They will. And it will put them in a bad mood. Some organisations can summarily reject on this basis alone.
Prikaži ovu nit -
Another way to annoy them is to ignore previous feedback. Some panels change on a yearly basis. Some don't. If they've seen your proposal before, and taken time to write feedback, but you resubmit an identical proposal, that can be frustrating. Although, an important caveat...
Prikaži ovu nit -
... the panel feedback may be less helpful than intended, or miss the point. So there's no harm in explaining why you can't do what they suggest. They may have misunderstood something. Try making your point in another way that might make your case clearer to them.
Prikaži ovu nit -
4) Make figures as clear and relevant as possible. It's tempting to use existing figures from your paper. But if that figure has extra models/data that the panel don't need, remake it to remove that. And annotate things. I love an arrow that points to the thing I need to see :)
Prikaži ovu nit -
Ok, I think that's all I have for now. Any questions, let me know. And if you have a proposal, get feedback from a diverse range of people. Good luck :)
Prikaži ovu nit
Kraj razgovora
Novi razgovor -
Čini se da učitavanje traje već neko vrijeme.
Twitter je možda preopterećen ili ima kratkotrajnih poteškoća u radu. Pokušajte ponovno ili potražite dodatne informacije u odjeljku Status Twittera.