On funding, peer review and adapting to the COVID-19 pandemic
It has been a busy start to the year on all fronts: as always, we have delivered workshops and supported researchers with papers and grant applications. And we are also in the midst of finalizing a project we have been working on for the past couple of years – we are excited to tell you more in spring. But for now, we – much as the rest of the world – need to adapt to the rapidly evolving COVID-19 pandemic.
The Elevate team
Trainings
We commenced this year by delivering three very appreciated workshops on grant writing, guiding around 100 researchers at Mid Sweden University, Lund University and Uppsala University. Many thanks to all organizers and the participants for making these workshops such a success!
“Dr. Dan Csontos from Elevate Scientific held a very appreciated workshop on how to write a successful grant application. Overall, it was a very well composed workshop that I would highly recommend to researchers at any level!”
– Nina Erkenstam, Research Advisor at the Mid Sweden University
Adapting to COVID-19
We had planned to deliver more workshops during the next few months. But given the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, we have discussed alternative solutions with our clients and agreed that we will either postpone the live workshops to a later date or deliver workshops in a webinar format.
Because of this, from March 30 we will offer our trainings on Scientific writing and publishing with impact and How to write successful grant applications in webinar form, to both old and new clients.
We have also decided on March 12 that our team will work remotely inasmuch possible, until further notice. We do this to minimize travel and contact with other people, and thereby contribute, in however small a manner, to ‘flattening the curve’ as a step towards mitigating the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic
Editorial
The application deadlines of many Swedish funders are in the January-to-April period, and we have supported many researchers with their applications to funders such as the Swedish Research Council and Formas. We have also helped with a couple of nomination letters for prestigious prizes, which highlights the range of assignments we are comfortable handling. We wish all applicants good luck and hoping for positive evaluations!
On funding and rude reviews
It is difficult to transform great research ideas into reality without funding. But applying for grants is time consuming and – given how competitive the process is – it can feel like a mountain too high to climb. That is where we come in. Read about common issues we have come across when supporting researchers and institutions over the years, and the framework we use to address these.
Rude and irrelevant comments from reviewers can lead to lasting consequences for those belonging to underrepresented groups. In a recent post, we call on journal editors to take a more active role to minimize the potentially adverse effects of such comments.
