Webinar: "Nature Research Academies: Writing impressive grant applications" [Day 1].

Target Audience: 

Researchers, students and faculty members. 

Summary and objectives:

This workshop provided attendees with the necessary skills, practical insights, and strategies to successfully compete for grant funding in Japan.

Webinar 1: Understanding KAKENHI and Identifying Relevant Research Questions. 

• Section 1: Introduction to KAKENHI: An overview of the various KAKENHI grants that are available as well as the review process that is used in evaluating proposals
• Section 2: Identifying relevant research questions: How to identify research questions that are currently relevant and important for the field, as well as how to prepare effective summaries of a research proposal that will get the attention of funding committees.
• Final Q&A

Following the workshop, a small group of attendees were provided with the opportunity to submit a brief 250-word summary of their proposal, present their proposal to the group, and receive peer feedback. The summary addressed the following:

• Why the topic is currently relevant for their field.
• The important research question that needs to be addressed.
• Highlighting the aims to address this question.
• The expected benefits this project will have for the field and/or society.

Post - event summary:

Participants found the following components of the workshop to be most useful:

STRATEGIES AND BEST PRACTICES FOR WRITING GRANT PROPOSALS, including:

• How to structure the application logically and strategically.
• Writing an introduction that engages reviewers from various disciplines, and understand what they are paying attention to and looking for.
• How to communicate the broader impact (e.g. on society) of the research.
• How to prioritize information in the proposal and communicate it efficiently and effectively.
• How to propose a research question that can be completed within the expected time frame.
• Effective approaches in writing each of the sections (e.g. aims, originality, significance, methodology) and ensure that all of the sections are clearly aligned.

INFORMATION AND ADVICE SPECIFICALLY RELATED TO KAKENHI GRANTS, including:

• Advice on providing a Japanese abstract.
• Kakenhi statistics and details.
• Clear guidance on the format and how to fill in the Kakenhi application.
• Guidance on how to choose the appropriate review section for Kakenhi.

GRANT WRITING STRATEGIES THAT CAN BE APPLIED TO OTHER COMPETITIVE GRANTS, including:

• Information and overview about funding agencies and what they are looking for in grant applications.
• Information about other Japanese grants.

Nature Research Academies

Nature Research Academies is a series of training workshops that has been developed by Nature Research, to help authors, reviewers and journal editors succeed in today’s competitive academic landscape.

Nature Research is a portfolio of high-quality products and services across the life, physical, chemical and applied sciences, including journals, online databases and researcher services, which are dedicated to serving the scientific community.

Nature Research is part of Springer Nature, the world ‘s largest academic book publisher, publisher of the world ‘s most influential journals and a pioneer in the field of open research. Springer Nature was formed in 2015 through the merger of Nature Publishing Group, Palgrave Macmillan, Macmillan Education and Springer Science Business Media.