Declined Grant Proposals: Analyze Reviews and Create a Plan for Resubmission

On average, it takes three submissions before a faculty member will get their proposal for funding accepted by a grant agency. To complicate matters, the reviews that accompany the rejection are often complex and contradictory, so it can be difficult to know how to move forward – especially when many faculty get little help interpreting reviews. As such, many faculty members, especially junior faculty, simply give up on the proposal too soon and do not put effort into revising and resubmitting it. When this happens, important research may be left undone, the institution cannot meet its strategic goal of growing research, and faculty find it difficult to publish in top journals and stay on track for promotion and tenure. 

Join our expert instructor to learn how to review and analyze your declined grant proposals with a fresh perspective – one that will give you confidence in how to best move forward with your declined proposal, as well as all future proposals. Our expert will guide you through the process that will teach you how to: 

1. Objectively assess your individual reviews  
2. Identify patterns and uncover the most critical feedback 
3. Anticipate hidden weaknesses  
4. Identify both the root causes and underlying conditions preventing an award 
5. Develop a plan for resubmission 

 If you’re looking to better understand the proposal review process and put yourself in reviewers’ shoes, this webcast is for you! 

Who Should Attend

This webcast is designed for grant-active faculty who are in the process of resubmitting a “declined” grant proposal. This training will be especially helpful for junior faculty who may be new to the grant proposal process and want to make sure they remain on track to tenure by securing funds for research. This webcast may also be beneficial for research development offices, deans, and department chairs who are responsible for supporting and coaching their faculty through the grant proposal process. 

Agenda

Section 1 – The Proposal Review Process: What Happens Behind Closed Doors?
Before you can interpret and act upon your review analysis and individual reviews, you should understand the context of how your proposal is reviewed. You will learn how the reviews are organized, the power dynamics at play during the review process, and the most common reasons behind declined grant proposals.    

Section 2 – How Do You Analyze Your Results?  
With reviews in hand, you will be guided through a post-mortem tool to interpret, analyze, and understand your scores and key weaknesses. More importantly, this tool will empower you to decide how to move forward with your proposal, including whether to revive it or redirect it to a different funding source.      

Section 3 – What Preventative Measures Can You Implement?
You’ll walk away with tips and strategies for how to submit a successful proposal from the start, so that you’re less likely to get denied in the first place.