Bouvier Grant Group

1. Preparation

You have a cool idea for a research project, now what? Great science is necessary, but not sufficient, to funding success. Here, I discuss preparatory strategies that distinguish my grantees who are consistently more successful at NIH. Actionable tips include how to search the Reporter website for similar projects and possible sponsoring IC, PO, and study section; ways to identify the optimal FOA for this stage of your career and project; templates for reaching out to the PO(s) to discuss your project; then utilizing this information to make the best possible selection for study design, sponsoring IC, FOA, and study section. Emphasis is placed on the importance of building a long-term relationship with the program officer. A checklist helps you track your progress through these important steps.

2. Specific Aims

The one-page Aims document is arguably the most important narrative section of an NIH A0. Learn to grab the reviewers attention right from the start. Packed with templates and samples, course participants will be walked through the writing of an effective narrative overview, a well-constructed “we propose” paragraph, effective aims, and punchy impact statements. The training manual contains instructions, tips, numerous samples from recent successful applications, and a writing exercise that consists of a funded Aims page into which I have inserted mistakes I typically see. A checklist helps you strengthen your draft.

3. Significance and Innovation

Grantees often struggle to write the Significance and Innovation sections and to distinguish between the two. I walk grantees through the writing of a strong Significance section, which includes disease burden, the important Rigor of Prior Research subheader, and how your project will address the strengths and weaknesses of the prior research and reduce disease burden. I will demonstrate how the Innovation section must drive home the competitive advantage over previous and current approaches. Because reviewers tend to skim text at the meeting, I provide examples from numerous recently funded grant applications of newspaper-style headers that facilitate grasping key concepts. The training manual offers loads of actionable tips, templates, recently funded samples, and exercises to help you edit and write more competitively. An at-a-glance table and checklist assist in developing a strong draft.

4. Approach

The approach section is perhaps the most intuitive yet daunting of the subheaders to tackle. Statistically, it receives the worst subscore and correlates most closely with the overall score. I will offer strategies for developing an effective outline and formatting techniques. One by one, we will review templates and samples for each of the sections typically included in the all-important approach section. We will discuss what kind of project you are doing, which determines what content goes in the approach versus the Human Subjects Form. Emphasis will be placed on concrete ways to write effective Scientific Rigor and Consideration of Relevant Biological Variables sections, including many examples from recently funded grant applications. An actionable checklist will help you write a sophisticated draft.