Grant Writing Workshop

Today I'm attending a grand writing workshop given by David C. Morrison of Grant Writers Seminars and Workshops, LLC. During the first part of the workshop, Dr. Morrison has discussed the need for not only a good research idea but the commonsense notions that the granting agency wants to fund research into ideas that support their mission statement. He emphasized the necessity of researching and knowing your competition AND the agency from which you're seeking funding in order to frame your proposal and communicate your idea in terms that appeal to the funding agency. He gave an example of a researcher whose idea was to transmit sunlight into a closed room using fiber optic cable. Dr. Morrison suggested that the researcher not only propose the idea for funding to the National Science Foundation but also to the National Institutes of Health. For the NIH, the idea was framed as research into the health benefits of transmitting sunlight into a retirement home in order to improve the health of the elderly.