AuthorAID Grants: More Grants, More Countries, More Tips

Greetings again. I hope you’re doing well.

As perhaps you’ve seen, AuthorAID has announced a new round of grants. Applications for travel grants are due February 15, and applications for workshop grants are due February 28.

This time, AuthorAID plans to award more grants than in any previous round: 8 travel grants and 8 workshop grants. Also, candidates from more countries than before can apply. Among newly eligible countries are China, India, and Nigeria.

As before, the grants are likely to be highly competitive, with many more applications received than can be funded. How can you help ensure that your application will be highly considered? In addition to previous grant-application advice in AuthorAID, here are some tips:

• Suit the scope. AuthorAID workshop grants are for research-communication workshops; therefore don’t, for instance, propose a workshop on lab techniques. AuthorAID travel grants are for presenting research at international conferences; try to make sure that the conference is of high quality.
• Follow instructions. For example, some parts of the applications have word limits. If you exceed these limits, reviewers might be unable to read the end of what you write.
• Write clearly. Writing clearly helps ensure that the reviewers understand what you’re proposing. It also helps show that you have the communication skills to give a good presentation or organize a good workshop.
• Show broader benefits. AuthorAID favors grants with wide impact, rather than those that help only the grant recipient. So make clear how your receiving the grant would help others at your institution or in your region.

Until the next post—

Barbara