GOOD

MORNING
 DEPARTMENT OF ORAL PATHOLOGY AND MICROBIOLOGY
KOTHIWAL DENTAL COLLEGE AND RESEARCH CENTRE
MORADABAD

CAS 7 presentation

APPROACH TO GRANT WRITING

Compiled by:
Ankita Tandon
•Dr. Chattopadhyay earned a dental degree with honors
(Calcutta University, India);
•Master degrees in Oral Pathology (Gujarat University, India),
•Public Health - Epidemiology (Oklahoma University), and a
residency training certificate in Dental Public Health (SUNY,
Albany & New York State Department of Health).
• Dr. Chattopadhyay has been certified by the American
National Board of Public Health examiners, The American
Board of Dental Public Health, and is a Fellow of the Faculty of
Public Health of the Royal College of Physicians (London,
UK).
•He also earned a PhD in Epidemiology from the University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) with National Research
Service Award funding, serving as an adjunct assistant
professor in the Department of Dental Ecology in the School of
Dentistry.
•He has earned a diploma in journalism, a doctorate certificate
in Family Medicine from India, graduate certificates in
International Development and Public Health Outcomes from
UNC, and a diploma in Global Ethics from the University of
Joensuu, Finland.
Work Details
• At various times, he has taught Epidemiology, Oral
Epidemiology, Public Health Biology, Research
Methods and Dental Public Health at the Universities
of Kentucky and North Carolina and at Temple
University.
• He is the author of chapters in several text books and
was guest editor of the first-ever issue on Dental
Public Health published in Dental Clinics of North
America.
• He serves on the Ethics Committee of the American
Association for Dental Research, the Editorial
Committee of the Journal of Dental Research and
several other international dental and medical journals.
Present affiliation
• Dr. Amit Chattopadhyay recently joined the
National Institute of Dental and
Craniofacial Research, Office of Science
Policy and Analysis at the National
Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland.
• His varied duties include serving as an oral
epidemiologist, faculty to the dental public
health residency program, and
representative to the National Healthy
People Initiative.
WHAT ARE GRANTS….
• Grants are funds disbursed by one party
often a Government Department,
Corporation, Foundation or Trust, to a
recipient, often (but not always) a nonprofit
entity, educational institution, business or
an individual.

• So there are GRANT SEEKERS & GRANT

MAKERS.
• Many scientists as GRANT SEEKERS engaged in
research today are faced in their professional lives with
having to write grant applications.

• At the top of the list is training in writing – in particular,

expository writing. The result is that scientists often fail to
communicate accurately, clearly and convincingly to their
readers,who – in the case of grant applications – are the
reviewers or GRANT MAKERS.

• There is a lot to think about and do before you begin to

write a proposal.
So Think…..
• What is to be done?
• What is the hypothesis?
• Why is it worth doing?
• What is the method?
• Who will do the work?
• How long will the work take?
• How much will it cost?
• What are the expected results?
• How will the project add to science?
You can approach….

Organization The web address

Current concepts http://connect.isihost.com

PubMed(Medline) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi

PubMed Central http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov

Grandsnet http://www.grantsnet.org

NIH website http://grants.nih.gov/grants/forms.htm

Grant Forms http://www.grantforms.com

NIH ???
• NIH- National Institutes of Health
Turning Discovery into Health

www.nih.gov/
WHAT DOES NIH LOOK FOR?
1) Projects of High Scientific Caliber
• NIH looks for grant proposals of high scientific caliber
that are relevant to public health needs and are within
NIH Institute and Center (IC) priorities. ICs highlight their
research priorities on their individual websites.
Applicants are urged to contact the appropriate Institute
or Center staff to discuss the relevancy and/or focus of
their proposed research before submitting an application.
2) NIH-Requested Research
• NIH Institutes and Centers regularly identify specific
research areas and program priorities to carry out their
scientific missions. To encourage and stimulate research
and the submission of research applications in these
areas, many ICs will issue funding opportunity
announcements (FOAs) in the form of program
announcements (PAs) and requests for applications
(RFAs).
• These FOAs may be issued to support research in an
understudied area of science, to take advantage of
current scientific opportunities, to address a high
scientific program priority, or to meet additional needs in
research training and infrastructure. To find an FOA in
your scientific field, search the NIH Guide for Grants and
Contracts which includes all funding opportunities offered
by NIH, or Grants.gov to search across all Federal
agencies.
3) Unsolicited Research
• NIH supports “unsolicited” research and training
applications that do not fall within the scope of NIH-
requested targeted announcements. These applications
originate from your research idea or training need, yet
also address the scientific mission of the NIH and one or
more of its ICs. These “unsolicited” applications should
be submitted through “parent announcements (PAs)”,
which are funding opportunity announcements that span
the breadth of the NIH mission.
4) Unique Research Projects
• Projects must be unique.
• By law, NIH cannot support a project already funded or
pay for research that has already been done.
• Although you may not send the same application to more
than one Public Health Service (PHS) agency at the
same time, you can apply to an organization outside the
PHS with the same application. If the project gets funded
by another organization, however, it cannot be funded by
NIH as well.
seeks to survey out the prevelance of diseases and to find out why people behave the
way they do, and why they sometimes behave in unhealthy ways.
Health Services and Outcomes Research reflects the multidisciplinary nature of the field
of health services and outcomes research. It addresses the needs of multiple,
interlocking communities, including methodologists in statistics, econometrics, social and
behavioral sciences; designers and analysts of health policy and health services
research projects; and health care providers and policy makers who need to properly
understand and evaluate the results of published research
Who Is Eligible for an NIH Grant?
• Individual Eligibility

• NIH supports scientists at various stages in their careers, from pre-

doctoral students on research training grants to investigators with
extensive experience who run large research centers.
• NIH is committed to supporting New and Early Stage Investigator
(ESIs). Reviewers give new and early stage investigators special
consideration, and NIH has programs targeted specifically for these
populations.
• Generally, NIH research grants are not required to be U.S. citizens;
however, some NIH programs/mechanisms have a citizenship
requirement. Any citizenship requirement will be stated in the
program announcement (PA) or request for applications (RFA).
• Institutional Eligibility
• In general, domestic or foreign, public or private, non-
profit or for-profit organizations are eligible to receive
NIH grants. NIH may limit eligibility for certain types of
programs, such as limitations on the participation of
foreign entities or programs for which only small
businesses are eligible applicants.
• Foreign Eligibility

• In general, foreign institutions and international organizations,

including public or private non-profit or for-profit organizations, are
eligible to apply for research project grants.

• Foreign applicants are strongly encouraged to review the Eligibility

section of the Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) to
determine whether their non-domestic (non-U.S.) entity (foreign
organization) is eligible to respond to that particular FOA. Additional
information on grants to foreign institutions, international
organizations and domestic grants with foreign components is
found in the NIH Grants Policy Statement.
• When it comes to writing the research plan, you will save yourself
much time and effort if you make an outline before you start to
write.
• First, outline the agency instructions. Then intercalate your
responses into the instructions.
• Outline processors. Good writers might use two-thirds of their total
project time to prepare the outline.
• Do not convert to propose until you are completely satisfied with
your outline. You can get help from various software programs
when making figures and tables, and be sure to avail yourself of the
grammar and spell checkers on your word-processing software, but
bear in mind that spell checkers will not spot differences between
valid spellings (e.g. ‘there’ and ‘their’).
• A ‘human’ proofreading – done when you are wide
awake – is essential. Such thorough checking
procedures help to give the reader/reviewer the
impression that you

‘cared enough to send the very best’.

IMPORTANT WRITING TIPS….
• NIH encourages applicants to describe their research in
terms that are easily understood by peer reviewers,
scientists and the public.

• Titles, abstracts and statements of public health

relevance should:
• Convey the value of the research in plain language –
clear, succinct, and professional
• Be comprehensible to both scientists and the public
• Relay the potential impact of the research on health
• Organize your application to effortlessly guide reviewers through it.
• Think like a reviewer. A reviewer must often read 10 to 15 applications
in great detail and form an opinion about each of them. Make a good
impression by submitting a clear, well-written, properly organized
application.
• Start with an outline following the suggested organization of the
application.
• Be complete and include all pertinent information.
• Be organized and logical. The thought process of the application
should be easy to follow.
• Write one sentence summarizing the topic sentence of each main
section .
• Make one point in each paragraph. This is key for readability. Keep
sentences to 20 words or less. Write simple, clear sentences.
• Before you start writing the application, think about the budget and
how it is related to your research plan. Remember that everything in
the budget must be justified by the work you've proposed to do.
• Be realistic. Don't propose more work than can be reasonably done
during the proposed project period.
• Capture the reviewers' attention by making the case for why NIH
should fund your research. Tell reviewers why testing your hypothesis
is worth NIH's money, why you are the person to do it, and how your
institution can give you the support you'll need to get it done. Be
persuasive.
• Include enough background information to enable an intelligent reader
to understand your proposed work.
• Use the active, rather than passive, voice. For example, write "We will
develop an experiment, "not "An experiment will be developed ."
• Use a clear and concise writing style so that a non-expert may
understand the proposed research. Make your points as directly
as possible. Use basic English, avoiding jargon or excessive
language. Be consistent with terms, references and writing style.
• Use an Arial, Helvetica, Palatino Linotype, or Georgia typeface, a
black font color, and a font size of 11 points or larger. (A Symbol
font may be used to insert Greek letters or special characters;
the font size requirement still applies.)
• Type density, including characters and spaces, must be no more
than 15 characters per inch. Type may be no more than six lines
per inch. Use standard paper size (8 ½" x 11) . Use at least one-
half inch margins (top, bottom, left, and right) for all pages. No
information should appear in the margins.
• Use sub-headings, short paragraphs, and other
techniques to make the application as easy to navigate
as possible.
• Use diagrams, figures and tables, and include
appropriate legends, to assist the reviewers to
understand complex information. These should
complement the text and be appropriately inserted. Make
sure the figures and labels are readable in the size they
will appear in the application.
• Use bullets and numbered lists for effective organization.
Indents and bold print add readability. Do not use
headers or footers.
• Identify weak links in your application so the application you submit is
solid, making a strong case for your project.
• If writing is not your forte, seek help!
• Allow sufficient time to put the completed application aside, and then
edit it from a fresh vantage point. Try proofreading by reading the
application aloud.
• Allow time for an internal review by collaborators, colleagues,
mentors and make revisions/edits from that review. If possible, have
both experts in your field and those who are less familiar with your
science provide feedback.
• Have zero tolerance for typographical errors, misspellings,
grammatical mistakes or sloppy formatting. A sloppy or disorganized
application may lead the reviewers to conclude that your research
may be conducted in the same manner.
The countdown to grant
submission….
• T-minus 1 year: Create ideas.
• Identify problems. Review literature.
• Imagin possible outcomes (positives, negatives)
• Discuss ideas with others, get critical feedback.
• Start to build support with colleagues.
• T-minus 9 months: Proof of
principle
• Obtain preliminary data to show idea is possible.
• Seed funding: local support to establish track
record
• T-minus 6 months: First draft of
proposal.
• Requires long continuous blocks of time
• 1 month, 3-6 hours per day, not a “few hours
per week”.
• Find people who will provide a critical review
• This requires a time-investment on their part
• Revise, Revise, Revise
• T-minus 4 months: Internal
approvals.
• Submit experiments to local committees:
• Eg.Animal Care Committees.
• T-minus 3 months: Finalize your
team.
• Recruit expertise (internal, external)
• Request letters of support from Collaborators
• You have to write these yourself!
• Opportunity to clearly explain the project and
your expectations of the Collaborator
• T-minus 2 months: Application
details.
• Re-read application guidelines
• Build your budget, get equipment quotes

• T-minus 1 month: Complete full

application.
• Use the official forms, with figures and letters
• Assemble everyone’s CVs
• Distribute to your team for review
• T-minus 2 weeks: Finishing
touches.
• Proof read, Get signatures

• T-minus 1 week:
• Make copies, submit. (or e-submit)
• Do not wait for the deadline!
SCORING (AWARD PROCESS)
• The scoring system utilizes a 9-point rating scale (1 =
exceptional; 9 = poor). The final overall impact/priority
score for each discussed application is determined by
calculating the mean score from all the eligible members'
impact/priority scores, and multiplying the average by 10;
the final overall impact/priority score is reported on the
summary statement.
• Thus, the final overall impact/priority scores range from
10 (high impact) through 90 (low impact).
• Non-numeric score options:
• NR = Not Recommended for Further
Consideration,
• DF = Deferred,
• AB = Abstention,
• CF = Conflict,
• NP = Not Present,
• ND = Not Discussed
• Minor Weakness: An easily addressable
weakness that does not substantially
lessen impact
• Moderate Weakness: A weakness that
lessens impact
• Major Weakness: A weakness that
severely limits impact
Don’t get discouraged
• Don’t take reviews personally
• You’ll see (anonymous) arrogance,
laziness, and inconsistency among
‘experts’.
• But you will get truly helpful comments too.
• Evaluate reviews with your colleagues
• Address points as best as you can
• Try, Try, Try again as Successful grant
writers have a long, long line of failures.
Last but not the least…..

• Produce a marketing document

• A good idea is necessary but not

sufficient.
To sum up…..
www.nih.gov
http://grants.nih.gov/grants/grant_basics.htm
http://grants.nih.gov/grants/funding/
funding_program.htm
http://grants.nih.gov/grants/how_to_apply.htm
http://grants.nih.gov/grants/peer_review_process.htm
 Planning, Writing, Submitting
Planning: Applicant should start early, collect preliminary data, and
determine internal deadlines.

Writing: Applicant often begins writing application several months prior to

application due date.

Submitting: Applicant organization submits most applications to NIH

through Federal portal, Grants.gov.
SUBMIT TO……
• Grants.gov

• All applications and other deliveries must be submitted either via

courier delivery or via the US Postal Service (USPS) to the NIH at:

• Center for Scientific Review

National Institutes of Health
6701 Rockledge Drive, Room 1040 - MSC 7710
• Bethesda, Md. 20892-7710 (regular USPS or USPS Express mail)
• Bethesda, Md. 20817 (other courier/express mail delivery)

• Phone: 301-435-0715
 RECEIPT AND REFERRAL (1-3 MONTHS)

Applications compliant with NIH policies are assigned for review by the
Division of Receipt and Referral in the Center of Scientific Review (CSR).

CSR assigns application to an NIH Institute/Center (IC) and a Scientific

Review Group (SRG).

Scientific Review Officer (SRO) assigns applications to reviewers and

readers.
 PEER REVIEW (4-8 MONTHS)

Initial Level of Review:

SRG members review and evaluate applications for scientific merit.

Priority Scores:
Available to Principal Investigator on eRA Commons.

Summary Statement: Available to Principal Investigator on eRA Commons

Second Level of Review: Advisory council/board reviews applications.

 AWARD (9-10 MONTHS)

Pre-Award Process: IC grants management staff conducts final

administrative review and negotiates award.*

Notification of Award: NIH Institute/Center (IC) issues and sends Notice of

Award (NoA) to applicant institution/organization.

Congratulations!
Project period officially begins!
 POST AWARD

Administrative and fiscal monitoring, reporting,

and compliance
You will not be the first one…..
• U.S.-India Bilateral Collaborative Research Partnerships
(CRP) on the Prevention of HIV/AIDS and Co-morbidities
(R21)
• U.S. - India Bilateral Brain Research Collaborative
Partnerships (U.S. - India BRCP) (R21) PAR-11-099
Although it is your wonderful
idea, but reviewers have to
view it the same way to
decide to fund you !!!!
Thank you!!!