Consultancy
Strategy
Once we decide on a funding opportunity, then comes the consultancy stage, which is the bulk of the work. While Eddie Grant knows grants and enough science to be able to understand the content in sufficient detail to review it critically and ask the tough questions, there is no greater expert on the scientific subject matter than you. The reviewers, who also include experts on the subject matter, would be able to tell the difference between an application written by an expert in the field and one written by someone with only recent, superficial knowledge of it. Therefore, we need to make maximal use of both your expertise and ours, with the goal of getting the science and your plans from your mind onto paper.
This means that in most cases, only you can write the main science section (the NIH calls it a Research Strategy, DoD usually calls it a Project Narrative, NSF calls it a Project Description; a rose by any other name…). In order to guide you, we provide templates with very detailed instructions, suggestions and tips for how to write those and any other section that Eddie Grant can’t write. These templates are based on our knowledge of what the various funding agencies are looking for, based on 20 years of experience, which are also adapted to reflect any requirements of the specific funding opportunity that we are targeting and the spirit of what it is looking for.
Rigorous, iterative review and revision
Once you send your first draft, then we start to “ping pong” drafts between us. From this point on, your consultant acts as an editor. We give all the documents a very thorough, rigorous review, with meticulous attention to detail and very critical reading. Essentially, we try to be the most critical reviewer we can be, with the goal of making it easier in the only review that actually counts. While we generally can’t write the Research Strategy (or equivalent), we do rewrite – a lot. Wherever we can make the language clearer, more concise, flow better, etc., we do so. Wherever it requires additional information that we don’t have (residual knowledge that’s still in your mind and hasn’t been put on paper yet), then we ask the leading questions to let you know exactly what to write there and what we’re looking for. We thus exchange the documents between us many times (a good application should go through at least 8 drafts of the main science section) until we’re both satisfied that it’s as competitive as it can be.
Sections that we do write, partly or completely
Once the main science section is done (or nearly so), Eddie Grant can also help with many of the other sections. We will generally write the Specific Aims, Abstract and Narrative (NIH). We can usually write 70-90% of the Vertebrate Animals section, if relevant, depending on how much detail was provided in the Research Strategy and if you have written material from the animal facilities. Once you complete the numbers in the Budget Excel template (which is automated and extremely sophisticated; see features in the Templates section), then we can often write 60-90% of the Budget Justification if we have everyone’s biosketches and quotes from your contractors, but will likely need for you to fill in the rest. If you have external collaborations or contractors, then we can often write much of the Consortium/Contractual Arrangements, once the Budget Justification is done. We can also get you started on the Authentication of Key Resources and Data Management and Sharing Plan, essentially identifying the resources that need authentication and the data that needs to be shared, but we will need you to then describe how this is done.
And returning to the Research Strategy for a moment, although in most cases Eddie Grant can’t write it, but in some cases, your consultant may be able to write some of it if there is written material (e.g., a clinical protocol, investigator’s brochure, previous grant applications, a progress report/other written descriptions of studies that were performed and their results, etc.), but we would need to see the written material in order to determine how usable it is for this purpose, so we would recommend a default assumption that the first draft of the Research Strategy would be up to you, unless we tell you otherwise. And in any case, we would need your people involved in order to complete the remaining gaps and address the issues that your consultant raises in their writing and review.
(By the way, the last few paragraphs refer to the terminology and section of an NIH application, but the process would be similar for other funding agencies too.)
Management and logistics
With the great multitude of sections, working on a grant is a juggling act with many balls.
You do not want to have too many balls in the air at any given time, as this would be overwhelming. Therefore, your consultant manages the writing process and administration, basically determining when to introduce a new ball into the juggling act, by sending you the appropriate templates/drafts, and urging you to finish others so that they can be set aside.
Eddie Grant also offers to put together the online application package and submit. However, this would require us to have access to your organizational accounts, so we would need your usernames and passwords.
