Semester 1, 2025-2026
Type of courseMethodological and Practical Courses
DateOctober 16, 2025
LocationUniversity of Amsterdam
1 day
Maximum number of participants20
ECTS0.5 EC will be appointed for participation in the complete course
StaffDisa Sauter (UvA), Shaul Shalvi (UvA)
Content
Increasingly, junior researchers are expected to acquire external funding to support their research. This includes both funding from national and international agencies, such as NWO (e.g., Rubicon; Veni) and the European Research Council (e.g., Marie Curie, ERC StG), and from not-for-profit or philanthropic organizations. By pursuing grants, early career researchers can develop and demonstrate their competence in independent thinking about scientific questions. Should I apply to such grants? What are my odds? How can I increase my chances to obtain funding?
In this one-day workshop, we address when and why to apply for grants and think together about how to write grant applications successfully. In the introduction we will get to know each other and calibrate expectations about the day. We will further offer some idiosyncratic experience from our failed and successful attempts at obtaining funding. This is followed by a guest speaker from University of Amsterdam’s Research & Development section, who will introduce Rubicon and Veni, the most relevant NWO schemes for early career researchers. After a lunch break, we will split into small groups and discuss our evaluations of each other’s research proposals, see details below. The idea is to improve on how to successfully communicate our ideas and track record to others – the task we face when submitting our work for others to evaluate. We end the day with a group reflection on this theme.
Time schedule
9.30-10.00 Walk in
10.00-11.00 Getting to know each other, calibrating expectations, short introduction on why apply to grants and how
11.00-12.30 UvA grant officer info session on Rubicon / Veni / Marie Curie
12.30-13.30 lunch
13.30-14.30 small group exercise evaluating proposals
14.30-15.30 plenary group discussion about insights gained during the group exercise
15.30-16.00 coffee break
16.00-16.30 final take aways and evaluation of the day
16.30-17.30 drinks
Learning goals
Completing the workshop, attendees will:
Preparation
If you sign up for the workshop, we ask that you submit a short grant proposal strictly following the enclosed template (600 words research idea; 600 academic profile; 5 key outputs; template will be sent to you after registration). Deadline is Friday 26 September 2026 at noon. The proposal does not have to be an idea that you would like to develop into a real grant application, but it could be. On Monday 29 September 2026 you will be assigned three other participants’ proposals. Taking the role of a reviewer, you will be asked to evaluate each of the three proposals by raising three strengths and three weaknesses, bearing in mind the assessment criteria listed in the application form. Please submit your reviews by the deadline Friday 3 October 2026 at noon. On Monday 6 October 2026 you will receive feedback from the three peers who assessed your proposal. At the meeting, we will discuss each other’s feedback.
Please submit the proposal to s.shalvi@uva.nl with email title ‘Grant workshop’ and save your proposal as a PDF file titled according to the following template: initial(s), last name, followed by the text ‘GRANT WORKSHOP PROPOSAL’ for example: ‘S. Shalvi GRANT WORKSHOP PROPOSAL’.