Developing Collaborative Grant

Proposals

Robert Porter, Ph. D.University of Tennessee

reporter@utk.eduwww.research.utk.edu

Collaboration: A Global View

Bennis & Ward, Organizing Genius: The Secrets of Creative Collaboration, 1997

“In a global society, in which timely information is the most important commodity, collaboration is not simply desirable, it is inevitable. In all but the rarest cases, one is too small a number to produce greatness.”

Why build collaborative teams?

Science evolves to converge disciplines- Ex: Computational biology, nanotechnology

Sponsors are increasingly emphasizing interdisciplinary research- Limited budgets, bigger bang for the buck

Most large grant programs require an interdisciplinary approach- Complex problems best approached from multiple perspectives

Problem: Institutions not structured to foster IDR- Universities built on departments & colleges- Funders want to solve problems

“Real world problems do not come in disciplinary boxes.” - J. Klein

Unidisciplinary Multidisciplinary

InterdisciplinaryTransdisciplinary

Levels of collaboration:

Benefits of collaborative proposals:

For researchers:• Bigger & better ideas• Access to larger grant

programs• Stronger research

outcomes• Expanded career

opportunities• Improved recruitment

For institutions:• Enhanced academic

prestige• Improved infrastructure• Expanded service

delivery• Greater capacity

utilization• Improved recruitment

Miner, Miner & Griffith, Collaborative Grantseeking, 2011

Forms of Collaboration

• Institution/Institution: Partnerships to achieve a mutual goal EX: NIH “Bridges to the Baccalaureate” (R25)

• Network support for institutions or researchers EX: NIH IDeA Networks of Biomedical Research Excellence (INBRE

NSF Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (LSAMP)

• Training programs to encourage interdisciplinary research EX: NIH NRSA Institutional Training Grant (T32)

• Targeted research programs focused on core theme EX: NIH Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women’s Health

NSF Science, Engineering and Education for Sustainability (SEES)

• Institutional capacity building grants EX: NIH Science Education Partnership (SEPA R25)

NSF ADVANCE: Increasing the Participation of Women in Academic and Science Careers

Research collaboration: A thought experiment

______________________________________________

______________________________________________

______________________________________________

______________________________________________

______________________________________________

Epidemiologists have long known that door knobs and elevator buttons are major links in disease transmission. Your idea: Develop a durable antimicrobial coating that would prevent the spread of illness. What academic disciplines/research expertise will you need on your team?

A Starting Point...

• What are you passionate about?

• What is the problem (and why is it important)?

• How is existing knowledge or practice inadequate?

• Why is your idea better?• How is it new, unique, different?• What will it contribute and who will

benefit from it?

Tradition & Change: A Tug of War?

Disciplinarity:

• Tradition bound• Departmentally constrained• Conservative (rigid?)• Slow to change• Pride in high standards• Dedicated to order and

control• Wary of interdisciplinarity (“vague” “speculative”)

Interdisciplinarity:

• Trailblazing• “Break down the silos”• Liberal• Seek change• Excited by new approaches• Embrace flexibility• Frustrated with “disciplines” (“narrow” “confining”)

Barriers to teambuilding

• Academics are accustomed to a single disciplinary focus

• Every discipline has its own culture; some mix easily, others don’t

• Rewards systems not consistent with interdisciplinary goals

• Deans, Department Heads not enthusiastic about crossing disciplinary barriers

• Building trust is both necessary and difficult!

• Simple logistics can be a problem: Where to meet? Who leads the discussion? Who “owns” the project?

• Junior faculty sometimes discouraged from collaboration

• Difficult to decide specific roles of team members

• Strong leadership is essential and rare!

Building a Research Team

1. Bring together members with diverse backgrounds2. Leader: establish expectations3. Participants: know your role and responsibility to team4. Agree on team goals—expect them to change!5. Expect disagreements and conflict (especially early)6. Agree on: a) sharing data

b) sharing creditc) managing authorshipd) ownership of intellectual property

Collaboration and Team Science: A Field GuideNIH, 2010

Collaborative grant writing tips:

1. Establish leadership. Every project needs a skilled leader(s) to succeed. Strong communication, teambuilding, and project management skills required!

2. First meeting. Brainstorm ideas; seek strong core theme; work up rough outline

3. Schedule. Working back from deadline, outline schedule for proposal development

4. Team assignments. Assign proposal sections to team members (literature search, data mining, graphics, project narrative, letters of support, budget)

5. Accountability. Set due dates and regular meetings!

6. Editor. Identify an editor (not necessarily team leader)

7. Compile drafts. Editor compiles draft materials and brings to each meeting

8. Red Team Review. Identify 1 – 3 experienced researchers to review late draft (Note: For large grant, PAY an external reviewer!)

9. Incorporate review. Meet as team to consider reviewers’ comments

10. Final editing. Editor makes final changes

11. Checklist. Editor and Office of Research double check final draft for compliance with RFP and funding agency guidelines

12. Submission. Proposal is submitted!

Critical points in a collaborative proposal:

1. Stress the need. Why does this problem/issue require a multifaceted approach?

2. For new teams: Show how this project will lead to further advances in the long term

3. For established teams: Emphasize past successes and how this work will build on them

4. Team skills. Describe complementary skills and experience of team members

5. Team roles. Clearly delineate respective roles and responsibilities of team members in the project plan. Who does what and when?

6. Management plan. What mechanisms will assure the team will accomplish assigned tasks on time, on budget (Leadership roles, team meetings, administrative accountability, progress reports, etc.)

7. Value added. Highlight positive outcomes that cannot be achieved without the collaboration (Note: these must be desired by the funder!)

Critical points in the proposal, cont’d:

8. Proposal development. Document how collaborators have worked together on the proposal, start to finish

9. Common goals. Stress how project fits each collaborator’s mission and will achieve common goals

10. Sustainability. Develop a pre-agreement on what will happen when funding ends

11. Documentation. Enclose cover letters from collaborating organizations—signed by leadership!

12. Institutional commitment. Describe all resources each party will contribute: personnel time, facilities, equipment, administrative support, (and cash, if possible)

Sample Gantt Chart, Proposal Development

How institutions can facilitatemore research collaborations:

• Ensure the faculty reward system (promotion, tenure) adequately recognizes the value of interdisciplinary research

• Hold academic leaders responsible to reach beyond disciplinary boundaries

• Restructure budget to reserve funds dedicated to common good (as opposed to colleges/departments)

• Provide seed funding to launch new IDR groups• Engage more undergraduates in interdisciplinary courses and

research• Aggressively pursue funding opportunities that support

interdisciplinary work

Resources

Collaboration Success Wizard - University of Calif., Irvine by Gary Olson

Online survey tool to provide researchers feedback to facilitate success

Identifies strengths and weaknesses of a collaborations

Completed by an individual

http://hana.ics.uci.edu/wizard/

Resources, cont’d

NIH Collaboration and Team Science website:https://ccrod.cancer.gov/confluence/display/NIHOMBUD/Home

Team Science Toolkithttp://www.teamsciencetoolkit.cancer.gov/public/home.aspx?js=1

Resources, cont’d

Team Science Online Learning Modules2.rv

The COALESCE project provides on-line learning resources to enhance skills to perform transdisciplinary, team-based translational research.

A Final Note….

“Finding good players is easy. Getting them to play as a team is another story.”

- Casey Stengel