ERC Starting, Consolidator and Advanced  Grant concept development course

At Whitehorne, as part of our ERC services, we share our many years of experience and expertise by coaching and mentoring future ERC applicants understanding the foundations of the ERC process and also what is required for a competitive ERC proposal.

It is the foundational preparation work that begins well before one starts with writing a grant proposal that is crucial to a well-rounded proposal - and it is this element that is so often underdeveloped, or even overlooked.

This online and live (not pre-recorded) course has been designed for ERC Starting, ERC Consolidator, and also more senior ERC Advanced grant applicants (however the elements of what you learn from this course can also be applied to most other grants).

The course is offered to individuals - and is a personalised course - suited to each individual. 

The course has been designed to be taken by individuals who are thinking of writing an ERC grant in the next 12-24 months and have have yet to develop up a strong proposal concept.

The course is conducted over eight 1-hour sessions and includes:

Session 1:  ERC overview and introduction to concept development 
Content: Introduction to ERC proposals and the process; What is expected content within an ERC grant (both B1 and B2), why is the concept development important, benchmarking research and researching successful proposals, CV content and optimising presentation.

Session 2: Proposal concept: Context/Urgency/Timeliness 
Content: What is the overall subject of the proposal, why it is important (scientifically, technologically, or from a societal perspective) and what the major challenge and/or the potential for a major advancement or breakthrough.

Session 3: Proposal concept: SOA and current challenges
Content: What are the current challenges and bottlenecks; What has been done to date; will this
work not simply be an extension of prior work.

 Session 4: Proposal concept: proof of concept/recent results, aim and objectives, schematic diagram

Content: What proof of concept results are needed to be presented to support the feasibility of the proposed idea/approaches, what is the proposal aim and the objectives to achieve this aim. How does everything fit together into a unified schematic diagram.

Session 5: Proposal concept: Workplan 
Content: What is needed and how to develop up the framework for the proposed workplan.

Session 6: Proposal concept: Risks and groundbreaking aspects
Content:  Discussion and coaching on what are the groundbreaking and innovative aspects of the proposed ERC. What are the scientific risks involved and how to mitigate these.

Session 7: Proposal concept: impact, skills and background
Content: Development of impact, skills and background sections of the proposed concept.

Session 8: Proposal concept: Staffing, collaboration and sparring partners 
Content:  Development of the planned staffing, collaboration required, and sparring partner(s).

We also offer comprehensive and individualised ERC grant services,  with ERC grant writing individual support and ERC interview support. 

THE FOUNDATIONS OF OUR SUPPORT

• Preparing for an ERC grant is a challenging and time consuming process - on top of the everyday challenges of academic life. Our focus is on making this process as enjoyable and as stress free as possible - for all individuals that we work with.

• When any of our clients interact with us, they will find us to be down to earth and approachable professionals, who have a real passion for what we do, and we understand and appreciate how busy the life of an academic can be.

• All of our work is based on a strong process-driven foundation.

• We believe in honesty and transparency, and in building strong and healthy relationships with our clients.
  

WHO WILL APPLICANTS BE WORKING WITH
You will work directly with us, either Fire or Willem, both qualified and highly experienced senior trainers. Both Willem and Fire have experience working with all panels and areas of research, and have worked with numerous applicants and institutions throughout around Europe and beyond.

We have over 15 years (specifically) working on European, Dutch, German, Swiss and other national research grant proposals - and over 25 years experience with scientific promotion cases, research grant applications, interview training, review and editing of high impact research journal articles and writing nominations for prestigious prizes and awards. We specialise in what we do and offer – and ERC grant writing is no exception.