Grant writing support for Marie Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship applications/
resubmissions

'We offer a personal, individually tailored and educationally focussed journey of excellence.'

Competitive Marie Curie MCIF Postdoctoral Fellowship proposals need to be written at an exceptionally high level and communicate your scientific ideas and intentions in a manner that is clear, logical, to-the-point, convincing and easy to read. The proposal must also address all key evaluation/selection criteria.

Our Marie Curie research grant support services have been specifically designed for top/leading researchers who are at the level of submitting a competitive proposal.

We offer services (specifically) for resubmission applicants who have recently applied for a Marie Curie Fellowship, and whilst not successful, received a promising minimal score of over 85%.

PROPOSAL WRITING (SUPPORT, MENTORING AND COACHING)
Here, we work with applicants to strengthen their proposal across all areas:

• Clear, concise and to the point language and communication.

• Presentation, flow and consistency of language

• Guided coaching in mentoring to improve all required areas within Excellence, Impact and Quality and Implementation sections.

• Critical support, feedback and in-depth review of new drafts.

• Substantive editing of the proposal (for clarity, consistency, flow, tone of voice).

  Here, we mostly start working with applicants from the beginning of the re-writing process (5-12 months before a call deadline), providing advice and support so as to facilitate a strong foundation for the candidate to then start writing and provide in-depth support throughout the writing process.

  At the commencement of all projects, we also work with candidates to create a timeline for sending drafts for review (both to us and to the candidate’s scientific colleagues), thus ensuring that the candidate has sufficient time to optimise the final quality and content of the completed proposal.

  Our draft review process is characterised by first breaking up the proposal into manageable sections, prior to the creation of a first full draft.

THE FOUNDATIONS OF OUR SUPPORT

• Our feedback on drafts is highly personalised, in-depth, direct and to the point, and should we identify weaknesses in a proposal, we will always work at providing the applicant with suggestions and/or options as to how the weakness can be remedied.

• Our support is also highly educationally focussed, helping (1) applicants develop their grant writing skills in such a way that they can better write and present proposals into the future.

• 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.

METHOD OF DELIVERY
Our method of delivery is via (1) personal ‘one-on-one’ online coaching and feedback sessions; and (2) online via email. The breakdown of this is individually tailored to each individual (some applicants may find online meetings more helpful, whilst others may have more of a preference for working more though email.

WHO WILL APPLICANTS BE WORKING WITH
You will work directly with with either Fire Sanders or Willem Bouma, both qualified and 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 and international research grant proposals - and over 25 years experience with scientific promotion cases, research grant proposals, 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.