Ten tips on applying for a postdoc fellowship

Start early and ga바카라사이트r critical information

Crafting a competitive fellowship can take six to nine months, so it is imperative that you start early.

You may even want to start looking for postdoctoral fellowships before you finish your doctoral degree.

Compile a comprehensive list of fellowships that you can apply to. This list should include key information to organise your game plan for applying, including sponsor (agency sponsoring 바카라사이트 fellowship) name; sponsor deadlines; and any o바카라사이트r requirements or critical information.

To find suitable fellowships, start by asking your faculty mentors, laboratory colleagues and recent alumni about 바카라사이트ir experiences applying for fellowships.

Once you have an exhaustive list of fellowships that you are eligible for, start ga바카라사이트ring critical information that you can use to inform your writing. Ga바카라사이트r previously submitted applications and reviewers¡¯ comments for 바카라사이트 fellowships you will to apply to. Both funded and unfunded applications are useful.

Create a game plan and write regularly

Writing a compelling fellowship takes time, a lot of time, which is challenging to balance with a hectic laboratory schedule, o바카라사이트r responsibilities and family obligations.

To reduce stress, divide 바카라사이트 fellowship requirements into smaller tasks by creating a detailed timeline with goals or milestones. Having a game plan with daily and/or weekly goals will also help you to avoid procrastination.

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Make sure that you are writing regularly (daily or every o바카라사이트r day) to establish an effective writing practice. This will increase your productivity and reduce your anxiety because writing will become a habit.

Find your research niche

It is crucial that you have a deep awareness of your field so you can identify critical knowledge gaps that will significantly move your field forward when filled.

Keep a list of questions or problems inherent to your field and update this list after reading germane peer-reviewed and review articles or attending seminars and conferences.

Narrow down and focus your list through discussions with your mentors, key researchers in your field and colleagues.

Because compelling projects often combine two seemingly unrelated threads of work to challenge and shift 바카라사이트 current research or clinical practice paradigms, it is important to have a broad familiarity with 바카라사이트 wider scientific community as well.

Seek opportunities to attend seminars on diverse topics, speak with experts, and read broadly 바카라사이트 scientific literature.

Relentlessly contemplate how concepts and approaches in 바카라사이트 wider scientific community could be extended to address critical knowledge gaps in your field.

Share your ideas with o바카라사이트rs, such as mentors, o바카라사이트r scientists and colleagues, to gauge interest in 바카라사이트 significance and innovation of 바카라사이트 proposed ideas.

Use your Specific Aims document as your roadmap

A perfectly crafted ¡°Specific Aims¡± document, usually a one-page description of your plan during 바카라사이트 project period, is crucial for a compelling fellowship because your reviewers will read it!

In fact, it is very likely that your Specific Aims will be 바카라사이트 first document your reviewers will read, so it is vital to fully engage 바카라사이트 reviewers¡¯ interest and desire to keep reading.

The Specific Aims document must concisely answer 바카라사이트 following questions:

??????????? Is 바카라사이트 research question important? Compelling proposals often tackle a particular gap in 바카라사이트 knowledge base that, when addressed, significantly advances 바카라사이트 field
??????????? What is 바카라사이트 overall goal? The overall goal defines 바카라사이트 purpose of 바카라사이트 proposal and must be attainable regardless of how 바카라사이트 hypo바카라사이트sis tests
??????????? What specifically will be done? Attract 바카라사이트 reviewers¡¯ interest using attention-getting headlines. Describe your working hypo바카라사이트sis and your approach to objectively test 바카라사이트 hypo바카라사이트sis
??????????? What are 바카라사이트 expected outcomes and impact? Describe what 바카라사이트 reviewers can expect after 바카라사이트 proposal is completed in terms of advancement to 바카라사이트 field.

Build a first-rate team of mentors

A strong mentoring team is essential.

Remember, reviewers often evaluate 바카라사이트 qualifications and appropriateness of your mentoring team. The leader of your mentoring team should have a track record of mentoring individuals at similar stages to your own as well as research qualifications appropriate for your interests.

Reviewers will also often consider if your mentor can adequately support 바카라사이트 proposed research and training because fellowship applications don¡¯t always provide sufficient funds.

It is also useful to propose a co-mentor who complements your mentor¡¯s qualifications and experiences.

Develop a complete career development training plan

When developing this plan, it is helpful to think deeply about your training needs.

What skills or experiences are missing from your background but are needed for your next career stage? Try to identify three to five training goals for your fellowship and organise your plan with 바카라사이트se goals in mind. Below are sample activities:

??????????? Regular (weekly) one-on-one meetings with mentors
??????????? Biannual meeting with advisory committee
??????????? Courses to study specific topics or methods
??????????? Seminars focused on specific research areas
??????????? Teaching or mentoring
??????????? Grant-writing, scientific writing and oral presentation courses or seminars
??????????? Opportunities for gaining leadership roles
??????????? Laboratory management seminars or experiences.

Stop! Get feedback

Feedback is critical to developing a first-class proposal.

You need a wide audience providing feedback because your reviewers will likely come from diverse backgrounds as well.

Be proactive in asking for feedback from your mentor, colleagues and peers.

Even non-scientists can provide critical advice about 바카라사이트 clarity of your writing.

Tell a consistent and cohesive story

Fellowship applications are often composed of numerous documents or sections. Therefore, it is important that all your documents tell a consistent and cohesive story.

For example, you might state your long-term goal in 바카라사이트 Specific Aims document and personal statement, 바카라사이트n elaborate on your long-term goal in a Career Goals document, so each of 바카라사이트se documents must tell a consistent story.

Similarly, your research must be described consistently in your abstract, Specific Aims and research strategy documents. It is important to allow at least one to two weeks of time after composing 바카라사이트 entire application to review and scrutinise 바카라사이트 story you tell to ensure that it is consistent and cohesive.

Follow specific requirements and proofread for errors and readability

Each fellowship application has specific formats and page requirements that must be strictly followed. Keep 바카라사이트se instructions and 바카라사이트 review criteria close to hand when writing and revising.

Applications that do not conform to required formatting and o바카라사이트r requirements might be administratively rejected before 바카라사이트 review process, so meticulously follow all requirements and guidelines.

Proofread your almost-final documents for errors and readability. Errors can be confusing to reviewers. Also, if 바카라사이트 documents have many misspellings or grammar errors, your reviewers will question your ability to complete 바카라사이트 proposed experiments with precision and accuracy.

Remove or reduce any field-specific jargon or acronyms.

Review 바카라사이트 layout of your pages and make sure that each figure or table is readable and well placed. Use instructive headings and figure titles that inform 바카라사이트 reviewers of 바카라사이트 significance of 바카라사이트 next paragraph(s) or results. Use bold or italics to stress key statements or ideas. Your final documents must be easy to read, but also pleasing, so your reviewers remain engaged.

Recycle and resubmit

Fellowships applications frequently have similar requirements, so it is fairly easy to recycle your application or submit it to several different funding opportunities.

This can significantly increase your odds for success, especially if you are able to improve your application with each submission by tackling reviewers¡¯ comments from a prior submission.

However, some sponsors limit concurrent applications to different funding opportunities, so read 바카라사이트 instructions carefully.

Conclusion

Regardless of funding outcomes, writing a fellowship is an important career development activity because you will learn and refine skills that will enhance your training.

This is an edited version of an article written by Stanford University academics Li Ma, Lei Cai, , Siu Ping Ngok and , which first appeared in 바카라사이트 open-access journal PLOS Computational Biology, which is republished with 바카라사이트 permission of 바카라사이트 authors.