I know it’s not due until mid-October. But just because the 2010 Winter Olympics don’t start until February 12th, doesn’t mean that the skiers aren’t already preparing. In fact, many of them have been preparing for years.

And so have you. You’ve been doing research, clarifying new research questions, publishing findings from previous research, developing your research techniques, possibly even conducting preliminary research.

The Standard Research Grant (SRG) program is very competitive. You are ready to compete. You need to put in your best application in October just like the skiers are going to try to ski their best race in February. This is the final round of training before the main event.

Let’s be realistic.

You are not going to do any substantial work on your proposal in the first 2 weeks of September.

The beginning of term is busy. Chaotic even. New students arrive. You have new courses starting. There are more meetings in those weeks than in any other week of the year. You’ll have to see lots of individual students and possibly colleagues to sort out any number of urgent problems.

It happens every year.

And if you plan to work on your proposal during that time, it is only going to add to your stress.

You won’t get any more done. But you also won’t find any time to relax and recuperate at the end of the day. Because you’ll feel like you have to work on the proposal.

And either the work you do will be substandard because you are too tired and preoccupied to do your best research work. Or, you won’t do it and then just feel guilty about it.

Get support

The best way to reduce stress and increase productivity, while ensuring you get to rest and recuperate, is to enlist support.

Your research office will have some support in place to help make sure you get your grant in. They will have set an internal deadline. They will check that your application is complete and make sure it gets all the necessary signatures.

In some institutions, they may also arrange reviews. These reviews might be undertaken by other researchers within your institution who have been successful in the SRG in the past. Or they may be by someone external.

Take advantage of this service if it is offered. A fresh set of eyes can make a big difference to the clarity and quality of your application.

If your university (research office or dean’s office) doesn’t arrange reviews, then you should do so yourself. And now is the time to make those arrangements so that whoever is going to review your draft proposal can schedule time to do so.

If you can arrange more than one review, that would also be beneficial. In fact, you might want to talk to the research office about what kind of review they will arrange and then arrange another to complement it.

Reviewers will have different strengths and will see different things. Remember that this is your application. You don’t have to do everything (or anything) a reviewer suggests. But comments from knowledgeable others will help you see how well you communicate your ideas and where you could improve.

Use reviewers to set deadlines

Do you work better with a deadline? Lots of people do. Making an arrangement with a colleague to review a draft gives you a deadline to work to. A more realistic deadline than the SSHRC mid-October deadline, which is best considered the university’s deadline.

No one is going to want to review your draft application too close to the deadline. They won’t have enough time to do a good job. And you won’t have enough time to act on their recommendations.

And, if you get a reasonable draft of your proposal written by mid- to late- August and give it to a reviewer, you can give yourself permission to focus solely on teaching and administrivia for the first two weeks of September. You will be less stressed during those 2 weeks because you’ve taken a whole set of tasks off your plate.

When the beginning-of-term chaos settles down, you’ll have your draft back, with comments, to revise into its final form. And coming back to the proposal after a 2 week break will enable you to look at it more objectively yourself.

So, what kind of reviewers do you need?

Since the SRG is adjudicated by disciplinary committees, you should try to get someone within your discipline to review and comment on a draft of your proposal. This could be a colleague in  your department, a mentor, or a colleague from another institution.

Someone who works in a very similar area within your discipline will be able to identify gaps in your literature review and imprecision in your methodology. Someone in a different area may provide useful insight on how well you communicate your objectives, their importance, and the research approach to the full breadth of your discipline.

In addition to a reviewer within your discipline, you might also seek a more general reviewer, particularly if the disciplinary reviewer is very close to your area of research.

You must be able to communicate the importance of your research questions to peers who are not themselves engaged in similar research. Not “the general public” but an academic peer who is not familiar with the details of the particular literature to which you will contribute or, perhaps, the specific methodology you employ.

I have been reviewing draft SRG application since 2005.

I’ve had positive feedback from researchers and research offices. In fact, even researchers who did not get their grant have told me that my review of their proposal has helped them do more research because they are so much clearer about what they want to be doing.

This year, I have consolidated some of the advice I find myself giving repeatedly into a booklet that guides you through the most important appendices in the order it makes most sense to write them in.

The booklet may be purchased as a stand-alone product, either as a PDF download or as a spiral-bound print booklet. Purchasing this booklet should ensure that you avoid some of the most common problems as your write the first draft. You will have less anxiety about what to put in each section and a better draft.

Format:

e-book spiral-bound

If you like the booklet and would like me to review a draft of your proposal, you can book it separately and I’ll make sure you don’t pay for the booklet twice.

If you’ve been reading the blog or newsletter for a while and feel confident that my approach will help you, you can go straight to booking a review. I’ll send you the booklet right away to get you started.

The price is a sliding scale to further encourage you to get it in early. If you wait until September it’ll cost you $400. If you get it in by August 15th, it’s only $200.

I don’t want to increase your stress

Booking a review commits you to getting that draft done. And for some people that can increase your stress.

Also, I don’t want you to accidentally miss a date where the price goes up. So I’m going to e-mail with a reminder.

But that could feel like pressure. So I’m going to send a few e-mails with encouragement and advice. And, once you’ve booked the review, you can e-mail me with short questions as you are writing.

If you get really stuck while you are writing that proposal, you can book an additional 30-minute telephone conversation with me to push you out of that snowbank. Because we all know that spinning your wheels just gets you more stuck. And that, however tempting it is to abandon your car in the snowbank, you would only end up walking all that way in the cold and snow.

(you’ll have to scroll down when you get there)

The price of that session is half the difference between one deadline and the next so even if you need a push, there is still a financial advantage to getting it done early. And think of the time and energy you’ll save.

Are you in?

You want to submit the best possible application to the SRG. You would prefer to do it with less stress. Click here to book your review.

Thanks.

While I was a Congress, I spoke to staff from Human Resources and Social Development Canada’s (HRSDC) Policy Research Directorate. My primary goal was to learn more about their Research Opportunities so that I could let my clients know about sources of funding for their projects. But as I reviewed the material I picked up from them, I realized that you might also be interested in knowing more about the Policy Research Directorate as a potential employer.

A research career outside academe

Perhaps you have become disillusioned with the university environment during your graduate studies. Or you are genuinely interested in policy research and have been wondering whether an academic career will value that focus.

If you aren’t interested in policy research, or if you are not interested in research careers in the federal government, you probably don’t want to read the rest of this post. I’ll write about something more relevant the next time.

The Policy Research Directorate produced a couple of leaflets for Congress. I have tried to figure out if there are online versions of these but have not been able to find any. If you have better internet search skills than I, and track these down, do let me know.

In the absence of handy links to point you to, I will quote relevant chunks of the “Who are We?” leaflet to give you a sense of the organization.

Who are the Policy Research Directorate?

(excerpted verbatim from the HRSDC pamphlet)

The Policy Research Directorate (PRD) is .. the lead HRSDC directorate in conducting policy research within HRSDC. … PRD has two primary roles. One is to produce primary research that supports the department’s wide policy mandate across a full range of labour market and skills and social policy issues. … PRD’s other primary role is to create a ‘community’ of policy research in HRSDC.

PRD’s philosophy is that all research produced should have a departmental client, be of the highest quality possible, and be effectively communicated to busy decision makers.

PRD is likely the largest research directorate in the Government of Canada, reflecting HRSDC’s long-standing commitment to supporting policy research. PRD has a budget of over $13 million and is targeting a staff of around 75 for 2008.

Research staff have graduate degrees, either Masters or PhDs in social science disciplines, often (but not exclusively) economics or sociology. Most have good skills at quantitative analysis … while others do work that is more qualitative in nature. Other staff are more oriented towards coordinating and networking with departmental clients or with external research providers … Others do program management of research funds or provide financial management or administrative HR support.

Research staff are encouraged to present their research at internal workshops and conferences and at academic or policy oriented public conferences and workshops.  … Moreover, research work undertaken within the Directorate is also peer-reviewed, mostly by academics, to provide feedback to the authors and to produce products of the highest quality possible.

(end verbatim excerpts)

What this means for you?

Working for the federal government is very different from working in academe, even if you are doing policy research. The biggest difference is likely to be that you will write collaboratively. You won’t have control over the final product in the way you do in academe.

That said, you might find that way of working suits you much better. You will have clear goals and a defined audience for your research. Other team members will have experience and expertise to bring to the project. You will have deadlines.

And, as one friend of mine who works in government says, you will probably have much more influence over policy than you ever would as an academic. That said, compromise and pragmatism are central in government policy making. If you have lofty ideals, you may find this aspect of government research frustrating.

Does this sound interesting?

If the snippets I’ve presented here sound interesting to you, you should do more research about HRSDC and the Policy Research Directorate in particular.

Your short term goal is to find out as much as you can about what kind of place it is to work, what kind of work employees do, and what kinds of qualifications they usually look for.

Go to published sources first. The HRSDC website contains a wealth of information on the policy focus of the department as a whole. Further information about careers in the federal public service can be found on the Public Service Commission website. That website also allows you to search current job postings.

But before you start applying for posted jobs, make sure you have a good sense of the kinds of jobs you want and how to present your qualifications and experience in the best light. Informational interviewing is really helpful in getting more detailed information about potential careers and the application process of particular employers. If you aren’t sure what that is or how to do it, the book What Color Is Your Parachute? is a great resource.

Also talk to the careers centre at your university (alumni are usually entitled to use these resources, btw). It may be that they have important advice or know of internship opportunities that could give you a better sense of government research work.

Good luck.

If you are a graduate student who is thinking about what you might do once you get the dissertation written, you might also like this earlier post, What is a doctoral candidate to do?

This is a the first of a series of posts in which I will share with you some of the things I learned a Congress. One of the things I learned at Congress is that there are other sources of funding out there for some types of humanities and social science research.

Do your research goals include influencing policy?

And do you do work in one of the following areas:

• Learning over the lifecourse
• Employment and productivity
• Income Security
• Families and Child Development
• Seniors and Retirement
• Inclusion
• Communities and Place
• Research Methods
• Policy Instruments

If so, you might want to get on the distribution list of the Research Opportunities newsletter from Human Resources and Social Development Canada (HRSDC).

You do that by sending an e-mail to nc-hrsdc-research-gd@hrsdc-rhdsc.gc.ca letting them know your first and last name, phone number, affiliation, faculty/department, and your research interest (which of the list above you are interested in). Then they will send you appropriate requests for proposals (RFP). Indicating a research interest will reduce the amount of irrelevant e-mail you receive from them.

The process is going to be different from applying for a SSHRC grant.

There will be very specific guidelines. And the RFP is likely to make much more specific demands than the more open competitions at SSHRC.

However, if your research goals fit, and you follow the instructions and seek appropriate advice from program staff, your chances of success should be good. Staff in your university Research Office will also be able to help.

I had a very interesting conversation with staff from the Policy Research Directorate at Congress and they are interested in getting more and better responses to their requests for proposals.

I plan to meet with them to get a better sense of the process, and their own frustrations with applications that don’t get it quite right, so that I can provide support to you if you decide to apply.

I’ve also signed up for the notifications (in all areas) so that I know what is coming up and can let clients who might benefit from this funding know about opportunities.

If you are not interesting in influencing policy …

That is fine. I’m surprised you read this far. This particular source of funding is not appropriate for your program of research. There will be something more relevant to you another time.

I know you feel the pressure to get external funding. And I know you feel the pressure for research to be “relevant” (whatever that means). But each individual researcher is not required to do everything.

Your research goals should lead your search for funds.

I have met too many academics who have learned of a source of funding and then tried to figure out how to develop a project that would be eligible for those funds. Inevitably, the project they develop is neither directly in their area of expertise, nor is it something they are passionate about doing.

Then, when they don’t get the money (for a project they didn’t particularly want to do in the first place) they resent the time they put into the process of applying. Time lost to research they did want to do.

Much better to have a clear sense of your own research goals, and then judge all funding opportunities that you come across in relation to those goals.

Your research goals should be somewhat flexible.

You might prioritize an aspect of your research program that you were going to do later, for example, if a suitable funding opportunity presents itself.

Or you might make minor adjustments to the nature of a project to better meet the objectives of a particular funding program.

You might consider collaborating with a colleague to put together a project that draws on aspects of both your work that relate well to the objectives of a particular funding program.

But you should only apply to a particular funding program if the program objectives and the mandate of the funding body are a good match for your own research objectives.

The best way for you to secure external funding is to focus on your own research goals.

Do excellent research. Publish your research so that you make the maximum impact on the advancement of knowledge. And apply for funding from programs that are designed to fund research like yours.

Yes, it will be competitive. All sources of funding are limited and hard to get. The people with the best chances are those whose objectives fit with the program objectives and who have demonstrated excellence in the areas required by the funder.

And if you are working in the areas listed above and you would like to do policy relevant research, get on that mailing list. Send an e-mail to nc-hrsdc-research-gd@hrsdc-rhdsc.gc.ca letting them know your first and last name, phone number, affiliation, faculty/department, and your research interest.

Welcome to all those who joined my list at Congress in Ottawa. It was great to meet you and I hope that I can continue to provide you with useful information to help you achieve your research goals.

If you want to know more about me, check out the Who I Am page on the website.

For those of you who want the credentials and academic details there is a link to my résumé in that page. And through the wonders of the internet, my publications list is clickable. Some of the links will require subscriptions, which I assume you have through your institution.

For those that prefer a more personal connection, I keep a personal blog called Tricotomania & more.

Enough with the preliminaries, how was congress?

If the main purpose of academic conferences is to meet new people and share ideas, how did I do?

Here’s a little round up of things I learned.

The Book Fair

On the down side, standing up all day is really physically tiring. Doing it for 8 days is pretty tough. I’m the kind of person for whom the phrase “woman in comfortable shoes” was invented but it took me a few days to find the ideal pair. In hindsight, it seems obvious that Clarks should have been my first choice.

On the up side, I met a lot of interesting people doing interesting things. And I got a lot of positive responses.

A few tenure-track people perked right up when I told them what I did, immediately recognizing that there is help available for them as they negotiate this new life as university professors.

And senior people were also interested. More than one listened attentively, and then took my card to give to junior colleagues who they thought might benefit from my help. That vote of confidence was important for me.

The majority of those I spoke to, and those who signed up for the list, were students. I hope that I can help make your time as a graduate student more enjoyable and more rewarding whatever you decide to do once you are finished.

I also learned that many people think once a week is too frequent. So my posting frequency may drop a bit while I figure out what works.

In future I would do things differently.

While the cozy living room atmosphere wasn’t a terrible idea, the coffee table was too low for signing up for things. And I rarely sat in the chairs. Most people walk by and stop briefly. Only a few want to commit to sitting down and having a conversation.

Maybe a tall table with the bar-stool type chairs would be more appropriate. I think the furniture people call it a “bistro” table and chairs. Those who don’t want to sit can at least write things at that table height. And maybe I don’t have to stand for 8 days straight.

I also need to have better signage. Most people were baffled by the lack of books, but seemed worried that I was going to sell them insurance. Even a basic sign could allay that fear and invite questions about how I can help you achieve your research goals.

If you were there and have ideas, please let me know either in the comments or by e-mail.

Managing Your Research Career

The presentations went well, despite some technical issues on Monday. Compared to giving the presentation by candlelight in a windowless room (which I have done before), it was a piece of cake. I’ve posted the PowerPoint slides here. There is no audio. The slides are an outline of the talk.

I received positive feedback and now need to think about how I can build on that presentation in positive ways to help you actually manage your career more effectively.

One thing I might work on in the next few weeks is adding audio to that slide show.

But I’m also wondering whether some kind of group class delivered using web technology (possibly asynchronous, because you are all busy) might help. Somewhere to check in with me and others in a similar situation when you are stuck, and something to give you some structure so you do the things you want to do.

In the meantime, I welcome suggestions from faculty who would find a “Managing Your Research Career” class helpful. What kinds of things would you find helpful and how often? You can comment on this post or send me an e-mail.

If you are reading this in an e-mail, you can click through to the website to leave comments.

I hope your research is going well this summer. Don’t forget to take some time to enjoy the good weather, relax and recharge.