General tips from my experience in obtaining biomedical sciences research #fellowships/funding as a computational/mathematical scientist, and having gone through hundreds of applications as committee member @wellcometrust, @TheBHF, @NC3Rs, @The_MRC, #STEM, #WomenInSTEM:
1. Success generally comes after failure. Every time I've been awarded a fellowship, I had a painful rejection first. Analyse the rejection and act to overcome it. You will need advice and clear thinking (and some time to recover).
2. Ask yourself why you really want a fellowship and remember this reason through the ups and downs of the process. Fellowships are a very good way to combine a scientific career and a young family, for example.
3. Identify one clear biomedical question with relevance to human health. Methods-centred proposals with application to several physiological systems (e.g. heart/cancer) seem to be much harder to get funded by biomedical panels. A general comment is "the application lacks focus".
4. Hypothesis-driven work plan of investigations with clear outcomes. Some research is not hypothesis-driven and this presents its complexities in panels who are used to hypothesis-driven mechanistic research. Think about it.
5. Combine theoretical and experimental research (rather than theoretical only) and choose collaborators well. This is particularly true for #modelling and #simulation/#AI research. Take really good care of defining the interface with experiments and collaborators
6. Prepare for very diverse points of views, for expert and non-expert reviewers in the mathematical and biomedical sciences. It is crucial and enriching.
7. Ask for help - Nothing is done alone. Ask for feedback on your application, asap. Senior people who have gone through this are generally very happy to advice! Check who can help you and ask them with enough time.
8. Make good choices on where you invest your energy. Applying for a fellowship and funding in general is very time, energy and emotionally demanding. Make space for it! Saying no and choosing the right battles is an art.
9. Choose your sponsor really carefully: you need support and also room to grow! This can be complex but crucial. If you are finding this difficult, ask people you trust for advice.
10. Clearly show leadership in your application. You don't need to move geographically, but you need to show that you are leading a research programme.
11. Best of luck! I have been funded by fellowships most of my career and it is very fulfilling if science is your thing.
11. Best of luck! I have been funded by fellowships most of my career and it is very fulfilling if science is your thing.
