MaP Professors Shared Grant-Writing Strategies
On 27 March 2025, around 20 postdocs and senior scientists gathered at ETH Hönggerberg for an insightful session on grant proposal writing. Prof. Laura De Lorenzis and Prof. Salvador Pané i Vidal from D-MAVT covered the general principles of grant writing and successful examples from European Commission and Swiss programmes.
Prof. De Lorenzis highlighted key reasons why grant proposals often fail, such as lack of novelty, unstructured ideas, insufficient applicant competence, and disproportionate resource requests. She stressed the importance of clearly demonstrating the novelty of research in every section of the proposal. She also recommended using strategic redundancy to ensure key points are clear.
Prof. Pané i Vidal shared insights on securing European and Swiss grants, offering practical advice on different funding schemes, such as the EIC Pathfinder Open for blue-sky research. He reminded attendees that the ETH Grants Office provides invaluable support and encouraged persistence. Despite securing multiple prestigious grants, he revealed that he has faced many rejections. One of the most common reasons for rejection, he noted, is a poorly elaborated methodology. Ensuring that this section is detailed and convincing can significantly improve the chances of success.
After the presentations and Q&A, discussions continued over sandwiches and muffins, allowing participants to exchange experiences and insights with the speakers. Given the strong interest in this topic, MaP plans to organise a similar event in the future—stay tuned!