Program Note: We are finishing the first phase of NRMN and are looking forward to the next round of programs. NRMN program offerings vary during the transition time, and unfortunately, we are not able to offer new grant writing coaching groups or the other programs listed below EXCEPT the Health Disparities Learning Collaboratory, during the 2018-2019 academic year. The next round of program offerings for the Northwestern University Grant-writing Coaching Group, Shark Tank, and The Mentoring Academy Institutional Planning Forum will be known early 2019. We encourage you to take advantage of the Health Disparities Learning Collaboratory program as well as what NRMN can offer in the short-term (e.g. guided virtual mentoring, networking on MyNRMN) and look forward to the next phase, which will begin in July 2019. Please consider signing up for the grant writing coaching group digest to receive notifications about future grant writing programs if/when they become available by clicking HERE. Contact PDC@nrmnet.net with any questions.
Target Audiences
- Faculty, postdocs and researchers considered new investigators by NIH participate as mentees in the Northwestern University grant-writing training, which provides a structured group sequence focused on teaching mentees rhetorical patterns and effective writing techniques for NIH-style proposals. Junior and mid-career investigators who need more technical-skill building activities specific to interpreting summary sheets of previously submitted applications participate in Shark Tank described in more detail below.
- Senior faculty with previous experience in developing and securing NIH funding participate as coaches who assist in the training and to learn career coaching techniques to implement at their respective institutions.
- Institutional leaders who occupy leadership positions with access to high-value resources, the ability to navigate complex systems and authority to take effective actions participate in a planning workshop that provides a framework to support the consolidation of mentoring and training activities across disparate programs and that helps them build a critical level of biomedical research mentoring capacity.
Program Details
Northwestern University Grant-writing Coaching Group
Please see the above Program Note for information regarding future Grant Writing Coaching Groups
The Northwestern University training program provides a structured group sequence focused on refining research proposal writing skills. The training:
- Introduces the NIH grant review process and the technique of “writing for reviewers”
- Teaches rhetorical patterns and technical writing techniques
- Provides insights and skills for constructive and concise writing
Target NU Model Mentee participants are:
- Actively writing a health disparities or health-equity-related proposal with a 4-to-6 month submission window
- Applying for intra- or extramural funding mechanisms that follows an NIH-style format
Target NU Model Coaches participants have:
- Success with writing NIH-style proposals of one or more variety that were funded
- Experience with health disparities/health equity research
- Some experience giving feedback, guidance to others writing proposals, and participation in study sections
- Intimate knowledge of NIH review process
- Proficiency with facilitating groups
- A desire to learn and apply the unique grant writing approach developed at NU
- Are committed to working with a group of 3 to 5 individuals over 4 to 6 months, beginning with the 2-3 day in-person training at the indicated institution
Note: Upon completion of the program, trainees will receive a 6-month, 12-month, and 18-month assessment to complete. These assessments will help improve NRMN and other programs in the future.
Shark Tank
Please see the above Program Note for information regarding future Grant Writing Coaching Groups
Shark Tank review sessions serve the broader grant writing community by supporting the resubmission of peer reviewed grant proposals. The RROC Shark Tank review sessions will target scholars whose NIH applications were reviewed but not funded to create a path for these scholars to persist in addressing critiques and resubmitting applications.
Target Shark Tank Mentee participants are:
- Actively writing a health disparities or health-equity-related proposal with a 4-to-6 month submission window
- Applying for intra- or extramural funding mechanisms that follows an NIH-style format
- In receipt of a summary statement
Target Shark Tank Coaches participants have:
- Success with writing NIH-style proposals of one or more variety that were funded
- Experience with health disparities/health equity research
- Substantial experience giving feedback, guidance to others writing proposals, and participation in study sections
- Intimate knowledge of NIH review process
- Are committed to working with a group of 1 to 3 individuals over 4 to 6 months, beginning with the 2-3 day in-person training at the indicated institution
Health Disparities Learning Collaboratory
**The Health Disparities Learning Collaboratory will still be offered to new participants
The NRMN Health Disparities Learning Collaboratory supplements the in-person activities of the SETH program. Through the collaboratory, Investigators can access professional development didactic seminars, health equity curricula covering topics such as community engagement, team science and clinical and translational research and grant consultation through the Northwestern University Grant-writing Coaching Group and Shark Tank programs.
The Mentoring Academy Institutional Planning Forum
Please see the above Program Note for information regarding future Grant Writing Coaching Groups
The SETH Institutional Planning Forum supports the development of Mentoring Academies with the primary purpose of synergizing mentoring, coaching and professional development opportunities across institutions. The Mentoring Academy builds capacity for basic biomedical and behavioral research with a focus on institutional resource development. It is designed specifically to overcome the lack of quality mentoring as it relates to career success and professional development in multidisciplinary biomedical research. Out of necessity, the Mentoring Academy creates a structure through which junior investigators have access to quality mentors, despite a shortage of mentors across various disciplines. Two key theories support the structure of the Mentoring Academy: team science and mentoring constellations. The Mentoring Academy aggregates a group of multidisciplinary senior investigators with sufficient social, technical and scientific capital to provide career coaching, mentoring and project support to junior health equity investigators.
Target Mentoring Academy Institutional Planning participants are:
- Interested in the professional development of early- and mid-career investigators through the use of multidisciplinary research teams and multiple mentors.
- Have knowledge of institutional policies, activities and structures that support consolidating mentoring and training activities across disparate programs
- Are change agents who can build a critical mass of biomedical research mentors and want to develop centralized mentoring infrastructures and enhance research capacity at their institutions
** Multiple leaders from a single institution are encouraged to apply.
