Applying for grants and fellowships is a crucial part of moving innovative research projects forward, expanding educational opportunities, and increasing cancer care availability at hospitals. Yet the application process can be daunting and discouraging. To help demystify the funding application process, BVGH created the 2023 AAI Introduction to Grant Writing digital course. Reaching over 5,200 healthcare providers, researchers, and grant writing professionals from 102 countries, the lecture series included speakers from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Wellcome Trust, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, MD Anderson, and the University of South Florida.
The digital training program began with a series of lectures that covered how to craft the body of a grant application – from writing a CV and requesting letters of support to making a budget and timeline for the project – before transitioning into presentations on what funders, editors, and reviewers are looking for. The 10-session series concluded with a lecture from Dr. Mwando Chitula, Oncology Specialist, Cancer Diseases Hospital, Zambia, who spoke about her own experiences with grant applications, successful grant management, and how finding a mentor was a game-changer for her career and success. Following the lecture series, interested participants were invited to a Peer Review Workshop to learn more about the peer review process, review a peer’s work, and have their work reviewed in return.
“The course was very informative. I can comfortably write about my motivation and research interest and letters of support, which were previously a challenge for me.”
-Felishana Jepkosgei Cherop, Lecturer at Moi University, Kenya