Grant-gender event: recording and quiz

By Despoina Mademtzoglou, project manager and Isabelle Spada, administrative coordinator

Image source: Andrey Popov - stock.adobe.com

In May 2024, the Grants Office and the Diversity-Equity-Inclusion group hosted a seminar on "Gender, grant applications and success rates". The organizers and a panel of grant awardees shared data on grant applications and funded projects by male and female researchers, and they engaged on a round table discussion on the topic. The recording is available in the playlist of DEI. We invite you to the quiz below about some key figures and take-home messages.

1) Internationally, female and male researchers:  

• Submit equal numbers of grant applications in recent years 

• Receive equal funding when evaluation is blind 

• Differ in willingness to resubmit a rejected proposal 

2) Female researchers have reported the following factor as having encouraged them to apply for grants:  

• Receive institutional support 

• Have a male partner in the proposal 

• Avoid career breaks 

3) The panelists shared the following advice when a researcher applies for a grant:  

• Constantly explore new areas, favor disruptive over incremental innovation 

• Hold brainstorming sessions with other scientists, request feedback from peers 

• Focus on the idea, not the technology to support it 

4) Which of the following has worked well for the panelists in applying for and getting grants? 

• Develop collaborations, without necessarily applying for collaborative grants together 

• Accept the rejection, use the criticism to get stronger applications, fight against internal censorship (e.g. disregard inhibitory terms like “excellence” in the grant’s name) 

• Reuse data and learn to delegate (Grants Office, team members...) to enhance time investment