Spring Proposal Bootcamp (BIOS 263)

Registration is closed. If you are a graduate student interested in enrolling in Spring 2025, email Crystal Botham. Our next Bootcamps will be in Autumn 2025. Add your name to this interest form and we will email you when registration is open.

BIOS 263: Applied Grant-Writing Skills for Fellowships

The Spring Proposal Bootcamp is specifically tailored for graduate students applying to fellowships, for example the NIH F31 or F30, and postdocs writing the NIH NRSA Fellowship F32. Bootcamp participants develop proposals through guided exercises with an emphasis on establishing a writing practice and in-class peer review.

Spring Proposal Bootcamp (9-weeks) includes:

• Weekly meetings  led by a Grant Coach
• Weekly peer review for impactful feedback
• Priority for graduate students  working on NIH F31 proposals
• Videos and resources to guide the development of your proposal
• Overview of grantsmanship fundamentals
• Tips & resources for writing compelling grants delivered through text & videos
• Grant writing tips delivered directly to your in-box each week
• Weekly Office Hours with Grant Coaches

Goals

The goal of the course is to conceive, write, and revise a proposal, with the ultimate goal of submitting it. Towards that end, ancillary goals are:

• Understand the role each document has in a proposal.
• Draft and revise each document, with a focus on Specific Aims, Research Plan, and Training Plan documents.
• Learn to give and receive critical feedback on scientific writing.
• Understand how reviewers and the review process evaluate your application.
• Enhance writing clarity and simplicity to improve scientific writing, and establish a writing practice.

Target Audience

Stanford Biosciences & School of Medicine Graduate Students, Postdocs, Clinical Fellows. Priority for graduate students writing NIH F31 or medical students writing F30 proposals or other fellowships (find funding).

Requirements for you as a participant

• Attending in-person weekly meetings (Thursdays April 3 to May 29 at 3-5PM)
• Commit to a writing schedule during the entire course.
• Set aside 1-2 hours per week to review materials on course website (Canvas) which are organized as 10 modules.
• Build 2-3 writing blocks into your weekly schedule of at least 2-hours each to draft your proposal documents.

Structure

Each week will begin with a mini-lecture addressing the above goals. Then you will peer-review parts of your application, focusing on one document per week. You will give and receive feedback from peers in class, with additional input from your Grant Coach and faculty outside of class. In the Spring Proposal Bootcamp, the course is structured around the documents central to the NIH NRSA (F30, F31, F32).

Attendance and Preparation

Weekly attendance and participation is important! Each week you will complete guided exercises relevant to specific parts of your proposal application. In class you will receive feedback that will improve the clarity of your writing and deepen your thinking. Your peers also depend on you to provide feedback on their writing and our previous participants found that providing feedback helped improve their own writing as well. If you must miss your weekly session, please email your Grant Coach. You must attend 7 weekly meetings for a Satisfactory grade.

Graduate Students

Please register using the link above AND sign-up for BIOS 263 in Axess. The course is credit / no credit. A Satisfactory grade attending and participating in at least 7 weekly meetings.

Textbook

A Practical Guide to Writing a Ruth L. Kirschstein NRSA Grant is specific for the NIH NRSA (F30, F31, F32) Fellowships. Check out a copy from Lane Medical Library.

The K Award Guidebook: Your Guide to Launching Your Independent Research Career. Check out a copy from Lane Medical Library.

The Grant Application Writer’s Workbook by Stephen W. Russell and David C. Morrison is an excellent resource when writing any fellowship or grant application. Though it focuses on the NIH R01, the strategies (specifically the Chapters on Specific Aims and Research Approach) are useful for successful NIH fellowships (i.e. F31) and career development award as well as any other funding opportunity. Check out a copy from Lane Medical Library.

Comments from our participants

“The faculty review workshops are fantastic and maybe a once-in-a-life kind of experience”

“The deadlines forced me to think about my drafts and writing a compelling grant in a timely manner. Otherwise, I would have crammed it into 2-3 weeks before the deadline.”

“The peer review process helped me see my proposal through the eyes of a critical reviewer”

“It improved my writing skills”

“I really appreciated the grant coach office hours”

“Meeting up with other people that were ‘in the same boat’ as me was helpful”

Other relevant Proposal Bootcamps

• Online Proposal Bootcamp
• Self-Paced Proposal Bootcamp

Grant Coaches

Dr. Rebekah Gullberg is a postdoctoral fellow in the Biology department, where a Dean’s Fellowship funded her research on how infectious viruses are built inside human cells. This past year, she participated in the Women Empowerment K-series boot camp, where she learned grant-writing skills and reflected on her scientific journey, career goals and vision for her future. Since this experience was so powerful for her, she is eager to provide similar experiences for others by being a grant coach. She also volunteers as chair of the sports groups with SURPAS where she leads hikes and encourage postdocs in active communities.

Dr. MK Quinn is a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Pediatrics at Stanford Medical School. She has her PhD in Population Health Sciences. Her research focuses on how policy impacts preterm infant health. She worked with the Grant Writing Academy to successfully submit an F32, and she had such a good experience that she applied to join the grant coaching team. She’s excited to work with students and postdocs on their applications. In her free time, you can find her out on the trails with her dog.

The Proposal Bootcamp was honored with an Innovations in Research Education Award from the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC).

Questions? Email Crystal Botham.

If you need a disability related accommodation to participate in this event (captioning, sign language interpreting, Braille, etc.), please contact the Diversity & Access Office at disability.access@stanford.edu or 650.725.0326. Requests should be received at least one week prior to the event.