Grant Writing

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[2025-07-23 Wed]: UCalgary: Research Proposals and Lay Summaries

• What I hope to get out of this: I think I want to get some advice on how to make my research proposals more actionable/active. I struggle w/ walking the tightrope between “I will do this research to do this thing” and “This is the research I have been doing”.

Steps to win

• Structure

  • Background
    • A few sentences and references.
    • References count toward page count!!!
  • The Gap
    • I need to work on my gap phrasing. I’m researching the application of non-hierarchical control methods to the power grid and how they perform both in terms of stability and optimality and how operators of the power grid interact with them.
  • Overarching Objective
  • Aim 1+2 - Max 2 aims Hypothesis, Methods
  • Sex and gender considerations
  • Significance and impact

• Narrative storytelling

Lay summary:

Elevator pitch, or the “business card” of your resaerch proposal. Should be at a highschool level.

• Clear purpose: What is the research about, what is the gap?
• Understandable Language (No Acronyms)
• Human Impact
• Who’s Involved: Collaborations could go into the lay summary.
• Outcomes