I have to make a call on whether or not to submit a grant proposal this round. This is a proposal that has been in twice already and was hit with the "needs more data" tag in the most recent round. I have a good amount of new data but am waiting on a significant bolus of data that should be arriving next week. The deadline for the proposal is Jan 12 and oh, did I mention that I'm submitting a second proposal that week?
If I do send this thing off I'm planning on significantly re-working it to streamline the presentation and change the data collection to make the study more comparative. This will be fairly straight-forward and I have some useful data in hand that should help my case, but I don't have the mother load yet and it may not come before the deadline.
If that is the case, I think I have the following options.
1) Submit the re-worked grant to the same program and then send an update when the data arrive. This is the most conservative strategy, but I run the risk of pissing off my PO if I don't have those data because I told him that I wouldn't re-submit without the data I am waiting for. This is probably a minor concern, however.
2) Submit the re-worked grant to a different panel and submit the update. This has some appeal because there is a new panel that my proposal would fit nicely under and I could get away from banging my head against the same wall.
3) Wait a round, gather everything I need to make the grant as solid as possible and then submit over the summer. Although this would probably be preferred by my PO, it makes me a bit itchy. At the same time, I don't want to kill myself over the next two weeks to submit something that's not going to have a shot. What if the data I am waiting on don't work out like I expect?
My inclination is to submit it again and make the best of it. If I don't see those data before the deadline then I may be best off going with option 2, but I think I have changed my mind between all three options about twice a day for the last couple of days.
1 day ago
There's a lot of pressure to get grants. I wonder if talking to some of the people might help.
ReplyDeleteIs it possible to work on grant #2 for a few days until you know whether the data will be coming through or not? Or would that not work.
ReplyDeleteNot exactly... for a couple of reasons that I won't get into.
ReplyDeleteI should know Monday what the data schedule will look like, but I need to have made progress on the writing side of things by then.
I run the risk of pissing off my PO if I don't have those data because I told him that I wouldn't re-submit without the data I am waiting for.
ReplyDeleteThe likelihood that the PO will remember that you "told him" this is pretty close to zero.
I think I would do this -- re-submit grant to same panel this go-round, using what new data you have available. If dinged again, re-submit to new panel next time (with slew of new data), dependent on what first panel says from this submission. Initially my thought was to cool your jets and put all effort into the other proposal...but then again, you have a grant kinda sitting there...so why not? Other than risking your sanity, of course.
ReplyDeleteGo with #2. You can go with #3 later. #1 ain't worth it.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I'm going with what's behind door number 2. I never quite liked the fit of the program that my proposal initially got moved into and now I have an opportunity to make a change.
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ReplyDelete