EMCR Agony Aunt

Q

Dear Agony Aunt,

I’m an ECR, currently working in a postdoc position. I have a good track record and I think I’d be competitive to apply for some grants/fellowships in my field. I’ve read the papers talking about the centuries of time researchers spend applying for grants. To date, I think I’ve done a good job of maintaining my work-life balance (and sanity). But the prospect of applying for funding makes me think that will all go out the window. I’ve heard of ECRs who worked on applications completely in their own time and others whose supervisors allowed/suggested that they spend work time writing applications. What are the norms around how researchers should spend time on grant writing? Do you have any advice for discussing this with a supervisor in a lab where there is a precedent to work on grants outside of work hours?

Yours,

Grant Seeker

A

Dear Dr Grant Seeker,

Well, true to the name The Agony Aunt I certainly did agonise over this. The brains trust was consulted. Tea was drunk. Thoughts were had. But, unfortunately, after hours of mulling, the answer is… it depends.

It depends what kind of job you have, what kind of relationship you have with your supervisor, who pays you, what grants you are applying for, what involvement your current supervisor will have in them, whether you are meeting your current work-related targets, how much autonomy you have in your current role, if you plan on staying there if the grants don’t work out and so many other variables.

Some of the brains trust were in jobs where they knew it absolutely wouldn’t be OK, others had previously done it without any problems. One came from a lab where there was an expressed ‘rule’ about how much of your work time you could dedicate to activities that weren’t your project.

It would be great if there were a hard and fast rule, with a level playing field for everyone that respected the EMCRs’ right to work-life balance and the diversity in our other obligations, but there isn’t. Some will see it as a kind of circle of life, where you borrow time from your current employer but that all evens out in the end. Others may insist that you focus on your paid work.

At the end of the day, if you want to write grant applications (or do any other activity really!) during paid work time, you probably need to have a discussion with your supervisor about it. You might find out you were worried about nothing, or you might get an answer you don’t want to hear, but at least you will have all the data to allow you to make the best decision about how to spend your time.

Yours in grant writing,

EMCR Agony Aunt