1 / 12

How to obtain RGC grants as a junior faculty?

How to obtain RGC grants as a junior faculty?. Aimin Xu, Dept of Medicine & Dept of Pharmacology. Email: amxu@hkucc.hku.hk. May 25, 2010. Unique features of RGC GRF scheme. High success rate (~35% in biomedical panel versus <10% in NIH grant and NSFC in China).

kiri
Download Presentation

How to obtain RGC grants as a junior faculty?

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. How to obtain RGC grants as a junior faculty? Aimin Xu, Dept of Medicine & Dept of Pharmacology Email: amxu@hkucc.hku.hk May 25, 2010

  2. Unique features of RGC GRF scheme • High success rate (~35% in biomedical panel versus <10% in NIH grant and NSFC in China). • Small funding scale (equivalent to a PDF fellowship in USA). • Short duration (maximum for three years). • Friendly and fair review system • Final decision heavily relies on reviewer’s comments • No opportunity for rebuttal

  3. How to get continuous GRF support? • Establish yourself by making solid contributions; • Focus on your own research field; • Sustainable research direction; • Long-term strategy; • Careful selection of your research topic; • Feasible research plan

  4. The key step for a success grant application:selection of a “right” research topic The topic should be Novel (Avoid “me too” topics ) Non-controversial (Avoid hostile reviewers) Insight mechanism (Avoid “Yes” or “No” studies) Sustainable (Avoid one-off topics) Unique (Avoid direct competition with others) Feasible in Hong Kong

  5. Preparing your grant proposal based on the selection criteria

  6. Tips for writing a grant proposal Abstract: (1) Comprehensible to non-specialist, (2) Important to emphasize the key questions to be addressed. *Project objective and long-term impact: (1) Critical part, some reviewers made their decision based on this section. (2) Important to provide a convincing justification; (3) provide a clear hypothesis. Research background: (1) An unbiased literature summary which leads to your research questions; (2) Complementary to the “project objective” section; (3) The two parts ( “work done by others” and “work done by us” should be cohesive and highly related. Research strategy and methodology: (1) Important to show that the experiments are doable in HK; (2) Needs to have an alternative plan; (3) A diagram to show how the research questions can be addressed by your research plan.

  7. Macrophages • Do A-FABP and lipocalin-2 play an etiological role in the development of vascular dysfunctions in diabetic mice ? Adipocytes NF-B Lipocalin-2 A-FABP • How does A-FABP trigger the inflammatory response and production of pro-inflammatory cytokine in macrophages ? A-FABP (-) Lipocalin-2 BAR PH PTB NF-B Adiponectin Adiponectin • TNF • IL1 • MCP-1 • IL6 Lipocalin-2 • Which oligomer is responsible for the vasculo-protective effect in mice? Hexamer HMW Trimer S-S • How does lipocalin-2 inhibit NO production and induce apoptosis in endothelial cells? AdipoR1 AdipoR2 • Do AdipoR1, adipoR2 and APPL1 play a physiological role in maintaining vascular homeostasis? P110 • How does APPL1 mediate insulin-stimulated Akt phosphorylation and activation in endothelial cells? APPL1 LKB1 Akt • How does the interaction between LKB1 and APPL1 lead to the activation of AMPK? (-) Thr172 AMPK Ser1177 eNOS • What is the structural basis for the interactions between adipoR1/2 and APPL1? NO NO p p Endothelial cells NO NO An example of “a diagram”: A summary of key questions to be addressed in your study

  8. What can we learn from the successful experience of HKUST? • The success rate of grant application was over 70% from Dept of Biochemistry and Dept of Biology; • Most PIs can get GRF almost every year • The reasons for their high success rate includes • Well focused research programs; • Insight mechanistic studies; • Sustainable research directions; • Better intra- and inter- departmental collaborations; • More eager to apply for external grants; • More friendly reviewers; • Less inter-institutional competitions

  9. Try your best to avoid the local reviewers in Hong Kong The chance of getting positive comments from the local reviewers is very low !! • Possible ways that might increase your chance to get overseas reviewers • Careful selection of key words; • Make your title and abstract interesting to the reviewers; • Nurture your network and potential friends in your field; • Possibly helpful to nominate potential reviewers as a back-up.

  10. Identifying “right” collaborators or co-PIs for your project • Non-controversial; • highly complementary to your research skills; • Establish true collaborations; • clearly state their roles in your project; • Seek input from your collaborators/co-PIs; • Supporting letters

  11. Introduction to our antibody and immunoassay service (www.antibody.hku.hk)

  12. Thank you!

More Related