Fellowship Application Process

Applying to fellowships involves a lot of moving parts. The Manager of Career and Professional Development for the School of Graduate Studies guides PhD/MD-PhD trainees and Postdocs through the process. 

Any fellowship writing process can be broken down into four big picture areas:

• Applicant writing
• Applicant data collection and analysis
• Mentor writing and discussion
• Downstate requirements

Applicant Writing

Fellowship writing is an iterative process. The two main documents applicants work on and spend most of their writing energy are:

• Specific Aims page
  • 1 page limit
  • Expect this document to change a lot throughout the process
• Research Strategy
  • typically 6 pages but it can vary by funding source
  • here you write a concise and complete summary of your proposed project
  • balancing conciseness and completeness is challenging

There are additional documents applicants will need to write, but their number and depth vary a lot by the funding source. Always check the most up-to-date funding announcement. Even long established funding sources change their application formats slightly from year to year.

Applicant Data Collection and Analysis

Balancing active research with research proposal writing is a skill even seasoned primary investigators (PIs) struggle with. For this exact reason, most PIs do not perform any experiments and restrict their activities to teaching, grant writing, and other administrative responsibilites. 

For your research strategy proposal, aim to base your narrative on existing, un-published data in the lab. If it is not your own data, ensure you have permission from your PI and whoever collected the data to use it. 

While writing your research strategy, plan on having completed most of your data collection. You can and should collect data during the brainstorming part of your proposal development. However, towards the end of your writing (2-3 months before the deadline), you should anticipate dedicating the majority of your time to writing.

What is most important to remember is to eat, drink water, and sleep first. All the other priorities will fall into place. No one goes through grant writing gracefully. If you are struggling with juggling priorites, feel free to speak with the Manager of Career and Professional Development about your timeline.

Mentor Writing and Discussion

Plan on having weekly meetings with your PI as soon as you decide to apply for a fellowship. These weekly meetings begin 9 -12 months before the application deadline and are completely devoted to your research proposal brainstorming and drafting. Note that these research proposal meetings are separate from any weekly data-update meetings you have with your PI. You will not have time to cover both in the same meeting, so plan to have two meetings in total each week with your mentor. The timeline and content of research proposal meetings will vary by individual, but here is a rough guideline of what to expect in your weekly research proposal meetings:

Month 0: Communicate intention to apply to both PI and Manager of Career and Professional Development

Month 1-4: Brainstorming Specific Aims and crafting narrative; identifying and contacting writers of letters of support (different than letters of recommendation); deciding if a co-sponsor is necessary; finalize first draft of Specific Aims by Month 4

Month 5-8: Write iterative drafts of Research Proposal; adjust Specific Aims page as necessary; check in with Letter of Support writers

Month 9-12: Finalize application and check with Downstate Sponsored Programs Administration whether application fits the submission guidelines

Downstate Requirements

Most fellowships need to be submitted through Downstate. Applicants rarely submit their applications directly to the funding agency. The Sponsored Programs Administration is here to help applicants with any Downstate requirements.

Have you completed the mandatory Compliance Training?

What is your training budget?

Do you need an animal protocol?

Do you need to work with the Institutional Board of Review?

How do you handle the grant paperwork for human test subjects?

The Sponsored Programs Administration asks applicants to meet with them 9 months ahead a submission deadline  (grants-office@downstate.edu) to cover these questions. The sooner you meet with them, the better. Fellowship submissions require a lot of preparation and meeting early on will enable to submit a stronger application. In that meeting their staff will:

• • enroll you in the mandatory Compliance Training (40min)
  • familiarize you with the Conflict Disclosure form
  • clarify whether and how your fellowship application needs to be submitted through SUNY Downstate. Most fellowships need to be submitted through SUNY Downstate.