For Ericka M. Boone, a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Emory University in Atlanta, grant writing seemed a "daunting chore." She looked on it as a "huge mountain" to overcome, but knew she had to climb it one rock at a time. Few graduate students have an opportunity to write grants before starting a postdoc. They spend more time writing fellowship applications. But organizations and universities offer many opportunities to learn how to perfect grants.
In the United Kingdom, most if not all universities offer training courses for academic staff, says consultant Philip Hills, who gives grant writing courses in a number of UK universities (www.gla.ac.uk/services/
staffdevelopment/courses/research/funding.html). The staff development unit at Cambridge University, for example, offers a course on preparing grant applications.
To better prepare for applying for grants to research serotonin receptors, Boone took a course on grant writing sponsored by the Federation ...
