Nami Writes - Nami's Blog

Grant application can take over your life

InfraCoalition Grant Application #

Grant writing takes a lot of time and energy. It can consume your life. Even when you are taking a much-needed break, you might feel, "You should be writing".

I have forgotten about this feeling for a while. When I was doing PhD, I felt this a lot. My challenge was to manage that feeling—that I had to convince myself that taking breaks from writing is ok. Although I've never found a way to successfully eliminate this feeling, I have learned to accept that it's ok not to work all the time.

But with a set deadline, it was hard not to feel that way.

In the past weeks, I found my life consumed by the grant application. I wanted to write about my learning.

InfraCoalition View #

The grant proposal is called InfraCoalition. The proposal is for the Open Science Netherlands Infrastructure Call. In the proposal, we the applicants want to transform an existing publishing platform (ResearchEquals) to an open infrastructure that does not depend on Big Tech, bringing power back to the research communities.

The current research infrastructures are mostly centralized. The business models of Pure, Scopus, and most publishers focus on bringing researchers to one place to their platform. Scientific power is being centralized. Worse, they will track your behavior on the platform and sell them for extra profit.

The centralization is problematic since it does not reflect the decentralized nature of academia. The academia is inherently decentralized and federated. Universities are independent. But, they collectively advance the human knowledge together.

It's time for the research communities to reclaim autonomy in the research infrastructure. I believe InfraCoalition can help with that.

Writing Process and Learning #

The writing process of the grant is always hard, and InfraCoalition is not an exception.

We started with a great pre-proposal spearheaded by Chris Hartgerink. The proposal was received well, reviewers gave positive advice to submit a full proposal.

In the main proposal writing phase, I took the main driver's seat. It was my first time to coordinate a coalition of a six.

Chris helped me a lot on this. Below were some points of learning for me.

1. Trust that everyone is there to help you #

In the first meeting, I was too focused on leading a perfect meeting as a chair. My focus was controlling the meeting, by keeping the agenda and timeline. But the reality is that everyone is there to help you during the meeting. In the end, everyone wants a successful meeting.

Of course, keeping the discussion on track is important. But the more important task is to make it easy for members to contribute. One way to do so is to state your opinion as a chair.

2. Use your position as a starting point #

In one meeting, I wanted our group to decide whether to welcome a new member. I thought there was no issue in doing so. But, I did not want to bias anyone in the room. So, I introduced the topic neutrally without my position and asked the members for their opinions.

I think that may have created a moment of confusion, whether I had doubts, and what reasons. Also, being the first one to express an opinion in a group is scary. As a chair, I could have taken the bullet and lifted the burden from others.

Sometimes, my Japanese background can get in the way of stating my opinion directly and clearly. But, clarity is important in cross-cultural communication. After all, no one can read my mind (I hope).

3. Propose a due date when requesting an action #

When requesting information or action (for example, to review something), it's better to ask for a date. (Can you do this by Date X?) This is not for micromanaging. Rather, asking for a timeline helps the mutual planning. The person who will be completing the task may realize that the timeline is too tight. Often, we think that we have all the time in the world, especially working on an exciting project. If I have a clear due date, I can evaluate whether it works with my other obligations.

When asking for a date, it's best to be specific. Hearing "by 10 a.m. on Friday", I know exactly by when I need to do the task. If I hear "by the next week", I'm confused if the task should be completed by next Monday, or by 5 p.m. next Friday.

4. Focus on co-creation #

Working on a material together is a challenge. You may create something. And someone else will completely re-write it. For example, a PhD supervisor can re-write paragraphs in the PhD candidate's work.

Having your writing overwritten by your collaborator may make you feel like you wasted your time. The important thing here is that we should separate the text and the idea in it. The text may be deleted or altered. But, the idea you expressed in the text could have helped your collaborator to come up with the re-write. That way, both parties are co-creating.

5. Call for a vote to check the opinion as a group #

In a group meeting, it's often unclear whether everyone agrees on a topic. I once asked in the room, "Does everyone agree with this?". Some reacted by nodding, others via Teams Emoji, another said something, but it was still hard for me to know if we reached a consensus. In cases like this, I could have called a vote by raising hands. For example, I could have said, "I want to take a vote to check our position on this topic as a group. Can you raise your hand if you agree?".

6. Make sure that everyone's voices are included #

The beauty of working as a group is that we have different people with different ideas, backgrounds, and personalities. So, we will always have differences in speaking time—some members talk more than others. The chair's responsibility here is to make sure that everyone had a chance to express their opinion. The chair can say something like, "I want to make sure that everyone had a chance to express their opinion. Is there anyone who hasn't spoken up and wants to contribute?"

Proposal submitted #

Overall, it was a good learning experience for me to lead the group. I thank all the InfraCoalition members for staying with the ride. Also, special thanks to Chris for coaching me throughout the process.

We submitted our proposal on 11 April 2025. I'm looking forward to receiving feedback from the reviewers (hopefully in August or so)!