About

Emory Office of Postdoctoral Education

Emory School of Medicine has one of the largest and most comprehensive programs for postdoctoral training in the country. Our postdocs have access to a strong network of support services and partnering organizations in the Atlanta biomedical community.

Whether your career plans include becoming an independent investigator, a staff scientist, or an educator – reading, writing and editing research proposals will be a significant part of your life. The Office of Postdoctoral Education (OPE) provides numerous resources and opportunities for learning the art of proposal writing and editing.

The OPEGRANTS Toolkit is designed to provide Emory postdocs with the information needed to successfully find, write and submit grant proposals. The Toolkit is a living resource and  information will be continuously updated and expanded.

The OPEGRANTS Toolkit has three primary modules:

Grants 101: Education resources start with the Grants 101 module – This introductory module covers everything you need to know about grants for Emory postdocs: why you should apply for grants,  how to find grants, what kind of grants postdocs can apply for, how to decide what funding to apply for, getting started with grant writing, and setting up a timeline for submitting a grant application.

The Anatomy of a Grant Application – All research grant applications have certain elements in common regardless of the funding agency. This module covers 1) grant application terminology, 2) Common elements in research grant applications, and 3) How to write the difference sections of a research grant. Common elements in fellowship grant applications are also described.

F32 Bootcamp: This module addresses all sections of the F32 application. Postdoctoral fellows planning to submit an F32 proposal should work through this module 3-12 months before submission.

Want funding advice? Need someone to help you write a proposal? Just have a question? Email Becky Kinkead to ask a question, schedule a meeting, or arrange for grant review.

OPEGRANTS 1-on-1 can help you by:

• Identifying appropriate funding mechanisms
• Discussing available resources (examples of successful proposals, monthly workshops, web resources, K/F Tutorials, continued one-on-one discussion, review of planned grants)
• Establishing timelines for grant writing and review
• Providing grant review for proposals

Throughout the year OPE offers a variety of grant writing workshops such as:

• Grants 101 – Introduction to finding funding and grant writing basics
• Finding Funding Techniques – Online techniques for finding funding across all funding sources
• Grant Writing Basics for International Postdocs Fellows – With focus on International applicants who are not eligible for NIH grants, this workshop will cover the basic grant process and finding funding
• Grant Writing for Postdocs – Presumes some basic knowledge of grant writing.
• NIH K Awards Tutorial – 2-class series on K awards
• NIH F32 Boot Camp – An in person and online ‘class’ designed to cover all aspects of the F32 funding mechanism
• The Art of Editing – Provide grant writers with tools/strategies for effective editing
• The NIH Biosketch – Describe the purpose of the biosketch, structure and content
• The MOST Important Page: Specific Aims – Describe the purpose of the specific aims page, structure and content with focus on the importance of the specific aims page for both the writer and the reviewer

Take advantage of the extensive resources available at the Emory OPE website and in Box (email request to Becky Kinkead):

• FAQs
• Links to funding opportunities
• Examples of successful grants
• Links to external grant writing resources (eg. National Center for Biological Science Center, NIH, etc)
• Videos of OPE grant writing workshops
• Powerpoints of grant writing tips
• Templates for information that should be in each type/section of the training grant