Research Support
We're dedicated to providing you with the resources and guidance needed to succeed in your research. Explore the resources below designed to support your research journey throughout your career at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.
- Navigating the Research Enterprise
Weekly seminar series covering essential skills like securing research funds, writing grants and networking. - Communicating Your Research
Workshop series covering research presentation, media engagement, social media and public outreach.
Writing effective NIH Research (R) and Career Development (K) proposals requires highly refined skills in research conceptualization, design and writing. All of these skills are interconnected leading to the writing phase. But the style and expectation of proposal writing are very complex. To teach the style and content of proposal writing, Rick McGee, PhD, associate dean for Professional Development, has developed a novel grant-writing coaching group approach that builds upon highly effective tools of teaching and learning. This approach has been refined over the past 20 years, and applied at Northwestern since 2008.
McGee forms new grant-writing groups every four months aligned with the major NIH receipt dates. Those who want to join a group are subdivided by type of research (basic science/lab, clinical or social/behavioral) into groups of three to five. Each group then meets for about 90 minutes every week for two to four months while each person works on their own proposals. Real-time feedback is provided by McGee and other group members during the group meetings. Revisions are then made between meetings for additional feedback in subsequent weeks.
This iterative process starts with the Specific Aims page. Once this page is highly refined and near final form, review and feedback moves on to Significance and Innovation sections and Career Development sections of K proposals. The groups are designed for junior faculty who are actively writing a proposal, typically starting four to eight months ahead of an intended submission deadline. Postdocs working on K awards are also eligible as space allows.
For more information, or to be added to the list of those to be notified every four months when groups are forming, contact McGee at r-mcgee@northwestern.edu or 312-503-1737. Additional resources on grant-writing, including improving your oral and written skills to aid your proposals, are available on the NUCATS website.
The NIH Peer Review Program offers feedback from NIH-funded Northwestern faculty who have significant experience with peer review. They will be individually customized to the scientific and/or career development activities being proposed.
This new offering is intended to complement, not replace, other guidance on developing and writing successful research proposals, such as the Grant Writing Coaching Groups, departmental/division mentoring and peer review activities and general collegial support.
To be effective, the panels must be able to review and provide feedback far enough in advance of grant deadlines so that changes and improvements can be made. Therefore, to take advantage of this new resource, the following required schedules have been established:
- 2.5 months prior to submission deadline: Submit a good draft of Aims page
- 1.5 months prior to submission deadline: Submit full proposal, a semi-final draft ready for review
Send the Specific Aims page to Rick McGee, PhD, associate dean for Faculty Recruitment & Professional Development, at r-mcgee@northwestern.edu by the appropriate deadline. The Aims page will be used to identify appropriate faculty reviewers. Identified reviewers will be asked to provide initial feedback on the Specific Aims page, as will McGee and/or Farzaneh Sorond, MD, PhD, vice dean for Academic Affairs. Suggestions for potential reviewers who are NOT directly involved with the proposal are encouraged.
By the full proposal deadline, you must send McGee the fully developed proposal components including the following:
- Specific Aims page (include even if not changed since the previous version)
- Significance, Innovation and Approach sections
- NIH Biosketches of PI and all key and other significant personnel
- For resubmissions: Summary Statement of prior review and Introduction response
- For K proposal: Submit other major sections, including letters of support from mentors and Institutional Commitment (to be reviewed only by Faculty Affairs)