On Tuesday, May 14, the UAB School of Health Professions Office of Research & Innovation held the second annual REsearch ACceleration Holistic Program (REACH) Specific Aims Page Writing Workshop. Ritu Aneja, Ph.D., Associate Dean for Research and Innovation, established the REACH program in 2023 to provide mentoring, coaching, and grantsmanship training to junior and mid-career investigators. Last year’s Specific Aims Page Writing Workshop launched the new REACH Writing Group, an informal peer writing support group for faculty working on grant writing skills. This year’s workshop, led by writing consultant Heath Sledge, Ph.D., included faculty from SHP, School of Nursing, Center for Outcomes and Effectiveness Research (COERE) and the department of Family and Community Medicine.
The specific aims page is one of the most important components of a grant application: it is a single page in which grant writers must tell a compelling story that captures reviewers’ interest. Dr. Sledge took participants through the structure of the specific aims page, from the first paragraph introducing the problem that needs to be solved to the final impact paragraph. She used participants’ drafts as models, highlighting what worked well and what could be made stronger. She then led a proposal pitch session, in which attendees gave each other feedback on their pitches. At the end of the day, after the group meeting, Dr. Sledge held one-on-one conferences about individual participants’ proposals.
Participants came away with a new set of ideas for writing more effectively. “Dr. Sledge provided components of what’s important in specific aims writing that will help you reach that next level,” said Kimberly McCall, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Clinical and Diagnostic Sciences. Grant writers also have to sell their ideas, convincing funders that they (and they alone) have the knowledge and ability to change their particular area of the world for the better. “It’s not just having a good idea,” said participant Yenni Cedillo, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Nutrition Sciences. “It’s how you want to sell that idea.” Harshvardhan Singh, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Physical Therapy, agreed, saying, “The most useful part of the workshop for me was learning the skills of grantsmanship. It’s not always about the content. It’s the content plus the packaging. And as scientists, when we are trained, we are trained to create content. But packaging does matter.”
After the workshop, participants completed an anonymous survey to help inform the direction of future workshops, and feedback was overwhelmingly positive. One participant wrote, “I truly enjoyed pitching my project and getting live feedback. This was very beneficial because it gave me an opportunity to hear different perspectives and know whether what had been written was reaching the target.” Another wrote, “I would highly recommend all faculty participating. The work group sessions, pitch opportunities, and overall support have given me the confidence, knowledge, and support I needed. Being a junior faculty member, there is so much to learn, and this program brings it all together under one umbrella.”
“We’ve done a fantastic job at the school level to provide this kind of opportunity,” said Akanksha Singh, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Health Services Administration. “I don’t think it exists everywhere in all schools, in all institutions, so I really want to give a shout out to Ritu and Vinitha for bringing this together.”
If you’d like to learn more about REACH, email Vinitha Ganesan, Ph.D., SHP-R&I program director. You can also watch some of our participants talk about the workshop in the video below.