Ten tips for DECRAs and Fellowships
Denise Meredyth | 23 August 2021
You need a strong narrative, not just about why the project matters but also about why only you can do it in this way writes Denise Meredyth
Photo by JESHOOTS.COM on Unsplash
Researchers and research offices were relieved to have the results from Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA) 2022 round 1 released last week. So much depends on these results for aspiring researchers, often in precarious academic roles. A DECRA is a wonderful opportunity to focus on research and writing, possibly full time or with some teaching. In many cases, those who succeeded had really strong support from their universities, who were prepared to back them and explain why they are core to their research planning.
Of course excellent people and projects do miss out and we wish the odds were better. Sometimes that DECRA was all the candidate had planned on and this was their last chance. For others, the project itself had been planned with different pathways in mind, as a Discovery or Linkage done with a team, or as a postdoctoral program or funded fellowship. Good mentoring and collegial support can really help those who missed out to find a new life for their research ideas.
Some observations, in case they help those who are planning or working on DECRA or Fellowship applications now:
Undue modesty won’t help and the list of publications won’t speak for themselves. You need a strong narrative, not just about why the project matters but also about why only you can do it in this way.
Think your project through, from the question to the investigation, publications and other outputs, engagement and dialogue with different audiences and stakeholders and from that, to benefit and impact, direct and indirect. Try drawing it as a sequence or a spreading pool, a matrix or a virtuous circle.
Practice talking about your project and notice if people’s eyes glaze over. Then get the really compelling idea out there in the first sentence. Hone your ‘elevator pitch’.
Have a research question, and one that can be investigated by you. Don’t proselytise or preach and don’t promise to do good works. Offer to investigate.
If you are a few years out from a fellowship application, now is the time to pursue a publication plan and a plan for working with the best in the world. Think internationally and reach out.
Understand what your ‘field’ is, your place within it and how you plan to influence it. Try sketching it. Who are the landmark figures in your field? What might they find interesting and useful in your work?
Who reads you, and who would you like to attract as readers and adapters of your research? How will you reach them?
Find a mentor and get help to organise your priorities and protect your time, so that you can be single minded about pursuing the reading, writing and work to be done that keeps you at the cutting edge of your field.
Talk to people in your school or faculty about your plans—build the support you will need to be able to show that your university loves you and will invest in you.
Be generous to others and bring them with you; selfish and mean academic behaviour is long remembered. Build your reputation for helping others: it’s a good in itself and it will help you in your field.
Finally, our congratulations to those DECRAs who were successful and our condolences and continued support to those who missed out. Outside Opinion worked with researchers at universities across the country resulting in many successful projects:
At the University of Adelaide, Azmeraw Amare worked with Steve Gerondakis on the genetic basis of human intrinsic reserve
John McCarthy at Finders University was advised by Ian Hunter for a project on digital archaeology and submerged heritage
Philip Pond from University of Melbourne worked with Angelina Russo and Laura Dan on accelerative media and informational crisis.
Newcastle University was delighted by the success of Julia Cook who worked with Sarah Wendt and Alison Smith on how families provide financial assistance with homeownership
Helen English, also at Newcastle, was funded for a project on creative ageing and music education, honed with help from Ian Hunter
Susan Bartie, at the University of Tasmania, drew on Ravi de Costa in outlining her investigation of environmental lawyers and legal countercultures.
In her design of a DECRA on ‘Brideprice and Conflict in Southeast Asia’, Melissa Johnston, also at Tasmania, worked with Simon Baker.
Adam Frew, University of Southern Queensland was advised by Geoff Fincher on how to frame an investigation delving into fungal diversity to protect crops
This list gives some idea of the range of interesting work that our discipline experts get to read and talk about. It really does help to hear from and talk to a very experienced senior researcher who is not in the same faculty or university, and who can give frank, kind but direct advice on how the project design and the argument for funding could be improved. We’re proud to have been part of the teams that helped these projects to get up, but we’re just as happy to have helped others to locate their place in their field and be ready for the next opportunity.
