I have written so many funding applications this year. But so far very few have been funded, and none of the ones where I can recruit a PhD student or a Post Doc.

Most of the time you don’t even get feedback on your application that you spent weeks and week writing. The only thing you know is that someone else’s project was seen as more interesting , more doable or in some way better.

No feedback makes it difficult to really improve and I need to find other strategies to get better at this. Some of my strategies so far are:

• I know that so far I have learned a lot from more senior colleagues and their way of thinking.
• I have also learned from reading other’s applications in detail.
• Finally getting feedback from colleagues before submitting, when there is time for that, is always a good idea.

I will have a look at these strategies again and start writing again. I know that when I get going I often enjoy it very much!