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A great idea
is not enough
Competition for funding is fierce. The Independent Research Fund Denmark, the Innovation Fund and other foundations have received an increasing number of applications in recent years.
Therefore, the selection process has become more rigorous. Often, fewer than one in six projects receives funding.
So it is not enough to have a really good idea. It must also be presented in a truly compelling way.
The good news is that you can make language work for you. An analysis of over 9,000 approved and rejected applications to the Novo Nordisk Foundation showed that the use of promotional language is associated with the proportion of applications that receive funding.
According to the study, the chances of receiving a grant can increase by up to 53%.
You therefore need to make some important strategic linguistic choices, such as:
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Which words will you use?
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Which arguments will you use?
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How will you structure your paragraphs and sentences?
Examples
Your reader will be able to read and understand the texts to the right below more quickly than those to the left. This is because they are based on proven principles of clear writing.
Before
"The project's output is a strengthening of the volunteers' skills in conflict management and conversation techniques."
After
"The aim is to equip the volunteers for difficult conversations, so that everyone feels heard."
Before
"The project aims to develop and test new pedagogical methods and didactic approaches that can enhance the quality of teaching and support differentiated teaching to meet the needs of pupils.“
After
"Pupils have different backgrounds. In this project, 45 teachers are testing concrete methods for differentiated teaching. The goal is that more pupils learn more regardless of their starting point."
From idea to
a compelling application
I can help you make your project easy to understand and hard to ignore by:
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Strengthening the summary
A good start is half the battle. I’ll help you refine the summary so that the assessor will want to read on.
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Writing the project description
We’ll start with a thorough discussion of the project. Based on that, I’ll write a draft that’s easy to read without compromising on academic rigour.
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Editing the project description
Do you already have a draft that isn’t quite working? I’ll provide feedback and edit it so the text is sharper without losing your voice.
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Reviewing individual sections
Communication plan, company description, risk assessment, CV section, etc. When you’ve been working on the application for a long time, you can become blind to errors or gaps. That’s why it’s a good idea to have a second pair of eyes look at the application as a whole.