Writing of Research Statements

Writing of Grant Proposals and Research Statements - 2 Workshops in a Row
The first workshop will be “Grant Proposal Writing – How to design and communicate your project convincingly”, the second workshop will be “Writing of Research Statements”. For PhD students and postdocs participating in both workshops, the research statement will be introduced as the little brother of the grant proposal. They will be able to use their results from the first two workshop days and integrate them into a research statement in a writing workshop. Participants taking part in the second workshop only, will be briefly introduced into the major elements of the research agenda, so that they will be able to formulate their research vision. The development of a research plan, which might also be part of an application, will be covered in the Grant Proposal Writing workshop only. It is not part of the Writing of Research Statements Workshop.

Focus of the Writing of Research Statements Workshop
The explicit focus of this workshop is to provide an overview on the different parts of a job application in research and how they can be used to efficiently communicate the expertise of the researcher. It will focus on the formulation of a research statement including the formulation of a research agenda. Please observe: Participants who would like to learn how to develop a research idea into a complete work plan are asked to take part in the Grant Proposal Writing Workshop.

Workshop Contents
This workshop provides an overview on the different parts of a job application in research and how they can be used to efficiently communicate the expertise of the researcher. It will focus on the formulation of a research statement including the formulation of a research agenda. Please observe: Participants who would like to learn how to develop a research idea into a complete work plan are asked to take part in the Grant Proposal Writing Workshop.

1. Applying for a position in research:
   • Elements of a complete application
   • Function of a letter of motivation, CV, research statement, references, list of publications
   • Intercultural pit-falls
2. Structure of Research Statements
   • Different recipes to structure a research statement
3. Toolbox Formulation
   • The funnel of motivation for introducing the research agenda
   • The core elements of the research agenda as the meta-level
   • Line of argument following the meta-level
   • Identification of relevant information
4. Writing Workshop
   • Participants formulate a research statement
5. Optional: Skills and Competencies for the Background
   • Stock-taking and providing evidence of skills and competencies with the Researcher Development Framework by Vitae UK
6. Discussion and Feedback
   • Discussion of research statements, CV and letters of motivation

Training Method
The trainer will provide expert input with respect to the different topics. However, the focus lies on the actual work of the students on their research statement. Examples will be discussed in the group so that participants will receive feedback from the trainer and their peers.

Preparation of the Training
Participants are asked to hand in a job offer, a CV, and a letter of motivation two weeks before the training.

Documentation
Each participant will receive a detailed training manual in English covering all topics of the training. Furthermore, the trainer will document the workshop in a photo protocol which will be sent to the participants within two weeks after the workshop.

Target Group & Language
This training is dedicated to PhD students and postdocs. The course language will be English or German.

Duration and Group Size
This is a 2-day training for a group of max. 12 participants.

Results to take home
At the end of the workshop, the participants will have the following results:
• A draft research statement;
• A list of skills on competencies as based on the Researcher Development Framework.