Unlocking Opportunities: Crafting Award-Winning Proposals – Insights for Early Career Researchers| Elsevier Researcher Academy

1 hr

Ylann Schemm

Dr. Ankur Patwardhan

Chioma Blaise Chikere

Dr. Ramia Albakain

title

Save

Comment

About this video

Securing research funding is a critical skill for scientists at every career stage. Join us for this practical webinar, “Essentials of Grant Writing for Researchers,” designed to equip you with proven strategies for developing competitive proposals. Hear directly from experienced researchers and recent grant winners, including last year’s Chemistry Challenge awardees, as they share what worked for them and common pitfalls to avoid. We’ll cover the key elements of successful proposals, lessons learned from real-world experience, and practical steps you can take to strengthen your own applications. Whether you’re new to grant writing or looking to sharpen your approach, this session will provide actionable guidance to help you secure the funding you need for your research.

Topics covered will include:

Understand the key components of a successful grant proposal - from identifying the right funding call to addressing the evaluation criteria.
Gain practical tips and strategies for writing clear, compelling narratives and assembling strong supporting documentation.
Learn from real-world experiences of successful grant applicants, including insights into common gaps and evolving expectations in grant writing.

About the presenters

Ylann Schemm

Elsevier Foundation’s Director

As the Elsevier Foundation’s Director, Ylann Schemm drives inclusive health and research partnerships to support the UN Sustainable Development Goals building research capacity in developing countries and tackling health inequities. She has been an integral part of the Foundation’s growth since joining as a Program Officer in 2008. In addition, Ylann is Elsevier’s Vice President of Corporate Responsibility, building on two decades of corporate relations and responsibility roles which focus on gender, ‘sound science’ and sustainability collaborations. Since 2015, she has served as the Co-Chair of Elsevier’s Gender Equity Taskforce which shapes Elsevier’s contributions to inclusive research from gender balance in editorial boards to sex and gender analysis in Research. From June 2020- June 2022, Ylann also served as the Chair of Research4Life’s Executive Council, a UN-publisher partnership to bridge access gaps for researchers and doctors in developing countries.

Dr. Ankur Patwardhan

Hon. Secretary & Research Coordinator, RANWA (Research & Action in Natural Wealth Administration), Pune, India.

Ankur Patwardhan is a field ecologist (Assoc. Professor of Biodiversity) and holds a doctorate in Environmental Sciences from University of Pune, India. He is the first Indian to win the ‘Green & Sustainable Chemistry Challenge Award’, for his innovative idea about developing butterfly attractants for pollination and ecosystem health. He is also a recipient of ‘Nature Care Award’.

His main activities focus on recovery, including ex-situ and bio-prospecting of threatened plant taxa from Western Ghats of India, one of the 36 global biodiversity hot spots. Assessment of ecosystem services, understanding impact of climate change on phenological changes in plants, plant-insect interaction are other key areas he is working in.

He coordinated the Indian Urban Resource Millennium Assessment by Naturalists under the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) Initiative.

In the honorary capacities, he is associated with various State Level and National Level bodies working in the field of Environment. He also guides research activities at ‘RANWA’, an Environmental NGO in Pune, India. URL : https://ankurpatwardhan.in

Chioma Blaise Chikere

Professor of Environmental Microbiology and Biotechnology; Head, Department of Microbiology, University of Port Harcourt (UniPort), Nigeria; former Director, Entrepreneurial Centre; visiting professor- World Bank, Africa Centre of Excellence in Oilfield Chemicals Research (ACE-CEFOR), UniPort and Professor Extraordinarius-Department of Environmental Sciences, University of South Africa (UNISA).

Chioma Blaise Chikere has honours such as Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC-Africa Council Member); International Society for Microbial Ecology (ISME, senior country ambassador, Nigeria) and Organization for Women in Science for the Developing World (OWSD-2005 PhD fellowship alumna). She is pivotal in securing Erasmus+ AMIGO mobility collaboration with 5 European Universities and UniPort. Her Elsevier Foundation 2017 Chemistry for Climate Action Challenge Prize (https://elsevierfoundation.org/gscc-5th-anniversary-interviews-with-past-winners-series-1-dr-chioma-blaise-chikere/ fully restored biodiversity in a heavily oil-polluted farmland in the Niger Delta. She is an ardent vanguard for the actualization of African Union Agenda 2063, UN SDGs, diversity, equity, inclusivity and belonging in Africa’s HEIs.

Dr. Ramia Albakain

Professor, Department of Chemistry at the University of Jordan, Amman.

Ramia Al Bakain holds a Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry from Sorbonne Université Pierre et Marie Curie (UPMC), Paris, France. She is currently a Professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Jordan, Amman.

Her research focuses on the application of analytical chemistry to develop innovative methods in water, agriculture, and food security. She also works on green techniques for wastewater treatment and sustainable approaches to preserving natural resources. Ramia maintains extensive international research collaborations with institutions in the USA, France, Italy, Austria, Lebanon, Germany, Slovakia, and the UK.

She leads numerous international scientific projects and supervises interdisciplinary teams of graduate students working on water-food-agriculture security challenges in the MENA region. In addition, she is a member in the editorial board of Journal Sustainable Chemistry One World- Elsevier and Science & Technology Nexus Journal.

Ramia has received several prestigious international honors and awards, including: Elsevier Foundation-ISC3 Green & Sustainable Chemistry Award, L'Ordre national du Mérite - President of the French Republic, the L’Oréal-UNESCO Award for Women in Science and the MIT-Abdul Hameed Shoman Foundation Award.