{"id":1790,"date":"2019-07-22T09:00:39","date_gmt":"2019-07-22T08:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/science-communication\/?p=1790"},"modified":"2019-07-18T09:10:31","modified_gmt":"2019-07-18T08:10:31","slug":"funding-funding-everywhere","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/science-communication\/funding-funding-everywhere\/","title":{"rendered":"Funding, funding everywhere? Sci Comm South West insights into the F-word"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Author: Ola Michalec @Ola_Michalec<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The \u2018F\u2019\nword we should learn to say loudly and clearly, without embarrassment: funding.\nAs an early career researcher and communicator, I often come across requests\nfor funding \u2018help\u2019. What can I do to manage my colleagues\u2019 expectations and\nnegotiate the best rates for my work?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the Sci\nComm South West workshop \u2018Funding, funding everywhere\u2019, Rae Hoole shared some\ninsights on securing finance. Science communicators, especially if freelance,\noften wait to hear from schools, universities and councils who are in a\nposition to offer available work. However, is there anything we could do to\nbecome more proactive and turn our \u2018gigs\u2019 into a conscious career choice?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rae\ncommenced the workshop by telling the story of her career. With a background in\ntheatre, Rae managed to carve herself a niche as a director of a creative\nlearning company, Links to a Life<\/a>, which combines physics education\nwith play and storytelling. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Credit Tom Sparey<\/em> <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Here comes\nthe first tip: it is challenging to bid\nfor funding as an individual!<\/strong> A much better way is to approach potential\npartners or funders as a charity or a company (it\u2019s not that hard to set one\nup!). This will provide weight to your application and help you come across as the\namazing and experienced practitioner you are!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second, discuss your potential project early on<\/strong>\nso your application looks less like an accidental brainstorm and more like a\nstreamlined and deliverable idea. Clarity of your aims and impacts is\nessential. You need to be able to evidence\nwho will benefit and how<\/strong>: have you got an evaluation strategy and measures\nin place? Once you have developed a partnership, perhaps it\u2019s worth to keep an\nidea bank of potential projects ready to be turned into bids once funding calls\nare open. This goes to show the importance of ongoing nurturing of networks you\nestablish at conferences like this one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally,\ncoming back to the F-word. The skill of\ndiscussing rates is essential<\/strong>. First of all, I wish we didn\u2019t have to put\nup with this power dynamic and expectations that science communication or\nfreelance work is free \u2013 but hey ho \u2013 we live in a society. However, I\ngenuinely believe that collectively we have the power to shape this community\nof practice. Every interaction we have \u2013 whether with a junior colleague, a\nhigh school pupil or a potential funder \u2013 influences societal norms about the\nvalue of science communication labour. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, one of the workshop participants shared with me how she measures her daily rate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou need to take the annual salary you aspire to and divide it by 100<\/strong>. That\u2019s your daily rate. The overheads cover your admin, sick leave and pension. We don\u2019t automatically get it as freelancers, yet we still have to take care of all the above!\u201d.<\/em> <\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

What\nare your experiences of bidding and negotiating salary? Do you ever work \u2018for\nexposure\u2019? Share your views in comments!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Author: Ola Michalec @Ola_Michalec The \u2018F\u2019 word we should learn to say loudly and clearly, without embarrassment: funding. As an early career researcher and communicator, I often come across requests for funding \u2018help\u2019. What can I do to manage my colleagues\u2019 expectations and negotiate the best rates for my work? In the Sci Comm South … Continue reading “Funding, funding everywhere? Sci Comm South West insights into the F-word”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":1820,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,16,3,4],"tags":[411,412,409,410,413,405],"class_list":["post-1790","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-faculty-of-health-and-applied-sciences","category-research-projects","category-science-communication","category-science-communication-unit","tag-bidding","tag-freelance","tag-funding","tag-links-to-a-life","tag-rae-hoole","tag-science-communicators"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/science-communication\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1790","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/science-communication\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/science-communication\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/science-communication\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/science-communication\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1790"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/science-communication\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1790\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1832,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/science-communication\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1790\/revisions\/1832"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/science-communication\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1820"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/science-communication\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/science-communication\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/science-communication\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}