News Archive

Debbie Thackray  FECM Research Development Officer held the first of a series of writing workshops for the Oceans Institute staff and students on preparing for ARC Linkage Grants. A panel of three Oceans Institute academics with a proven history of ARC Linkage Grants, Winthrop Professor Shaun Collin,Winthrop Professor Mark Cassidy and Dr Pauline Grierson discussed the important issues that make the difference in securing ARC Linkage Grants. These included the following:

* Finding partners / How and where to go looking (did you know someone already, did you ask another researcher, did you look up the organisation on the web, etc etc.)

* Social etiquette of your approach (How do you make that first approach - email, phone, at a meeting or conference, how did you start the conversation, did you turn up in your shorts and singlet, etc!)

* Understanding partner needs and interests (What an Academic needs to know about the business/ government world, how do partners like to receive information and discuss their own interests, how involved should they be in the planning and writing, etc).

* Different ways to present your research ideas (in a glossy brochure, a one page flyer, verbally in person to person discussion, over the phone, a 10 minute powerpoint?)

Each of the panelists discussed how they had obtained ARC Linkage grants, from a chance meeting on a plane to  proactively selling their project to industry. It was emphasized that from little things big things grow, and it is sometimes wise to start with a small project and let it develop.

Media references

Janine MacDonald (UWA Public Affairs) (+61 8) 6488 5563 / (+61 4) 32 637 716

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