Workshop and Resources on Writing a Grant / Proposal | University of California Davis

Writing a Grant? You Need a SPARK (Shaping Proposals, Aims, Research Questions, and Knowledge for Funding Success). In this workshop, Dr. Sheryl Soucy-Lubell, Director of Proposal Development Services at UC Davis, shares practical strategies for developing stronger grant proposals, identifying funding opportunities, framing clear research aims, building persuasive narratives, and avoiding common mistakes in proposal preparation. The session is especially useful for postdoctoral researchers, early-career scholars, graduate students, and anyone preparing for fellowships, research grants, career development awards, pilot grants, or other funding opportunities. Key topics include different types of grants, public and private funding sources, grant readiness, strategic planning, proposal structure, the importance of the first page, contacting program officers, handling rejection, and building strong grant writing habits. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 00:00 Introduction and welcome 03:33 Speaker introduction: Dr. Sheryl Soucy-Lubell 05:12 Overview of the workshop 05:47 Grant writing resources and tools 08:50 Types of grants and funding opportunities 15:46 Public, private, state, and internal funding sources 21:48 How to find funding opportunities using Pivot 28:31 Assessing your grant readiness 30:54 Building a 3- to 5-year funding plan 36:53 Common questions about grant strategy 42:01 Why the first page of a proposal matters most 43:28 Heilmeier’s Catechism for strong proposal framing 45:20 Four-paragraph structure for the first page 47:23 Structuring the rest of the proposal 48:38 Aligning proposals with review criteria 50:41 Writing style: clarity, active voice, and strong structure 53:20 Grant writing in a changing funding landscape 57:38 Developing a one-page proposal pitch 58:58 Getting feedback and contacting program officers 1:00:51 Building good grant writing habits 1:05:47 Campus writing and proposal development resources 1:06:29 Q&A begins 1:07:21 How to ask agencies about conference or workshop grants 1:09:51 Using unpublished preliminary data 1:11:17 Balancing ambition with realism 1:12:47 Making objectives measurable 1:15:23 Internal grants and PI status for postdocs 1:18:20 Reducing jargon in proposals 1:20:33 Storytelling vs. technical grant writing 1:23:53 White papers and proposal eligibility 1:25:20 What to include after the first page 1:26:01 Staying motivated after rejection 1:27:52 Preliminary data for new projects 1:29:14 Grant writing for social sciences and humanities