 So welcome everyone and like we say, we're recording it so any colleagues that have missed out can come along to the recording. I'm just waiting for the slides. So today we're going to cover kind of a whistle-stop tour on educational and I put in brackets technology, project funding and how to get started. So I put the technology in brackets. It's where I have come from. It's my experience and reflections, but a lot of these will be wider. So a lot of the tips and tricks we'll cover will be wider and can be in kind of educational projects. But the more and more we're going along, technology impacts in some way to nearly all bids that I've certainly been a part of over the years. So who am I? I'm Claire Thompson. I'm a Digital Education and Enhancement Consultant at Ulster University. I'm also a PhD student at the University of Edinburgh and I'm the co-chair of the Alp Northern Ireland Group. And you can find me on Twitter at slowtech2000 if you want to say hello or ask any questions after there. So what perspective am I coming from today? So this is my personal reflection. I have come at this as a collaborative applicant. And when I say collaborative in this case, I mean a kind of multi-institution applicant because that's something that's a bit more complex than a team applicant that I've listed here where you maybe have a small group if you all know each other, you're in the same team. And that's slightly different than those bigger ones. I have been on the application, but I have also led the writing of the application for those team ones. And I have then obviously done some sole applications myself. I have seen a little bit on the reviewing side of things. And actually I've been involved in that this week. And it's such a pleasure to be able to be involved in those processes as well. When I was adding up for this session, I stopped when I got to 100,000, pulling all of the things that I've been involved in over the last probably dozen years. So around 2010, I started. And it's something quite astounding when you see it written here as the 100,000 pounds. But bear in mind what we're talking about when we say small project funding is that you're unlikely to have anything over the 10,000 mark. And certainly if it's within one institution, it would maybe even less than 5,000. So that lets you see just how many projects over the years have really impacted on my personal journey. And I've had my first air of objections as in the face of these wins. You're not going to get a success every time. And it's just something to kind of hopefully build in and we will be covering again at the end of the session. And the best feedback will always come back as to how you can do better in your next one. So that's kind of where I'm coming from just before we get started and kind of go through the processes or the journey of looking for funding. I'm assuming that everyone in the room is in some way interested in this. But if you just want to drop into the chat or come on mic at the stage just to say sort of what you're looking for or what your experience is. So for example, are you completely new and starting out from scratch? Or if you kind of dabbled in it with some experience, but we'd like to get more strategic about things. So if you just want to say that in the chat just before we get started, that'd be great. So again, it's in the bottom right, you pop out the purple button and the chat window is the first. And what I'll do actually is I have the slides in my Google Drive. So that's the link to those for anybody who would like to share along with the actual slides themselves. Okay, so we've got one novice and then wanting to become more strategic for career progression. Perfect. And that's something certainly that we will be kind of touching on the whole way through here. Okay, so as you're doing that, I'll make a start, travel. Yeah, so that's a really important one, James. And you're starting from scratch. Excellent. So we will be doing the talk on the basis that we are starting from scratch. Okay, so I've broken the journey down into these separate sections. So the why, the what, the how, the who, the where and the kind of outputs and requirements. And when I say outputs and requirements, this is subtly different than the journey to your actual project that you're going to do. These are things that are stipulated by funders. So they will actually want you to do something on top of the actual work that you're doing. So whether that's a research or teaching and learning experiences. Oh, excellent, student collaboration. Yeah, perfect. So some of these will come in different borders at particular times. So sometimes you might have an idea that you're going to start with, and then you decide to reach out to some people. And then you might look for where you can get the funding. Other times you might spot a funding opportunity and think, Oh, what best idea have I got that would fit for that? Or you might think, I really know my collaborators, we work really well. And how can we do something that kind of gives us something to to work on together that's a real project. So you might come from the who first. But for this talk, we have to kind of start somewhere and go in an order. So I am going to follow the path of the why, the who, the what, the where, and then the high, and then the outputs and requirements will always be at the end as well. So we've got lots of people sharing their background at the minute. So you kind of had a little bit of experience to no experience, but you just want to kind of think a little bit more strategically, perhaps, or look to things as to what you can do. So whether that's travel, or just raise your profile. And that brings us absolutely perfectly to the why. So what are the benefits of searching out these small funds? So there are lots to choose from professional development. I put up there up front central, it could lead to promotion. It could lead to those travel opportunities, and just wider opportunities. So just being able to reach out to people and ask, Would you like to join me on this journey? Would you like to do this with me? It's just a really rich experience. It can raise your profile. So you can certainly be seen a lot more when you do these projects, because then you get to disseminate them. So even within your institution, you can really get to be seen a lot more once you start to share your work. It can get you started in scholarship. So I know within the Alts, a lot of us are learning technologists and scholarship isn't necessarily something that's in our job description. So this is a really nice way of kind of getting involved with other people with academics who have maybe more experience with that sort of thing. And then you can start to build up and get your names onto these applications and publications. And then that grows your scholarship up to where you're then in a position to have your own lead author. New connections are amazing. That's what I'm saying. Just reach out to people, just drop people a note. I've called called loads of people over the years and said, Would you like to do a thing with me? I know you're interested in the same thing. And it brings a level of autonomy. So this is something I've always valued from my successes with the small project funding. You can make those decisions about conferences yourself because you know you have your pot of money. So instead of having to go towards maybe applications for local funding to get to a conference or to get through your line manager, you're maybe only allowed one a year, for example. This just gives you that autonomy and flexibility to say, Right, I want to be able to go here. And I can. And also autonomy with your work projects as well, because it lets you take your personal interests in directions that align to your work, but that it kind of gives it you something to lead on. Promotion we've touched on. It's a recognition of good practice. So that's something as well within your institution that you get a little bit of a light on your work so that it's recognized and then share to other colleagues to do the same or similar. And I put this last one in bold. So I'm a very pragmatic person and looking out for funding and getting funding gets stuff done. It really does. So you might have ideas and you've chatted to people over months or years. It would be great if we could do this. This project would be really worthwhile. Let's get this done. And it never does. But just getting that money really puts a focus on it because it's time bound. It will have deadlines and you are accountable. So once you've got the money, you're responsible and accountable. So you need to get things done. So it's a really, really good driver. And a bit of a nuance to that that came through whenever I asked people's thoughts was that it reifies things so it can really take an abstract thing and it focuses you, it gets you to articulate it and it reifies it for yourself and then for others within your institution. So these are just some of the things that come with the money that aren't necessarily connected to money itself. So like I said, these are my personal reflections, but I reached out to my personal network and asked them as to what they really value from doing these small projects. And there was lots of things came back and I've just battered them throughout the presentation as extra tip bits. So Dr. Tim Fawn says that it focuses the mind. So again, this reification of it, it gives it structure, pays for conferences and transcriptions. But this was a really good one that I hadn't listed in my slide before, experience of leadership. So again, if you're someone in a position where you're not maybe managing, you're not ahead of anything. If you have a project, you've went for the money, you've got it, you are the one driving that you're the one getting everyone together. You're the one getting the thing made or researched. And then you get to be a leader in that scenario. So it's something that can slip through the cracks, but very important to say that you have led on these projects. So who, who would you like to involve? And there's loads of reasons to involve people. And I do honestly think the value of these small bids are about the people. And that came through in the comments and the replies to my request on my network. It's a great way to establish teaching communities of practice. I put the bid in as a team, so creating opportunities for lots of colleagues. So shining the light further than yourselves. It's a very inclusive thing to do. Promotes collaboration. Small projects tend to drive collaboration with colleagues and co development with students. And I know that's something that came up in the chat at the beginning of co developing with students. And I have been involved in many projects with students. And they've been so rich, so valuable. And it's just amazing. Those things, those projects are still alive today. A decade later they're being used by other students every year. And it's just something that other students comment that they actually find it more valuable when they know that a student has made it. So it's done in collaboration, it's all checked, all the content is checked, everything's signed off. But somehow there's just this level of depth that other students appreciate when they know that it's been co created. So who are involved? And there's three sets of people. You've got your collaborators yourselves, you've got your internal ones, and you may have external ones. And like I say, the bigger projects that are multi institutional can be more complex, but then also a lot more valuable with regards to building your network, making those connections and reaching out. But build up to that. So start small and then gradually work up to then collaborating or make it known within your networks that you would love to collaborate with someone. And then they might be able to take the lead and you can come on board and contribute and get started and really learn about the whole process that way. In the same vein, I would look to mentors. So check other people in your network or institution who have been successful before, reach out to them, ask their advice, ask them where they got involved with their funding. And then critical friends. I listed this separately to mentor because the best critical friends are people who don't know you as well. So they might not know your background or exactly the work you're involved in. And those are the people to show your application to because they're the nearest that you will be able to find to a reviewer because they will see things, they will spot gaps. They'll see where something isn't quite clear and then raise questions. So those are exactly the questions that a reviewer would think about. So if you find a critical friend before you submit, then you've got a real chance of getting those things picked up and address them before it's submitted. So it's much better to get it at this point than it is to get it as a not funded but feedback. So really do involve these different people. So what? What is your fabulous idea? So obviously we can't talk about anything in specific today that you need to do, but these are the things that it does have to be. These are the things that the reviewers will be looking for. It has to be realistic. And when I say realistic, it has to be realistic to achieve within the timeframe that you've been set for your funding. I think in every case I have been involved in, it's been a year or less. So that's kind of what you have to be able to do it in that. It has to be specific. So if you talk in general terms, so say for example you're going to make a teaching and learning resource. If you talk about a teaching and learning resource throughout your application, your funders aren't really going to get a sense of what that is and how long it's going to take. So how are they going to judge that you can make a resource in 12 months if they really have no understanding of that? So is it a case study? Is it multimedia based? Is it a video? Is it a whole series of videos? You need to be specific and detailed in what you're giving them in the application. And again, I put in bold. It really, really needs to be linked to funding criteria. So it's almost a good start to put the criteria or the keywords that they've asked for into the template that they provide and work your idea around those keywords because the more of those words you get in there, then the more help you're giving your reviewer to choose you. So it is really being tight. So when you have your great idea, you need to take it and you perhaps need to mold and amend it to what is actually asked in each application. And each one will be different. Each one will have a different slant. And that's what you need to just make sure it matches. So where? So again, we can't list out everything, but I've just put down some things here to kind of get people started. First of all, I would really, really advise you start internally because there's some really good local funding that can get you started in teaching and learning small grants. So I would check out your local teaching and learning centre or perhaps the digital centre, the TEL team. Or if you're not in higher education in FE, just go to someone, maybe a colleague, another teacher in teaching and just say, do you know of any local? So it might be somewhere just to do with your professional body, but just get started. If you're wanting to look more externally, I just put some of the ones that are quite big in this area. I put the URLs to the main website because over 12 years, the number of funding opportunities has really fluctuated over the years. So some years couldn't be high. And then other tighter years that goes right down and they take them away. So there's no point in me sending you directly to the current funding pages because that might change. But once you go to these websites, have a look. There could be different words. So some people might say grants. Others might say awards, which is a kind of a difficult one because award to some people can be a prize, but it's also awards of money. So click on it anyway. Go in there and have a look or it could be funding. So those are the key words that they use on these sites. So CEDA is a really good place for general teaching and learning. And that's what they should cover all topics. So I know someone was looking for art related topics. So if you've got a topic in any way, directed teaching and learning and to do with kind of educational development. So maybe how your colleagues practice if it influences that CEDA is a good place to look. Then there's the Learning Developers Association in higher education. So again, there's lots of small grants in there and just check that criteria as to what how you would fit in. You size it and have differing grants over the years. So I know they have a conference one, for example, so people are looking to perhaps travel. That's somewhere that you might want to start. So they do one and it can be anywhere. I think people have got grants to go to America and to go to Alt itself in the UK. So really wide ranging. So definitely check that one out if you're looking for a conference. Advancing at CEDA over the years have been invaluable to myself. There used to be subject centres way back in the day and they would have had what they called mini projects and they were just fabulous. I think they were less than 7000 pounds. And they were great. But because they reduced the subjects to the wider pot, just check those out because sometimes they can then be bigger. So they can be multi institutional because they have a larger funding pot rather than breaking it down into subjects and then projects. So again, check those out. Personally, I've been involved in health care for most of my career. So as me, association of scholarly and medical education has been invaluable. So they have a wide range of grants. So say you can have travel grant, you can have professional development. There's innovation ones, which really gives you the chance then for your technology to come in there and have a go. They've stream related ones. So it's all about knowing kind of where your discipline sits and then in head, for example, is another Irish network of health care educators. And again, they have different ones. And they all have different deadlines throughout the year. So it's a really good idea at this point to maybe sit down, have a good look through these links, identify the ones that you think might be applicable to you or that you would like to go for and then make up a grid for yourself as the dates. So they'll have the deadline dates and the things you'll need. So some of them are really easy. You just upload a work document. Some of them might be an online web form, which will have word limits built into the web form, etc. So it's good to know all these things. So make yourself a grid and then go and reach out to those people that you think can actually help you or join you on your journey. So this then takes us directly into that application, how to write the application. And we've touched on this a little bit already. By saying it has to be specific. But what I would do first and foremost is once you've found your sources, look for any support materials. So over the years, this has taken place as webinars, for example. It might be on site workshops. I know that one of my applications way back was used as a template or exemplar within a workshop for people to guide them through. So there's those sorts of exemplars. There will be a contact information that you could just drop a line to and say, can you guide me on this area? And really useful. Some people actually put their successful applications up each year so you can go back years and you can see the types of people and collaborators on there. And you can also see exactly what they have. So I think CEDA, for example, in one of their grants has got years worth of applications available online, which is really invaluable and really is a learning process in itself, to be honest. And then you need to make sure you're eligible. So for example, some things might need your institution to be a member of that thing. So it's really good to check that out first. You may need to be an individual member. So for example, when I started out, I wasn't able to be a team lead because I wasn't a fellow of the Higher Education Academy as it was then. So I needed a collaborator who was to be that team lead, even though I was kind of driving the project. And it still goes into a win. So don't worry if that's the case because two or three years later, I was able to take all of the learning from that experience and put it into my application for fellowship. So it all came around. And then I was able to do that and then become a lead myself on applications as a fellow. So just make sure that you know what you need to do first because you don't want to be at the submission date and then finding those things out too late. Go through the criteria and go through the criteria again and align. So we've already covered that a little bit. Just take apart the criteria and make sure you have got those into your application. Make it really, really easy for a reviewer to pick you. And this is what I'm talking about the deliverables. So you were going to say what you're going to do. So it might be a bit of research. So you might be producing a paper or results or you might be creating a teaching and learning resource or you may be creating a learning resource for colleagues. So you will be doing something and you're going to say you do something. But there will also be other requirements nearly always or something else. So for example, they might ask you to commit to giving a presentation at the following annual conference. And that's where you need to be careful because sometimes that will be the cost of that will be covered and sometimes it won't. So sometimes you might just have to pay the travel, but you need to know what's going to expect. And if you can't make that, then it's up to you to be able to discuss with them if you could do a recording or do it remotely. And once you've got that, it's about knowing what these things are. Others might ask for a report. In fact, they may even ask for an interim report. So you don't want to get an email halfway through your funding to say, oh, where's your report? We've expected it last week. So make sure you write down those dates as well so that you're not caught on the wares. And then again, just follow that guidance carefully. The more you can stick to the guidance, the higher the chance you have of success. And as I say, the writing is a skill in itself. And Tracy Galvin puts this wonderfully here. Navigating your way through any type of funding application is professional development in itself. Even the journey is brilliant. You learn how to write. You learn how to be strategic. There's word limits. So you really learn how to be clear and concise. And she always intentionally implies applies for something where the output impacts others practice or policy. So she knows what she wants. This is us back to strategy. What do you want from this? Should she want something that's going to significantly impact other people's professional development as well as her own professional development? And she sees that as a real win win. And I can say this comes back to that it's so often not about the money. So this whole learning journey is rich in itself. So she really gains from these writing processes. So back to the clarity. I keep going on about this because it's just so important. And when it's your project and you know it inside out, being clear is the last thing that you're able to do. And that's why it takes those critical friends to say, I have no idea what you mean by this sentence and you get to change that. And it's just so hard to do it yourself. So don't worry about getting that kind of feedback. It's just so important, especially at the beginning to get how you get into the ways and thinking of writing. So as I say, the majority of funding calls will be time bound. So your idea therefore has to be bounded usually within that 12 month period. As I say, be a realistic. What I would say is have your idea and then reduce it. And then maybe even reduce it a little more because always, always, always we're over optimistic. And it's exciting to be optimistic. But within these scenarios, you need to deliver. So just reduce it down. And I would see this a lot in student projects. So you give a really realistic student project outcome and they come along and they sort of read through the plan and they're like, am I only doing this one thing? And you're like, yes. But I've got 12 weeks to do this. What else do you want me to do? And I'm like, well, when you've completed that, then we look forward. And by the end of the 12 weeks, they always come back and say, Oh, I can believe that it took me the 12 weeks to achieve this one specific thing. Because it does. It just always takes more time and effort to get these things done. So just reduce your outcomes. There's nothing wrong with writing. I am definitely going to achieve this. And if time allows or if resources are appropriate, I also aim to achieve this. So that gives your reviewers an idea that you have thought about this, that you've considered what's realistic and you've considered your minimum achievements. But you're also saying, oh, I actually would love to also achieve this. And that's going to go down really well in your application. And you need to then identify and clearly say how you plan to address them. So if you're making a resource, how are you going to do this? Are you going to work with a student? If so, are you planning to pay them? Are you going to do this yourself? Are you going to work as a team to create this? You just, you need to be really clear so that the reviewers can see that you've really thought about this and that you have got a pragmatic approach. And including a timeline really helps then with that. So whether it's a straightforward table with the months along the top or a gantt chart or something more visual, but it just gives them comfort that you know so that you've planned in time to think about it and get together with people, then you know that you've got to design it. You've got to actually implement it and recruit. So if you're in research, you need to be really clear how you want to recruit and how you're going to do that, because if you lose that time on recruitment that you weren't anticipating, then your whole thing goes awry. So always build in that time of buffer so that if you can't recruit, you're able to do something else on your timeline. You can say I will recruit, but at the same time, I'm also going to be doing this in the background so that you're continually keeping to your timeline. And then clearly identify your outcomes, which is what you're going to make. And nearly always, I can't think of a single project I've been involved in where they haven't wanted to know about your dissemination plans. So are you going to share it within your team? Are you going to share it at your local institutions teaching and learning day? Are you going to do a webinar for colleagues? How are you going to do that? And then be ambitious here, because this is perhaps where you can get your funding to help you. Identify the main conference that will boost you. And in some cases, that will be the funder themselves. So for example, if you get the CEDA funding, you may want to go to the next CEDA conference to share it with them. And it's kind of a way of saying thank you as well as you're giving back to the community. So we've talked about all the benefits, but it does come down to in some part as show me the money. Where is the money? I want the money to spend. And what can you spend it on? Well, that actually is one of the trickier things in the small applications because you need to know what is and isn't covered. And the majority of cases in education funding, which is why it sits separate to research projects is that staff salaries are very rarely covered. So you cannot get help in to do these things. You have to do it yourself and you have to do it on your time. So that's what causes some confusion in some of the larger complex applications because institutions try and align these things with the research funding. So the research department gets involved and they're like, staff salaries are this much. You're trying to tell me you're only going to give me £1,000. This isn't possible because it's not the same thing. It is separate. And it's what makes it as much smaller pots of money because those salaries aren't included. So it's about being creative. What can you do? So transcription, as Tim quoted earlier, is something that's quite important, but maybe becoming less relevant now because of auto transcriptioning packages. But they might not be as accurate as a transcription. So it's still a really worthwhile thing to think about. Hospitality takes people a long way. We all know in this room that a free lunch is something very attractive and something that we will go to an event for. So that hospitality can be the difference between your project happening and not happening. So you can put in for perhaps a whole day workshop where you're going to give people tea and coffee in the morning, lunch in the middle, and another coffee in the afternoon. It can be focus scripts. So you can say you're going to give students pizzas to come along at lunchtime for your focus script. So think about those things. Even room costs, if you would like to have a neutral place separate to your institution where you want to host it, that would give you, again, that bit more recognition and visibility being seen outside. So those sorts of things are invaluable to put down as costs. Salaries aren't included, but you may be able to have honorary impairments. So these are kind of token gestures to people. So it may then cover their travel to come to your workshop or your focus script and kind of a timeout. So that's something to explore and that's maybe something to ask the contact of the grant as well, if that's possible. We talked about comfort phase, travel accommodation, they're kind of straightforward and they can come under your dissemination costs. So I want to disseminate this work nationally. To do this, I need you to help me pay for the costs of those fees. And equipment. Some people do say equipment's okay, some don't. So again, be sure that you know what you're asking for in there. So you might be able to ask for a laptop but it may say not computers and in which case that's where I've really gained by asking for all sorts of things to help me video resources. So I bought the extra lights, the extra cameras, the tripod. So we had a project with students and we involved students throughout the entire project. So we were able to give them a camera each for the duration of the project to go out and interview each other. And it was a really rich experience and we got all the equipment to do that for them. And you may want to produce a booklet, for example. So those printing costs of leaflets and booklets is another really valuable way of asking for costs. So these are the things that I have used the money for over the years. Toys, toys are brilliant. I bought laptop, I bought tablet, books. I bought Lego to get started with Lego Series Play, professional development, conferences, professional accreditation. So both my fellowship for the H.E.A, Advanced H.E. and my Seamult were both paid for out of this kind of funding. And again, it gave me that autonomy because when I was doing those things, learning technologies weren't involved in the process. It really was solely back then for academics. So it made a way through for me to be able to do this myself and then be able to go back to them and say, look, I actually did do this. Look what I achieved. The equipment I've covered and software applications as well. So I've been able to buy video editing software, for example, or it might be something like Envebo. So we were able to buy four licenses for Envebo through one of the projects. So really, really useful things. But like I say, it's the joy, the autonomy, the fun and the people that really make them so valuable for me personally. And Dr. Dawn Irving Bell, when she came back with her thoughts, said exactly the same. I've not actually spent any money to undertake the projects. It was in part about showing I could generate the external income and thus raise the profile of the work I'm doing. So the money was secondary, but it's still important. So we talked about all of the benefits, but just before we kind of finish up, I do want to put a butt on the end of all those. You have to remember that these are very time-consuming. They're time-consuming to write and do not underestimate how long it takes you to write because you may end up doing your 1,000 words several times over. So you've maybe written seven by the end of it. And they're also time-consuming to do. And that's what's really important to think about your collaborators. Have your collaborators the time and capacity to do this journey with you. What do you need from them? Do you just need advice or do you need them to be the person sitting in front of the video to be the expert? And that's what you then will be held up because you can't pin them down to a date to do that. And that may impact all the way along in your project. So really, really think about your time and their time for those. It can be on top of normal workload. So like I say, as an educational technologist, none of this work was ever really something that was part of my yearly objectives. I chose to do them. I was strategic, but you do need to bear in mind you may need to give a little bit extra on top of your workload to get it done at times. It's not the best. And there are systemic reasons why funding can be questioned in that regard. So if it's things that really your employer should be paying for, then should we be going out and looking for this? And that's something again, you need to just think about yourself and question, is this something that I need to go to my manager to fund for this conference or is this an extra thing that's for my professional development and career progression that I'm going to take responsibility of myself and just kind of working through the balance of where those two things sit. And the last one is a bit of a warning because it can be very tempting to get into a constant spiral of applying for funding. So each time you see a call, you're like, oh, I'm going to go for that one. You get the Word document out, you start filling it in, you reach out to people, you get the in on time, you spend all the time, you get the funding and you're like, oh, brilliant. Oh, there's another one. And you immediately start a new cycle without remembering that you've got to get those deliverables, you've got to get the project completed and you've got to also then give in that report or make that presentation. And it happens to the best of us. The new exciting idea out there is so tempting to chase, but it's just about remembering that maybe if you went for something every other year, perhaps might be a realistic expectation for yourself without then getting tied down in this never-ending cycle, given how long it takes to write them as well. So what if you aren't successful every time? And that's what we talked a little bit about how much you learn while you're doing these things and Dr. Trish Harris, a colleague, spells this out really well. So whether you're successful or not, having to develop a bid helps you increase the quality of your outputs. And when it's for these smaller pots of money, it's typically things you were going to do anyway. So those are the biggest wins. If it's an idea you already had and you plan to do, but you then just get this extra impetus and the extra recognition for doing it, then that's amazing. It's also worth highlighting that listing successful and to a certain extent, the unsuccessful ones helps you develop your narrative and promotion applications. So it demonstrates the type of academic or learning technologies you are and where your interests lie and your scholarly ambitions. And I really like that you put that to the extent the unsuccessful ones in as well because it shows you're growing, it shows you're trying and you're putting yourself out there. And it's not an easy thing to do and not everybody does it. So it is lovely that it's a nice way of saying, actually, you should put those failures out just as much as the wins. And the best failures come with really rich feedback. And that's something that is part of my strategic aim is that I tend to try and seek out ones where I know that I will get really good feedback and that I can take that into the next one. So for example, if you say calls out and they'll say individual feedback will not be available, then I tend to avoid those ones personally. You might go for it but I kind of think if I'm putting all this effort into it, I want to know if I have done it right in some places but needed to strengthen others. In some scenarios, it's nothing you've done. You might have hit all of the targets and all of the criteria ticked off but there's simply too many good applications for the pot of money. And that's what it just comes down to somebody picked you for some reason on maybe just one item. And that's something that is good to know. So if you get that feedback and say this is a really quality project, we're so sorry we couldn't fund it but we do wish you all the best with it. That's in itself a really helpful thing because you can then go to your line manager or to your colleagues and say, this is actually a really good idea. Other people think it's a good idea, let's run with it. And like you say, more times than not these projects can run without that funding itself. So that's really my thoughts and thoughts of my personal learning network. So we can have a little discussion and answers now. You can find me on Twitter or this is my email address. So again, you have the slides link, you can get it in there after. And I just want to then acknowledge those people that contributed to those words of wisdom as well. So Dawn, Mark, Tim, Trish, Michael and Tracy. So loads of extra nuggets to add to mine. So thank you and happy to talk about anything if anyone has any time left over this lunch hour. Hi, Claire, I've got a question. Yeah. I was just curious what you found was kind of the biggest barrier or the biggest obstacle in kind of getting started and kind of doing this. And the biggest one probably was that part about not being able to go on my own. So that was a little bit frustrating at the start. I think because I was quite strategic, I didn't have as many barriers because I kind of had ideas. I then saw the opportunities come through and I thought, oh, let's get this money. This is a good idea. And then I knew really good colleagues to go to. And I think the barrier is if you maybe go to people who maybe carry a lot of weight and experience, but they just don't have that time to give to you, that's a barrier because what you find is that then holds up the whole project. So for example, I've been in situations where it's a constant cycle of updating the lead person. So each time you meet, you're just kind of circling back on yourself and saying, these are the things we need to do. But because they're so busy and there's so many things on their plate, by the time you get to the next meeting, they've forgotten everything and you're like, well, did we achieve these things? Well, what would we need to do again? These things. So I think the barrier is making the best connections and the best collaborations to be honest. Thank you. So is there any other questions, Jana? Hi, Claire, really, really good conversation or talk that you provided us with. For me, the take home message was don't get down by the rejections because when you get a rejection, you're usually like, oh, it's not worth it all that time that I spent because you said it takes so much time to go through the whole application. My question is more about the feedback because you said you're approaching the places where you applied for feedback. I always feel a little bit relaxed that maybe it's personality thing, I don't know, but how do you go on about that feedback? How do you ask for the feedback in where your application was lacking? I don't know. Just a take home, how do you go for that one? Yeah, I think if they've stated they're not going to do it, then to me, that's just like a loss of my effort completely. So I, like I say, I kind of avoid that. If you get then your feedback that you were unsuccessful, but they're maybe a little bit vague, I would just write to them. I find it easier to do that than, for example, if you haven't been successful at a job position because I kind of feel that's kind of more harder and more personal. But I think, especially if it's a group of you and a team going back to them and just saying, could you just give me a little bit more information as to what was lacking? So sometimes when they give you feedback, they might say all the things that were really good, but then not tell you where you fell down because where you fell down is kind of the really key bit. So I'm more than happy about just going back to people and saying, can you just elaborate on this? Sometimes they can't, time-wise, but it's good when they do because you just know that you haven't. Personally, I do find that where, because I'm so strategic, where I failed is where I've maybe, for example, rushed it. So I've had an idea in my head for a while. I see the application, it's maybe only a couple of weeks. I pull something together. I quickly ask people, but don't have time to get them to really give me a proper input. And then that's when you don't have the time to align them correctly. So it's almost like when you get a job description, if you just take each requirement as a heading and then write your application to match those headings, but then delete out the headings, so it's the same for the funding, write each criteria or keyword, then write your part and then you can delete out those headings afterwards. So in the reviewer's mind, because what they'll have in the background is that they've a list of criteria. So they'll just be going through your application and saying, did they meet this? Yes, a little bit. No, did they meet this and go down? And the ones that will win will be the straightforward list of, they met all of the things we asked for. So that's where I would just go back and ask them, really. Okay, awesome, thank you. It just gives me an inspiration to kind of keep going. Yeah, and even chat over with colleagues and kind of show that, because that's where that critical friend is so important. So that critical friend will say, oh, but you didn't actually elaborate on this bit, so therefore I can't tell what that's going to lead to. So that's to try and pick that up before you've submitted is so useful. And the person that least knows you or has worked with you least is a really good person if you can find them. Thank you. Really, really worth the wisdom. Thank you so much, Claire. Not at all. And good luck with the next ones. Thank you. And like I say, it's such a good experience. Try and take that for the wins as well. Like I know the money and the rejection is, you know, it gets you down, but just the connections that you make, whether you get it or not are just so valuable. So thanks, Ren, and thanks everyone for coming along over your lunch hour. I know it's hard to get these spaces, these dice. Claire, if no one has any further questions, I'll end the recording now if you're happy for me too. Yeah, perfect.