AO PEER’s first-ever online grant-writing course teaches the essentials for success

Forty participants from 23 countries, all for AO clinical divisions, and four geographic regions learned the ins and outs of writing successful grant proposals during the first-ever online grant-writing course hosted by the AO Program for Education and Excellence in Research (AO PEER). The AO PEER Online Course—Grant Writing, conducted February 18–19, 2021, from Cairo, Egypt—explained the structure of typical research grants, with special focus on the organization, rationale, project management, and feasibility. Participants also gained insight into the grant review process and how to deal with rejections of grant proposals.

High-value content
The course earned high praise from participants: In post-event evaluations, 88 percent said they found the course very to extremely useful for their clinical research careers and 97 percent said they would recommend the course to their colleagues.

Mengistu Gebreyohanes Mengesha, an orthopedic surgeon taking part from Ethiopia, where he is an assistant professor of orthopedic surgery at Hawassa University Comprehensive Specialized Hospital, said the level 2 grant-writing course came at the perfect time in his career.

“For the last two years, my colleagues and I applied for four national and international grants, and we had a 50 percent failure rate,” he explained. “I learned from the unsuccessful grant applications that I need good, experienced mentors’ help and multiple trainings on how to write competent grants.”

He said the course adds great value in terms of his future research career aspirations.

Mengesha particularly valued the course content, lectures followed by breakout sessions, budgeting instruction, and emphasis on collaboration—all accessible from the safety and comfort of his office.

‘It was a no-brainer to enroll’

Another participant, Sara Hassouna—a veterinary surgeon and researcher pursuing her doctorate at the Surgical Discovery Centre at the University of Cambridge Veterinary Medicine Department—said the course answers an ongoing concern.

“Having a career in academia, I find myself in a continuous search for funding opportunities, either career development grants or research grants,” she said. “Between 2018 and now, I’ve applied for 16 different young investigator grants and awards, successfully received six small awards, received several frustrating rejections, and currently have two grants under review. And I am still looking for more schemes to apply for. I realize that mastering the art of grantsmanship is critical for my career development, so when I saw the AO PEER grant-writing course was open for registration, it was a no-brainer to enroll.”

Hassouna particularly enjoyed the critical discussions about the example grant proposal provided as part of the course materials.