The Grant Pacing Workshops are designed to help you prepare the best possible grant. These workshops include two half-day, in-person workshop sessions. Between sessions, Dr. Bastarache and the Edge team will be available to connect you to Edge resources.
TOPICS FOR F WORKSHOP 
Creating a grant preparation timeline
Using task lists to ensure momentum
Avoiding common pitfalls
Crafting a Training Plan
Reading and understanding a Funding Announcement
Overview of major fellowship application sections
TOPICS FOR K & R WORKSHOPS
Creating a grant preparation timeline
Using task lists to ensure momentum
Avoiding common pitfalls
Crafting a Career Development Plan
Constructing a budget & justification
The goal of the workshops is to help you keep steady progress to completion of your application for grant submission deadlines.
Open to Vanderbilt University, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, and Meharry Medical College postdoctoral fellows and early career faculty.
OCTOBER SUBMISSIONS
Session 1 | May 15, 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Session 2 | Jun 12, 9:15 AM – 12:15 PM
EDGE REVIEW SURVEY ON INTENT
Due July 30, 2025
EDGE REVIEW MATERIALS
Due August 20, 2025
EDGE REVIEWER VIDEO
Received by September 15, 2025
REGISTER FOR K WORKSHOP
OCTOBER SUBMISSIONS
Session 1 | May 13, 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Session 2 | May 21, 2:00 PM – 5:00 PM
EDGE REVIEW SURVEY ON INTENT
Due July 30, 2025
EDGE REVIEW MATERIALS
Due August 20, 2025
EDGE REVIEWER VIDEO
Received by September 15, 2025
REGISTER FOR R WORKSHOP
A registration email with workshop dates typically goes out one month before the first workshop of a series. Email Adrienne Babcock to be placed on the distribution list for future series or with inquiries.
eNotebook
- available upon registration; contact Adrienne Babcock. A registration email with exact workshop dates typically goes out one month before the first workshop of a series. Email Adrienne Babcock to be placed on the distribution list.
Video Library
- For a link to a Timeline demonstration and/or a Budget Justification discussion (both Zoom recordings), please email Adrienne Babcock
Checklists
- K Career Dev Plan Checklist
- K Institutional Letter Checklist
- K Mentor Letter Checklist
- Biosketches and Letters of Support Checklist
- Budget Checklist
Handouts
- Powerful Aims Grid
- Sample Detailed Budget Justification
- Excel Timeline Template
- Trello Timeline Example
- Vanderbilt Institutional Submission Process
- Study Section Scoring System and Procedure
Resource Links
- 2022 NIH Updated Resources v5
- Edge Reviews Link
- VICTR Studios
- Grant Pacing Blog – Announcement
- Grant Pacing Blog – Durango Kid series
- RCR – Counting What Counts blog
- VICTR StarBRITE Responsible Conduct of Research Calendar
- Kaizen for Rigor, Reproducibility, and Transparency Training
- NIH Rigor & Reproducibility Page
- NIH Application Guides
- NIH K-Kiosk
- NIH Human Subjects Decision Tool
- NIH Clinical Trial Decision Tool
- NIH “Open Mike” Blog– announcements from NIH Extramural Research
- NIH RePORTER & Matchmaker – database
- NIH RePORTER & Matchmaker – Edge for Scholars blog
Writing, Editorial, Personal, and Other Types of Assistance
- List of Medical Editors
- “No Help? You Can Still Delegate. Here’s How.” – Getting the most out of virtual assistance.
- Upwork and Fiverr– Lets you post task or project descriptions, receive bids, and choose the one you like best. Good for editorial jobs and writing help.
- Fancy Hands – Describe your task, let Fancy Hands choose someone for you.
- Zirtual and delegated (formerly Red Butler) – Assign you a dedicated assistant for the number of hours you choose. You then assign tasks directly during that time.
- “Rules of Thumb for Writing Research Articles” by Tomislav Hengl and Michael Gould
- “The Science of Scientific Writing” by George D. Gopen and Judith A. Swan
Email the Edge team at info@edgeforscholars.org
As a new investigator with a K award, it's hard to get a grasp on all the pieces involved in submitting your first R01 proposal. The workshop really helped me get a handle on the scale and scope of this task, as well as resources available within Vanderbilt to help me as I go through the process.”
~ Grant Pacing Workshop Participant
Breaking everything down into smaller pieces is really useful.
~ Grant Pacing Workshop Participant
I participated in this workshop series for the June submission cycle and I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to submit in October! Even established PIs can benefit from the scheduling techniques and timeline management we learned.
~ Grant Pacing Workshop Participant
Associate Professor
- R01
Research Assistant Professor
- R03
Clinical Instructor
- K23
Assistant Professor
- New Investigator Award
