The Artemis Project: understanding individual experiences of grant interviews

The Artemis Project has been established to create support and knowledge to shift the proportion of female academics applying for large grants, getting into the most senior jobs, experiencing professional satisfaction, and making a meaningful difference to the world with their work.

In this survey we are seeking to understand whether the use of interviews in grant funding is likely to create barriers for some applicants.

None of the questions are compulsory; please complete those you are comfortable with. The survey is 100% anonymous, results will be displayed in aggregate although we may use individual comments to illustrate particular points, especially where the comment is compelling in a problematic area. If you wish to remain anonymous please be careful not to accidentally identify yourself in any free text comments. We will remove any individual identifiers to the best of our ability before sharing our findings.

What will we do with the input you give us?
As soon as a reasonable sample has been collected we will:
a) openly publish the analysed and amalgamated results to inform the ongoing debate,
b) develop advice shared via blog posts/tools/templates/etc. via the Artemis blog and the RiF Inner Circle (freely accessible),
c) produce a white paper/report highlighting barriers and potential solutions within the control of funders/institutions,
d) update the evidence base as the sample size grows,
e) anything else you'd find helpful - please tell us!

Read more about the project here: https://onlineaccess.researchinfocus.com/artemis-project-home

Prefer to talk to me directly rather than fill in this survey? Please book a time that works for you here: https://calendly.com/becky-rif/women-in-research

Question Title

* 1. What career stage would you say you were?

Just starting out: finishing a PhD/early PDRA

Experienced PDRA looking for an academic post

New academic: new lecturer or equivalent

Mid-career

Senior/experienced academic

Other (please specify)

Question Title

* 2. Have you been interviewed by a panel of experts convened by a funding body in a competitive funding situation e.g. for a fellowship, ERC grant, or similar?

Yes

Please tell us for which scheme/s

Question Title

* 3. If you have never been interviewed by a funding body for a grant, is this because you have avoided applying to that scheme because the assessment process involved interviews?

No, I applied but was not shortlisted for interview

No, being interviewed had no bearing on my decision

A little

Mostly

Wholly

Please say more.

Question Title

* 4. If you have been interviewed are you able to recall how you felt about it before and during the interview?

I can't remember

I felt so nervous that I almost withdrew my application!

I was super nervous, I knew I had to do it, but I just couldn't relax and be myself.

I was nervous, but I was able to get my points across well enough.

I was nervous, but I think i did well.

Nerves! What are they? I felt perfectly relaxed in the interview and got my points across well.

Something else/please say more. Tell us as much as you can, that will help us to produce the most useful support resources/materials/guidance to funders.

Question Title

* 5. How long before the interview did you start preparing, and what sort of preparation did you do?

6 weeks

5 weeks

4 weeks

3 weeks

2 weeks

1 week

I didn't prepare

Can you give a brief overview of what sort of preparation you undertook?

Question Title

* 6. Did you receive support from your institution?

No, I didn't receive any support

No, so I paid for an external service myself

Yes, informally by colleagues

Yes, organised by my group/school/department

Yes, organised by a central resource/team

Yes, from an external service paid for by my institution

Other/what did the support consist of?

Question Title

* 7. To ensure consistency of data with other sector specific research we've adopted HESA's definitions of sex, described here: https://www.hesa.ac.uk/support/definitions/staff.

Please select the category in which you are included in HESA data:

Female

Male

Other

Not known

Any contextual info that you think would help us?

Question Title

* 8. Are you neurodiverse (with, or without formal diagnosis)?

Yes

If you are willing would you say how, or add any comments here which might help us to better understand your experience?

Question Title

* 9. Thank you so much for helping us understand your experience with grant interviews. Last question: how research intensive is your institution?

Research intensive: Russell Group

Research intensive, but not Russell group

Teaching intensive, some research excellence

Other/comment/s and anything else that you'd like us to know?

The Artemis Project: understanding individual experiences of grant interviews

Question Title

* 1. What career stage would you say you were?

Question Title

* 2. Have you been interviewed by a panel of experts convened by a funding body in a competitive funding situation e.g. for a fellowship, ERC grant, or similar?

Question Title

* 3. If you have never been interviewed by a funding body for a grant, is this because you have avoided applying to that scheme because the assessment process involved interviews?

Question Title

* 4. If you have been interviewed are you able to recall how you felt about it before and during the interview?

Question Title

* 5. How long before the interview did you start preparing, and what sort of preparation did you do?

Question Title

* 6. Did you receive support from your institution?

Question Title

* 7. To ensure consistency of data with other sector specific research we've adopted HESA's definitions of sex, described here: https://www.hesa.ac.uk/support/definitions/staff.Please select the category in which you are included in HESA data:

Question Title

* 8. Are you neurodiverse (with, or without formal diagnosis)?

Question Title

* 9. Thank you so much for helping us understand your experience with grant interviews. Last question: how research intensive is your institution?

* 7. To ensure consistency of data with other sector specific research we've adopted HESA's definitions of sex, described here: https://www.hesa.ac.uk/support/definitions/staff.

Please select the category in which you are included in HESA data: