Pluridisciplinary proposal writing

Research in science is constantly changing and requires multidisciplinary and multiscale analysis at the atomic, molecular, cellular and populational levels. At IM2B, research is based on the excellence of laboratories from different fields such as genetics, genomics, inorganic chemistry, physico-chemistry, structural biology, cell biology, imaging or physics. To study a unique range of microbial systems (model bacteria, pathogens, anaerobes and photosynthetic bacteria, giant viruses, bacteriophages, amoebae, filamentous fungi, archaebacteria) from a cellular to a molecular scale. As a result, a young researcher can no longer work within the limits of a single field. He must learn to work in close collaboration with other scientists in order to enriched his research project with creativity, critical thinking and alternative point of view.

The Plinius Cursus proposes the workshop “Pluridisciplinary proposal writing” which allows them to respond to this (r)evolution in order to improve their skills and employability. The objective is to set up and write an ambitious interdisciplinary project that will be carried out in pairs. During this workshop, participants will be made aware of the basics of writing a funding application. They will then be offered proactive writing work, accompanied by daily follow-up by the trainers. Finally, at the end of the workshop, an oral presentation will be made by the doctoral students and some collaborative projects may be implemented.

At the end of the workshop, the student will be able to develop an interdisciplinary project with other researchers from different fields. This teamwork may lead to the emergence of a new collaboration between several groups of the institute in which the student will have been the protagonist and will allow him to highlight his skills and thus his future employability.

Timeline

1. All participants will be asked to complete a form including their thesis topic, the methods used “routinely” and the complementary skills sought in this workshop. Doctoral students need to inform their thesis supervisor of their approach (their approval is mandatory).

2. One week before the first meeting, the forms will be sent to all participants.

3. First meeting (early  2026 ?):
– Presentation of workshop objectives.
– Individual presentation of each student.
– Preparation of the pairs or trinomials. Inter-laboratory and/or multidisciplinary associations are highly desirable.

4. In the meantime
– Doctoral students must familiarize themselves with funding applications provided by the host laboratory.
– Discussions can be initiated within each pair in order to develop a multidisciplinary project.

5. Workshop ( March April- 2024)

– ½ day of theoretical courses:

* Presentation of the format and principles associated with writing a funding application
* Guidelines to write a proposal.
* Example of editing and writing a multidisciplinary project.

– 2 days of proactive work including the writing in pairs of a multidisciplinary project, daily follow-up by the trainers and discussions with the other participants.

– ½ day of oral presentation of the projects.

6. At the end of the workshop, some projects might be implemented (subject to the agreement of the thesis supervisors).

Students prerequisites

• Agreement of the thesis director