The Search for Grants

I am by no means an expert at acquiring grants. I have a total of zero to my name. However, I do have a few tips for finding out about grants which you can apply for. Many people are aware of the large government grants (such as the Australian Research Council Grants, here in Aus), however finding smaller grants can be particularly challenging. 

Here are some things that I have found useful:

1. Here in Australia, the Government does have a grant calendar website– it isn’t all specific to research, but is a good place to start. Your government may have an equivalent. 
2. Universities will often also have grant calendars. You can google ‘grant calendars’ and sometimes other Universities calendars are available even if you are not a staff or student of that institute. For example, I find the Southern Cross University Calendar to be particularly useful 
   
3. Look up other researcher’s previous grants- This is time consuming but something I find particularly effective. Go onto other institutes’ staff profiles, find researcher’s with a similar research interests to yourself and look at the previous grants that they have secured. This information is usually listed under staff profiles on University websites
4. Keep a file. Once you find relevant grants, make sure you keep a file of the funding body, how much the grants are for, links to the website, and importantly due dates.Good luck!