Deciding that a series of project grants would not be appropriate is a starting point
The Natural Environment Research Council’s Large Grants are the apex of UK environmental science’s principal investigator-led grants. Understandably, they are not awarded lightly. Among other things, applicants must convince the panel that the work they propose could not be as well supported by a series of smaller Standard Grants.
Simon Lewis, professor of global change science at University College London and the University of Leeds, won a Large Grant in 2018. In this piece, he explained how he knew that he had to step up and go for the big money. The second stage of the application process for invited bids in the current round of Large Grants will close on 9 November and then the scheme is forecast to reopen in early 2022.