My winning proposal: Start early for a Starting Grant

Long-term thinking, embracing ambition and rigorous interview preparation helped bag a European Research Council prize

Top tips

• Keeping notes of evidence gaps and methodologies in an area of interest is a good way of building up to a bid before the bid is even formulated.
• Keep an eye on training courses that can help you get to grips with relevant topics in your field that you are not expert on.
• European Research Council grants present an opportunity to display ambition—take it.
• Even if you have never held a major grant before, consider what other projects you have worked on that display project management and leadership ability.

When James Reynolds won a Starting Grant from the European Research Council in 2022, it marked a significant step up in his grant-winning record.