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NGRN Funding Galaxy Guide

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“DON’T PANIC”A CO-CREATED GUIDE FOR2024 EDITIONRESEARCHERS NAVIGATING THE MENTAL HEALTHThe ALIVE National Centre for Mental Health Research Translation

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WELCOME2

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Much like the wholly remarkable book designed for hitchhikers to navigate the galaxy, we bring you your newest indispensable companion, the 2024 updated Co-Created Guide to Navigate the Mental Health Research Funding Landscape. The guide brings together information shared by panellists at the ALIVE National Centre’s Annual Next Generation Researcher Network Funding Galaxy events. It is designed to help you to make sense of funding in an infinitely complex and confusing Research Universe. You’ are no longer alone -- we have answers! Well . . . some . . . at least.To date, three annual Funding Galaxy events have been held. The events offer a Question-and-Answer panel approach where tips and tricks on navigating the funding landscape and on how to acquire funding as a mental health researcher are shared. When we talk about mental health research, we mean the wide field that includes research on suicide and across disciplines from arts to medicine and beyond. The years have covered: 2022 – was a general overview on what mental health research funding is out there and tips and advice from people who have had a lot of experience and successes and the losses too. This kick-started this Guide to the Mental Health Funding Landscape.2023 – “Delving into the Early Career Cosmos” explored navigating the expanse of early career research opportunities and challenges. 2024 – saw a shift toward "Aligning Story, Values, and Funding Support (Finding the Self in Research Funding Systems) with a focus on what motivates people in their research and how to balance opportunity with passion.Some of the questions included - what type of funding is out there for mental health researchers? How can you build a track record with minimal resources? How can you write your lived-experience into your grant application? You’ll be surprised to know, or maybe you will not be so surprised to know, that the answer was not always 42. The golden lessons and learnings from the Funding Galaxy events are now provided here in this co-created guide. Buckle up and enjoy the ride travellers!3

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STATION 1An overview of the mental health research funding galaxy landscapeSTATION 6Aligning your passions and values with opportunities6STATION 2Top tips for applying for grants8436CONTENTS

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5STATION 3Top tips for grant writing22STATION 4How to stay hopeful and persistent30STATION 5How to have work-life balance34CONTENTS

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STATION 1:AN OVERVIEW OFTHE MENTAL HEALTHRESEARCH FUNDINGGALAXY LANDSCAPEThinking about the team is very important in distinguishing between project-based and person-based funding. You can often leverage from one to the other.6

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To help orient you and before we get stuck into tips, below are the main ways of applying for research funding in university and wider research settings: - Higher Education Research Data Collection (HERDC) categories*: ▪ Category 1: Australian competitive grants such as the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), Australian Research Council (ARC) or mental health specific, for example those offered by Suicide Prevention Australia.▪ Category 2: Other public sector funding opportunities in particular contract research for government departments, or tenders for pieces of work for government departments. Expert funding galaxy travellers recommend thinking about tenders as a funding avenue because they are competitive but sometimes judged differently from standard NHRMC or ARC grants and they are often pieces of work that can have a real impact. ▪ Category 3: Funding through industry for example philanthropic funds.▪ Category 4: Cooperative research centre funding: much smaller pool and more specific.- Program/project-based versus person-based funding:▪ Crafting funding applications can be either as a ◦ Person based grant, that is, it is all about you. For example, an early career or mid career fellowship or NHMRC investigator grant.◦ Project grants which are are about the best team and the best project. - General research funding versus mental health specific research funding:▪ Mental health specific funding is a “small drop in the ocean” compared to all the other funding opportunities, so it is better to consider bigger funding schemes.▪ Some national mental health specific funding schemes include those offered by the Australian Rotary Health and Suicide Prevention Australia and international examples include those offered by the National Institute of Mental Health and American Foundation of Suicide Prevention, and MQ Mental Health Research (UK). *The categories are used to classify university funding.7

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STATION 2:TOP TIPS FORAPPLYING FOR GRANTSCOSMOSCollaborationOpenness to opportunitiesStrategic thinkingMultiple, diverse funding sourcesOne thing leading to anotherSupport8

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Our 2022 panellists brought us a range of tips that we share here using Professor Jane Pirkis’s acronym COSMOS which stands for Collaboration; Openness to opportunities; Strategic thinking; Multiple diverse funding sources; One thing leading to another; and Support. Thank you to Jane Pirkis.COLLABORATION• Collaborate cleverly: join forces with people from other institutions with other disciplinary backgrounds, and work with people with lived-experience of what you are researching*.• It’s all about positioning yourself and collaborating with people. You’re not going to get the first massive grant you apply for by yourself. Join forces with other people even if you are Chief Investigator-Z to get your foot in the door (there may be advantages in not being first named investigator for learning along the way).• Find a team where you add value. You can’t do it on your own! You will find that you have a niche, and you will find a team that is lacking that niche. Find that niche and show it off.• Right Time, Right Place, Right Network: Being in the right network at the right time is just as important as having the right idea. Grow your networks and carry them with you throughout your career. The most successful applications can be born from strong professional friendships. Managing networks and fostering supportive relationships, especially as an Early Career Researcher (ECR), is crucial.• Having a group of people with whom you are committed to using research to pursue the public good can be a huge motivator.• Try to work with people you like and be nice to everyone. People move around in the sector and can move into influential positions.• If you invite others into your work, they’re likely to do the same for you.• Institutional priorities often change with the whims of new leadership. Don’t rely too heavily on any one person’s advice to navigate your way. Have mentors and seek out multiple perspectives. Stick to your core beliefs, find people you want to work with, and actively seek out opportunities.C9

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10TOPTIPSfrom our Intergalactic Panellist Associate Professor Sarah-Jane Fenton• The Value of Co-Production: Co-producing research with communities is essential. It’s a far more effective way to ensure the success, longevity, and impact of your work.• Be Conscious of Privilege: Recognise the privilege that comes with higher education and the opportunities it has provided. As you move through academic institutions, use this privilege to create an open, transparent, and fair culture. Embody equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) not just in your research, but also in how you fulfill your academic role.• Importance of Collaboration and Collegiality: Academic mentors and "critical friends" whose opinions you trust are invaluable. They can help you navigate rejection by helping you contextualise it, improve, and move forward. Often, colleagues can return to an idea years later when the timing is right, such as when a relevant funding call appears. In today’s research funding landscape of increasing competition for funding and the growing complexity of interdisciplinary research, collaboration and mentoring relationships are more important than ever for providing the support, insights, and opportunities that enhance researcher’s ability to thrive.• Foster a Caring Culture: Prioritise your own-care needs and seek support as needed (through various means available such as collaborative networks, mentors and institutional resources). Working in mental health research can be emotionally demanding, so stay connected to your support networks, and create a safe, positive environment for yourself and others. Encourage open communication and ensure everyone feels comfortable raising concerns. Have a trusted advisor for support.Here is an example of institutional wellbeing resources we have found helpful: https://go.unimelb.edu.au/gp78

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For example:A research team working to improve access to mental health services recognises the privilege that comes with higher education. The team leader actively includes early-career researchers from underrepresented backgrounds and treats community members as equal partners in the research. They ensure open dialogue, compensate community expertise, and publish results in open-access journals. By consciously using their privilege, the team fosters a culture of equity, diversity, and inclusion, making academic spaces more inclusive and accessible for all.11Have you considered joining The Australian Advocacy for Safe and Ethical Research in Sensitive Contexts Network (ASSERT)? https://www.linkedin.com/company/aasert-network/about/ Founded by Dr. Renee Fiolet , and her team, this network advocates for safe and ethical research in Australia, focusing on supporting researchers undertaking sensitive research. Renee was a recipient of the 2023 ALIVE National Centre Next Generation Researcher Network funding which supported the beginnings of this work.Watch more from our 2024 Intergalactic Panellist Sarah-Jane Fentonhttps://go.unimelb.edu.au/9p78

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LIVED-EXPERIENCE RESEARCHAND RESEARCHER TIPS12Lived-Experience Tips from Professor Michelle Banfield*:• It is important to centre work around lived-experience perspectives and priorities and bring this into spaces where it has not been before.• Researchers are starting to realise that people with lived-experience (also termed consumer and carer in government and grant guidelines) should be on grants, but there are a lot of researchers who don’t know what that means. • Sometimes, particularly when early in your career as a mental health lived-experience researcher, the temptation can be to grab at everything. Particularly if you are coming from a lived-experience space (and the same may hold in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander research spaces), but it is important to be careful. As our intergalactic panellist Associate Professor and Indigenous Cardiologist Luke Burchill also shared, know your “why”? • For lived-experience researchers (and for all people engaged in research) if it does not align with your principles and you think the applicant is just “ticking a box” it might cause more harm than good to collaborate.• In the long run if we want to do quality research, we have to encourage investigators applying for grants who want to include people with lived-experience, to do this properly and to do it well.• Invite lived-experience researchers early in the process so they can have input from the outset and not in a tokenistic way.• Be mindful to provide opportunities for leadership and active involvement in decisions about design, collection, analysis and all parts where possible.• Ensure lived-experience researchers are involved in the defining and identifying of the research project. If you’ve defined the problem, and you’re bringing people in after, you’re probably asking the wrong question; people often don’t know people who are most impacted by what they are studying.

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OPENNESS TO OPPORTUNITIES• Hop onto to any scheme that comes around that you may have opportunities to seek some funding through. • Work up smaller steps of project ideas into smaller and medium grant schemes.• Opportunistically recycle grants (if you are not successful in one scheme, submit it elsewhere).• Talk about your grant ideas alot across different research groups and people from a variety of backgrounds to see if they can understand your topic.OHave an eye to what grant opportunities are coming up. Sign up for grant connect emails (https://www.grants.gov.au). Sign up for all of them! Don’t restrict yourself.Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Researchers and Indigenous Knowledge Systems:• It is important that we have Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander research and First Nations researchers working in the mainstream and finding solutions for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’s needs while operating in mainstream settings including in healthcare, education, and research. Consider this in your projects and collaborations. • Be aware of the cultural load of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leadership and academic isolation.13• Ensure they have active funded roles in the project moving forward.• Don’t involve people “reactively”, people should have an understanding of what their role is and how they can contribute meaningfully. • Incorporating community and lived-experience is becoming a developing criterion of grants. People sometimes have a “panel advisory group” which might just be a tick box. The strength of a panel, however, could be having consumers that have technical expertise in the area and methods that they are commenting on. • Consider similar avenues and practices outside of research for example, working on a tender or consulting space. Still about understanding strengths you can bring that have a market value.

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STRATEGIC THINKING• Make sure you are well positioned for applying for different schemes. Build up your track record.• The emphasis at universities is often on helping to craft investigator grants (or fellowships) but it is equally important to think two years out about how to make sure your track record looks good.• Every time you apply for funding it means you have an opportunity to update track record narrative, figures for impact and reporting on papers – you can allocate 2 hours to an update of your track record that helps to review and check publications are updated, to explore what research sectors call “field weighted citation impact” and to make sure this is current, request SciVal database reports on FWCI or run these yourself to explore metrics and ways to improve. • Building a track record with minimal resources:◦ Appropriately target your research to different funding bodies - try to understand well what the needs and priorities of the funding body you are applying for are. Go beyond grant guidelines and funding rules and talk to colleagues, talk to people who have experiences applying for funding different bodies to help understand the fit between your ideas and project and the priorities of the grant.◦ Work on your track record, but more important than that, understand what different funding bodies are looking for in your track record e.g., number of publications, impact or grant funding or mentoring skills, international standing, collaborations etc., and think about how you talk about you track record or yourself in your CV and make sure it’s about fit. Grant body priorities could also change, be aware of that!◦ Secondary data analysis is a key opportunity and there is a lot of open data available. You can even build a career on this.◦ Find areas of commercial niche where you are going to be employable, and your skills are going to be useable (such as quantitative researhc, analysis and technical fields). Lived-experience researchers often choose not to occupy this space but it is something to consider.S14

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Hear more top tips on being strategic from our 2023 Intergalactic Panellist Lou Farrerhttps://go.unimelb.edu.au/qsu8◦ Learn to work collaboratively and as part of a team (locally, nationally or internationally). The needs and approaches differ across settings so it is good to have a variety of team experiences.◦ Try to get known to people. It is ok to ask if there’s scope to collaborate with people - make your enthusiasm and interest known. People are more receptive than you would think.◦ If working in teams - small beginnings can pay off down the track. Invitations can come from very small conversations at conferences, networking, or another colleague or small conversations with people that may have aligned interests.◦ Connections you grow can pay off down the track to build collaborations.◦ You can find ways to get access to data or to participate in other people’s projects, get employed on other people’s grants, or even work for free while trying to establish yourself and your own ideas.▪ Don’t only apply for something just because its open. When you see an opportunity come up, consider if it is the best opportunity to pursue, how much time you will need to put into writing it and what else you could be doing with that time.▪ Consider your connections for example as a practitioner you may stand a better chance especially if you work in the space and have access to partnerships, lived-experience groups and co-design opportunities from the ground up.▪ Be strategic about building your career from a whole heap of perspectives.15

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MULTIPLE, DIVERSE FUNDING SOURCES• Don’t limit yourself to category 1 funding. It is possible to build an entire career around work funded through tenders (category 2-4). This may provide you with opportunities you would not otherwise get. For example, category 2 funding may give you the opportunity to work with policy workers and people working on the ground that you may not get with category 1 funding.• You can gain a great deal of insight by working across different contexts.• Consider other kinds of work like tenders, contracts and consulting:◦ Most universities will have access to various databases.◦ Some research groups/institutes do 'tender' type processes for small pieces of research such as rapid reviews, e.g., Sax Institute. ◦ You can find out more through people you know through your professional network.◦ You can also go for tenders and consulting roles as part of your university role - but the university takes part of the money, if you do them independently you are the receiver of the full amount that you invoice for.◦ Be involved with organisations (newsletters, emails etc., about what is available). ◦ Institution research offices, university grants department- become friends with them!◦ Sitting at the intersection of lived-experience research, delivery, and design is beneficial (all work independently but need each other).◦ People often don’t partner with organisations for grants who are invested in solving the questions and would be able to recruit people. It is important to bring people from across the sections together.M16

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◦ If you’re in the translation and implementation side: look up your local council. Form an organisational partnership for some kind of program or support program that you want to be able to trial and evaluate. There are lots of different funding sources around, it doesn’t have to be research focused. Then you can embed an evaluation process in that, which will provide you with pilot data that shows you are capable of delivering this program, allowing you to go for the next level of funding.◦ Peak bodies are great at helping support recruitement, provide places to hold focus groups and interviews and guide whether what you’re asking is appropriate or appropriate for people to answer.◦ Can build a career from consultancy and contract funding.◦ Wise to have a balance from consultancy and contracts and also larger funding as there will be dry periods from either side.◦ All about building relationships and getting known- how you do that is really important. Everyone will be strategic but need to be meaningful, genuine and authentic.17

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• There are ways to get funding to use for your salary:◦ There are some salary specific schemes (fellowships or investigator grants).◦ There are also industry specific fellowships as well (e.g., Suicide Prevention Australia post doc fellowships, American Foundation of Suicide Prevention post doc fellowships that you can apply for anywhere in the world). These are more accessible than some of the ARC or NHMRC schemes. ◦ Can carve out a tiny piece of each project grant and add them together.◦ Work with someone who has project work they want you to do.◦ Jump onto someone else’s grant for a few years, learn the craft a bit more and wait for an opportunity to strike.◦ University roles are so uniquely structured. Talk to other people working in universities to find out what it looks like and if it’s a good fit for you. ◦ Think about if the demands and pressures exceed what you’re comfortable with balancing- consider particularly for people who have lived-experience. It can be merciless and unstable.◦ Success breeds success — securing small amounts of funding can lead to larger opportunities. Small grants can be just as impactful, if not more so, than larger ones, often serving as stepping stones for future opportunities. ◦ Don’t underestimate the value of smaller grants — they offer huge opportunities and some of the most 18

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◦ Split roles- teaching with a research proportion. Rare for universities to have research only roles.◦ Reach out to senior colleagues to become aware of what funding there is. People are generous with their time. Seems like it will be an imposition but people are much more willing than you would think. ◦ There are lots of different postdocs roles on other people’s grant projects that are not all created equally. Some of the projects will expect you to only work on the project you are funded on and this can be limiting. Need to know from the outset what kind of role you are going into. ◦ It is important to ask questions when applying or around balances in that role. E.g.:◦ What is the lead investigators philosophy? ◦ Will you be supported to run your own research program alongside and encouraged to publish papers outside of the grant funding? 19

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DEEP THOUGHT 42 SHARES SOME KEY INSIGHTS FOR BUILDING A TRACK RECORD IN RESEARCH:Track record is a term that funders use to ask researchers to share the story of their research impact and successes. It is usually presented as a statement of achievements detailing any grant funding success (including amounts), any awards and prizes, roles held on committees and boards, professional associations and impacts on advances within a profession or a discipline that are directly linked with your research activities, outputs and outcomes.Funders like to read about your important publications which should include field weighted citation impact factors for individual papers, plus your personal one (where this applies) for impact.Emerging researchers (this can include lived-experience researchers with practice-based expertise and experiences who work in research but are yet to undertake research higher degree studies) should tell the story of practice-based, advocacy based experiential expertise as impacts rather than overviewing grants, papers and funding per a traditional research trajectory.Talk about paper impacts if it was an advance or implemented into practice, and describe community benefits and engagements with your work.Toward the end of author Douglas Adams’s popular 1979 science-fiction novel The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, the supercomputer Deep Thought reveals that the answer to the “Great Question” of “Life, the Universe and Everything” is “forty-two”.42**20

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ONE THING LEADING TO ANOTHER • Important to think how you might leverage from one thing to another (for example moving from project to person based funding) .• Worth applying for grants that are small because it might lead to something else. You can get lots of little grants that build up to large amount of funding.• People will start to recognise you as part of the mental health research community which is actually a relatively small research community.• Category 2 funding can build into category 1 and category 3 funding.OSSUPPORT• Particularly at the early stages of your career, make sure you get the best supports possible. Examples of support include people to read applications and mentor you in applying for grants but also for running them if you receive one. • Find a mentor. If this is not your supervisor there are other ways you can get connected to someone:▪ University research offices are good at linking people up.▪Lots of mentoring schemes exist (e.g., https://mentorloop.com/) ▪ The mental health research community is generous spirited. You could approach almost anyone (of those more advanced in their careers) and ask if they would be happy to mentor you. You might have to ask a few people and they might have limited time, but people are generally keen to ensure that mental health research is in safe hands. Those advanced in their careers often do still do get enjoyment from sharing what they’ve learned.▪ Recognise a career in research is a decision that impacts you and your family. Regular check-ins with your family support is vital. It can also be an isolating activity, especially when working on schemes that focus on individuals. Surround yourself with good people!21

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STATION 3:TOP TIPS FORGRANT WRITING22

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23Deep Thought was also able to gather the top tips for writing grants that were shared at the Funding Galaxy events: • Make it as easy as possible for the assessors to read. Sell the message with clarity and conciseness, consistency of language, and key messages. • Ensure it is not just a dense wall of text and that there is space in text. Avoid the use of acronyms. Spelling things out in full is appreciated by reviewers who are looking at multiple applications and who don’t want to look back over prior pages to find the meaning.• Think carefully about the selection criteria and write your grant application to those criteria. ◦ If there are things that you feel like are not reflected in the criteria, but you think are important, weave them in (e.g., if there is no place to describe how much funding you have brought in or how many publications you have, weave this in somewhere else in the application – usually describing roles of team members helps with this. By describing the role one can say Investigator X is responsible for leading this part of the work. This Investigator is best placed to lead this work having held X grants as CI in this field, received X in research income and produced Y of papers since XXXX date). • Don’t bite off more than you can chew in one grant. ◦ Make sure you are trying to answer just one empirical question or research aim. ◦ Don’t confuse the assessors with multiple goals and complicated approaches. ◦ Make sure your aims are not contingent of each other, for example, if aim 1 needs to be successful to achieve aim 2 it can weaken your case. If you have dependencies then break it up and use the next aim for the next grant. This will form a sequence of grants that get funding and looks good to assessors that you are building on past projects to develop a coherent narrative. ◦ Dependency on one aim for another creates an uncertainty that this can be achieved and this in turn impacts on feasibility.

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• Make sure you are across the literature and know where the cutting edge is and where you want to pitch your idea. Recent reviews of literature are important to include in backgrounds, know the new papers, cite material from these and clearly identify what is missing in the literature and/or the research field that the work is being applied to.• Show that you have brought the best group of people together to flesh out your idea. Be creative and encourage a diverse team of people with interdisciplinary perspectives. • Link your idea to global and national initiatives. Get that impetus that the whole world is waiting for this research, or that government/s need/s this work to solve something it has been grappling with for too long.• Consider the 4 Ps in everything you do “Place, People, Process and Purpose”. In this video here: https://go.unimelb.edu.au/9su8 Associate Professor Luke Burchill has shared his tips on the 4 Ps. “Make sure in all that you do, that the research itself is needed by communities and the people most impacted by it.”24

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25*Note: there are resources to assist with for example the Wellbeing Health and Youth Centre for Research Excellence (CRE) Ethics & Engagement Framework: https://www.why.org.au/sites/default/files/2019-11/WHY-En-gagement-Framework-COLOUR.pdf 4PPLACEEthical considerations and governance hurdles will depend on the place, for example schools versus volunteers from the population. Need to ensure appropriate safety and distress protocols are in place.PEOPLECentre lived-experience (centre the youth voice and views on how research ought to be conducted). Who needs to be a part of the work?PROCESSConsider issues around consent, anonymity and ensuring minimal risk.* Try to engage youth co-researchers for the activities across design to translation.PURPOSEKnow the “why” of the group you are working with.Here is an example of using the 4 Ps for a project working with young people. This was shared by Associate Professor Luke Burchill at “A Researcher Guide to Mental Health Funding Galaxy 2022” panel:

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• The one thing that really shows is passion. If you understand and demonstrate that you love what you do it shows and it excites reviewers. Clarify your “why”. Why are you motivated in doing this research? Does it align with your passion? It needs to! This has to be an idea that you want to do anyway and if it does not get funded from this application you will find another way.• Make sure you have a mentor. It is important to demonstrate that you have someone capable that has been there before that can support you achieve what you have put in the grant. If there’s someone you want to ask, ask them! “We don’t bite!”• Make sure you have enough time and have thought through your idea well before you start writing. Look at previous successful grants.• Remember that clinical practice and research are interconnected and should support each other.MORE TOP TIPSFOR GRANTWRITING26

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27• Incorporating Your Lived-Experience into Grant Applications◦ The sector has made progress over time with a greater emphasis on applied research and greater expectations on grant applications. This includes advancements in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander research, improved consumer engagement, and the implementation of Co-Design principles, all contributing to conducting research in a more meaningful way. However, there is still more work to be done.◦ Your approach to sharing lived-experience in grant applications depends on the specific grant and the angle you wish to take. At times, highlighting your story can be beneficial, while in other cases, it may be more effective to hold back. Go in with your eyes open about the risks.◦ Be Selective: Carefully consider when and how to present your personal story. Ensure that it aligns with the objectives of the grant and reinforces the strengths of your project., especially when applying to bureaucratic organizations (e.g., NMHRC). Sometimes there may be an uncomfortable tension in all work if you are a lived-experience researcher you may always need to describe that standpoint and position somewhere.◦ There are ways and means of incorporating your lived-experiences that demonstrate your passion and how it drives what you do.◦ Indirect Impact: Personal stories can have significant influence even if their impact isn’t immediately visible in the application. Thoughtfully crafted narratives can strengthen the overall application.

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• Framing Relative to Opportunity and Career Disruptions◦ Panels often find it challenging to evaluate “Relative to Opportunity” (RTO) against career disruptions because they are assessed differently. Be mindful of how you present these experiences.◦ Reframe Your Narrative: Instead of viewing RTO from a deficit perspective, focus on how your unique experiences have enhanced your skills and perspective. Be strategic in shifting the narrative to highlight the strengths and opportunities it has afforded you to bring into your research.◦ Balance Your Story: Don’t underemphasise or overemphasise your story. While it’s important to acknowledge how these experiences have shaped you, don’t overwrite them or make them the whole of the narrative.MORE TOP TIPSFOR GRANTWRITING28

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29• Make sure to clearly outline consumer involvement in the appropriate sections.◦ There is a consumer advisor on grant application review panels and their role is to review specific sections– usually where information on “involvement” is expected to appear. Applicants tend to tuck relevant information elsewhere, and this can therefore be missed by the reviewer – make sure the answers can be found in the sections where they belong as well as in other places.◦ There is a large difference in proposals between “feeling” the commitment to engagement, involvement, and co-research – and reading as though this has been ticked off, or still remains to the side and not a grounded partnership.◦ Some applications leave a good deal unsaid in a research proposal, especially about the actual role and decision-making of advisory groups and committees for projects. ◦ This is particularly important to outline for meaningful roles of groups and committees within projects, and also if this is the main way that consumers and carers may be engaged it becomes even more important. These committees and groups need clear functions.◦ If an applicant wants to attract attention to demonstrate genuine commitment, these details need clear outlining within the proposal or it might be missed, especially by the Consumer Adviser who is a key spokesperson on grant review panels.

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STATION 4:HOW TO STAYHOPEFUL ANDPERSISTENT30

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Persistence is key!The first rejection of a grant or fellowship is difficult, but it gets easier and hurts less than before. It is a part of the research landscape. It is ok to take a minute to lick your wounds, collect yourself and then come back. If you’ve survived till the end of your PhD, you would have faced brutal feedback already. This still does not make it easy to read feedback that can be negative so have some supportive strategies readily available.People are often open about successes but not failures. You probably don’t know about the failures people have experienced. Successes are often less frequent than the failures once you start to hear about them. The typical cycle is that grants are submitted multiple times. This is a known part of academia and the research setting. It is important to acknowledge it is a challenging career pathway.Remember that the skillsets you develop as a researcher are desirable in a range of different types of jobs not just within academia - they apply in corporate, private business, non-government settings and within government settings. But, the cultures and approaches do differ. 31

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Currently people who have a combination of lived-experience, technical expertise and track record have a competitive advantage in this grant funding market. We need people to finish PhDs and go on to develop track records. We are in a competitive space but the responsibility is on us to meet the rest of the market requirements to win. This is often not talked about from a strategic lived-experience culture space. How do we make the most of what’s available at the moment?Keep a list of positives; nice stuff that happens, emails that brighten your day or positive feedback, then when you’re in a bad stage it helps to reflect on that list and know that you can come back. Remember and see the successes that are not just the big wins. A lot of little stuff can brighten things up along the way.Not being successful in a grant or fellowship might just be that the strengths are not aligned with the focus of the scheme, listen to the grant reviewer comments when they tell you what they want. Explore the criteria for the grant and the objectives of a funding call. Ask yourself, “Does my idea fit?” “Am I the right person for the scheme?” If not, it’s unlikely to be worth the effort. Other people go for everything and see what sticks and that can work too.“Leverage Lived-Experience and Technical Expertise for Competitive Grant Funding Success”- Catherine Brasier - 32

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It can feel like you’ve failed if you haven’t gotten funding but it’s important to feel proud of what you are submitting and that can be your success barometer. Think about if you are achieving that. Not all about if it gets funded. Not everyone is going to get funded, there’s a funnel of great ideas that get whittled down and a range of things that come into play. Hold on to a level of perspective that it is an achievement to even submit something for some of these schemes. If you have managed to hold on to your ethics and principles and passions as well that’s amazing.Remember that academia is not the only way to use your academic training. Bringing academic skill and ways of academic thinking into what you do is important. There are broader ways to think about it.There are way more things that haven’t been funded than have. It’s all part of the process. Each story is of resilience and persistence. In addition to the difficulties of rejection, research that people with lived-experience do often connects to a deeper social commitment and personal experience with an added layer of meaning and poignancy. A rejection might result in experiencing it as a loss of opportunity to make a big practical difference in people’s lives. This can mean an added layer of meaning and loss sometimes.The magic combination for obtaining funding is being the right person, with the right idea, at the right time.33

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STATION 5:HOW TO HAVEWORK-LIFE BALANCE34

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It can be hard to balance when you become aware of your opportunity and privilege, but you need to be clear about where your priorities are at.Defined market perspective and imperative helps so you aren’t required to do an extreme amount of afterhours or weekend work.Everyone goes through intense periods. If you feel like you can handle it when you must meet deadlines, and then have more of a down period after, this is OK (everyone does that over time) – but when it is consistently sustained over long periods of time it can create burnout, so be careful.Some people will apply for everything and will never say no, and some people do cope but sometimes it feels like it takes a significant personal impact.Some people don’t do after hours and weekend work unless there is a deadline and it is a rare thing, but not ongoing to protect their own mental health. Coercion of overtime shouldn’t be a cultural norm.Understand the power in your situation. Have good relationships with people so when you ask for things, people are willing and treat you with a greater level of respect. Learn to hold boundaries effectively Also think about Non-Government Organisation (NGO) pathways as well as academic opportunities. Often things will take longer than expected if you want to get it right. Focus on a few things at once and avoid overloading yourself to prevent burnout. Give yourself time and space. Remember the intergalactic panellist points: find your people and what works for you for taking care of yourself.Find out the expectations on timelines, overtime, and weekends for your role.35

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STATION 6:ALIGNING YOURPASSIONS AND VALUESWITH OPPORTUNITIES36

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Start small, seek mentorship, and always ask yourself: Where am I headed? What is my driving passion in research? When it’s time to apply for larger grants, how does my current work create the necessary picture of my track record that positions me as the ideal applicant?Don’t compromise your values. Know what you stand for, why you want to work with certain people, and why you're pursuing your goals. This keeps you motivated. Building momentum in your research space often requires work outside of applying for grants, such as advocacy work and connecting with people. This can sometimes be unpaid work.There is a tension between pursuing what truly matters to you and the availability of funding. It’s important to find a way to align these two aspects. Being strategic is a reality of navigating the research conditions. While pursuing your passions you may need to be flexible based on funding trends, such as adjusting methodologies to fit funding criteria.Collaborating with like-minded individuals who share your values can lead to more opportunities. And, widening the lens is also important. Have a set of values with an eye to where you are going. Look around for opportunities that help you realise those values. Find a space that fits. Find underlying common objectives between what the funding body wants and what you want. Do what matters to you and what you're passionate about because it shows in your application. Some of the most persuasive work isn't due to a perfect track record, but because their passion shines through.Understanding where you fit within the academic system is crucial. For some, working outside of it offers more freedom to pursue impactful research. Remember that you don’t always need to follow the traditional academic path (e.g., PhD, postdoctoral fellowship, securing funding, and publishing) to be a successful researcher!37It’s not just about "what I do" but "who I am." That makes a big difference.

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THAT’S ALL FOR NOW!38

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Watch this space for our next, Next Generation Researcher Network event this year and make sure you don’t miss more tips at next year’s 2025 Annual Next Generation Researcher Network Capacity Building event https://nextgen.alivenetwork.com.au/ A huge thanks to our 2022, 2023 and 2024 panellists for informing this guide and to the next generation researcher network co-leads and lived-experience lead group representatives for planning and running the events with us!If you're not already a member of the ALIVE National Next Generation Researcher Network (NGRN) and would like to join, click here: https://redcap.link/ALIVENextGen. The NGRN is designed for university-based research higher degree students and early/mid-career mental health researchers. As a member, you'll have access to peer support, ongoing discussions, opportunities for continuous growth beyond formal education programs, and notifications about our capacity-building programs, including mentorship, training, and events.39

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THANK YOU TO OUR2022 PANELLISTS40

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Jane PirkisALIVE National Centre InvestigatorDirector of the Centre for Mental Health in the Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of MelbourneLena SanciALIVE National Centre InvestigatorHead of Department, Director of Teaching and Learning, and co-lead of the Children and Young People's Research Stream, Department of General Practice (DGP), University of MelbourneDianne ShanleyPanel GuestCo-lead of the Changing HEalth SystemS (CHESS) research group within the Menzies Health Institute of Queensland at one of ALIVE National Centre University Partner - Griffith University, Gold Coast Michelle BanfieldALIVE National Centre Co-DirectorHead of Lived-Experience Research at the ANU Centre for Mental Health Research, and the Lived-Experience Lead for the ALIVE National Centre for Mental Health Research TranslationLuke Burchill - Intergalactic PanelistALIVE National Centre InvestigatorProud member of the Yorta Yorta and Dja Dja Wurrung Nations. Adult congenital cardiologist and clinical researcher at the University of Melbourne, Royal Melbourne Hospital and the Mayo Clinic, Rochester USA41

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THANK YOU TO OUR2023 PANELLISTS42

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Gregory ArmstrongPanel GuestAssociate Professor at the Nossal Institute for Global Health, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of MelbourneCarly JohncoPanel GuestAssociate Professor and Clinical Psychologist in the School of Psychological Sciences at Macquarie University, Deputy Director of Research in the Macquarie University Lifespan Health & Wellbeing Research CentreMiriam ForbesPanel GuestAssociate Professor in the School of Psychological Sciences at Macquarie UniversityJustin ChapmanALIVE National Centre Research FellowResearch Fellow at Griffith University and Metro South Addictions and Mental Health Service, Implementation and Translation Network Research Fellow at ALIVE National Centre for Mental Health Research TranslationCatherine BrasierALIVE National Centre International Scientific Advisory Committee Consumer Co-ChairLived Experience Strategic Lead of Wellways Post-Doctoral Research Fellow in Social Work and Social Policy at La Trobe University Director of Lived SolutionsLou FarerPanel GuestSenior Research Fellow at the Centre for Mental Health Research, Australian National University43

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THANK YOU TO OUR2024 PANELLISTS44

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Sarah-Jane FentonALIVE National Centre International Scientific Advisory Committee memberAssociate Professor at the University of Burmingham, Health Services Management CentreJames SmithALIVE National Centre University PartnerDeputy Dean for Rural and Remote Health, Northern Territory, Professor of Health and Social Equity, and Co-Director Health Equity Impact Program at Flinders UniversityKelsey HegartyALIVE National Centre InvestigatorChair Family Violence Royal Women’s Hospital, Professor at the University of MelbournePieta ShakesPanel GuestTeaching and Research Academic within the Master of Nursing at James Cook University and a credentialed mental health nurse who founded and volunteers for the health promotion charity, Through the UnexpectedMichelle BanfieldALIVE National Centre Co-DirectorHead of Lived-Experience Research at the ANU Centre for Mental Health Research, and the Lived-Experience Lead for the ALIVE National Centre for Mental Health Research TranslationPiers GoodingPanel GuestAssociate Professor at La Trobe Law School and an Australian Research Council DECRA fellow45

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NEXT GENERATIONTHE ALIVE NATIONALRESEARCHER NETWORKCO-LEADS 2022-2024The ALIVE National Centre for Mental Health Research Translation46

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Terence ChongCo-Lead (2021 - current)University of MelbourneVictoria StewartCo-Lead (2021 - 2023)Griith UniversityAnna WaterreusCo-Lead (2021 - 2022)University of Western AustraliaGiuliea ValuriCo-Lead (2021 - 2022)University of Western AustraliaEmma BakerInvestigator Co-Lead (2021 - current)University of AdelaideLena SanciInvestigator Co-Lead (2021 - current)University of MelbourneCaley TappCo-Lead (2021 - current)University of QueenslandTegan SteafordCo-Lead (2021 - 2022) University of NewcastleAmy CoeCo-Lead (2023 - current)University of MelbourneHeather BridgmanCo-Lead (2023 - current)University of TasmaniaJamie NorthamCo-Lead (2023 - current)University of SydneyMelanie RolfeCo-Lead (2023 - current)Queensland University of TechnologyKate StodartCo-Lead (2023)La Trobe UniversitySumedha VermaCo-Lead (2024 - current)University of SydneyRebecca CooperLived-Experience Research CollectiveCo-Lead Representative (2022 - current)Jennifer AlthausCo-Lead (2024 - current)Griith UniversityMartina McGrathLived-Experience Research CollectiveCo-Lead Representative (2021-2023)Ian MuchamoreLived-Experience Research CollectiveCo-Lead Representative (2021 - current)47

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THE ALIVE NATIONAL CENTRECO-DIRECTORS ANDHUB TEAM48

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Victoria PalmerCo-DirectorUniversity of MelbourneMichelle BanfieldCo-DirectorAustralian National UniversitySandra Eades AOCo-DirectorUniversity of MelbourneGlenn PapworthCentre ManagerUniversity of MelbourneDana JazayeriSenior Research Support OicerUniversity of MelbourneCaroline TjungCommunications and Translation SpecialistUniversity of Melbourne49

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WATCH THE RECORDINGS50

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If you’ve missed out on the events you can now watch them on the ALIVE National Centre’s YouTube channel here!This guide is co-created by, for and with the Next Generation Research Network co-leads (Emma Baker, Lena Sanci, Victoria Stewart, Terence Chong, Caley Tapp, Giulietta Valuri, Tegan Stettaford Amy Coe, Kate Stodart, Heather Bridgman, Jaimie Northam, Melanie Rolfe, Sumedha Verma and Jennifer Althaus), Lived-Experience Research Lead representatives (Martina McGrath, Rebecca Cooper and Ian Muchamore), 2022 Panellists (Jane Pirkis, Lena Sanci, Dianne Shanley, Michelle Banfield and Luke Burchill), 2023 Panellists (Gregory Armstrong, Carly Johnco, Miriam Forbes, Justin Chapman, Catherine Brasier and Lou Farer), 2024 Panellists (James Smith, Kelsey Hegarty, Pieta Shakes, Michelle Banfield, Sarah-Jane Fenton, Piers Gooding), contributions from the Co-Directors (Victoria Palmer, Michelle Banfield and Sandra Eades AO) and HUB team (Dana Jazayeri, Caroline Tjung and Glenn Papworth).We also acknowledge The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adam as the inspiration for organising our work in co-creating this guide.2022https://go.unimelb.edu.au/8f6s2023https://go.unimelb.edu.au/gsu82024https://go.unimelb.edu.au/727851

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The ALIVE National Centre for Mental Health Research Translation