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Feature

Early-career researchers embrace international funding opportunities

14 July 2022
International funding schemes provide great opportunities for early-career researchers. We asked three of them to share their experiences securing funding.

Dr Dulsha Kularatna-Abeywardana: Customised pitch key to funding success

Facebook Research funding (NZ$206,550)

When Dulsha Kularatna-Abeywardana received the Facebook (now Meta) Research funding call email, she was unsure if she would apply. Having just spent a lot of time and energy unsuccessfully applying for a domestic funding scheme, Kularatna-Abeywardana was doubtful a renowned international funder would consider her application.

However, after a closer look, Kularatna-Abeywardana found it aligned quite well with her research direction and decided to give it a go.

photo (Dulsha)
Dulsha Kularatna-Abeywardana

Kularatna-Abeywardana presented her proposal, a supercapacitor-driven solar energy harvester for portable smart devices, in a format similar to her unsuccessful local grant application. However, after submitting it to the Funds Advisor Team at UniServices, she gained valuable advice on customising her pitch to suit the target audience.

The team advised her that emphasising the project’s compatibility with portable devices, such as those Facebook runs on, would make it much more attractive.

Though the concept remained the same, Kularatna-Abeywardana changed the project application to align with the approach the team knew would make it more likely to get funding.

“Go for it. That’s exactly what I did, and I found the application process to be a lot more straightforward than [local grants]. I just had to write a proposal, fill in a few details, and it was probably the easiest application I've done.”
Dulsha Kularatna-Abeywardana

“That was probably the most valuable piece of advice I got,” she says, reflecting on the application process with Meta.

When the Meta email came through telling her she had successfully won US$150,000 for her research project, Kularatna-Abeywardana was caught by surprise.

“You know, you get all these spam emails saying you've won $1 million. So, I triple-checked. But it feels great, and it’s the first grant I’ve ever got.”

Dr Marta Estellés: First-time principal investigator

photo (Marta)
Marta Estellés
Spencer Foundation: Small Research Grant (NZ$71,047)

When Marta EstellĂ©s’ colleague first informed her of the Spencer Foundation grant, an international funding opportunity, she thought it was too ‘high level’. But after learning more in a promotional email from the University of Auckland, she decided to give it a try.

As a young scholar who had only been in New Zealand for 18 months, Estellés had no prior experience with putting together a proposal and initially felt completely lost.

“This was the first research grant I've ever applied for, so I had no idea how to do a budget,” she says.

“Sometimes we are a bit scared of applying for these international grants, but you need to try – at the very worst it’s a learning experience.”
Marta Estellés

EstellĂ©s speaks highly of the support she received from FIRST (Faculty and Institutes Research Service Team) during the initial application process, describing the team as very helpful with turning her ideas into “something more concrete”.

She also valued the support of the Funds Advisor Team at UniServices, which helped fine-tune her proposal and made the whole process seem more achievable.

“They were really kind and easy to approach. I’m very grateful.”

Estellés explained that domestic funders tend to value research experience, such as being a senior academic, particularly if you are going to be the associate principal investigator. The Spencer Foundation was different and appreciated the fresh ideas in her education research.

“It has been a complete game changer because otherwise I would not have been able to carry out the research,” she says.

“Because it’s such a new field, there aren’t any established research groups and I don’t think I would have been able to start it by myself.”

Estellés hopes that this success at an international level, so early in her career, will help her to secure domestic funding in the future.

“I think that if you have demonstrated that you can compete with an international audience, you should be valued here as well,” says EstellĂ©s.

Estellés is enthusiastic about encouraging those who are unsure whether to apply for an international grant to give it a go.

“Sometimes we are a bit scared of applying for these international grants, but you need to try – at the very worst it’s a learning experience.”

Dr Valerio Terragni: Early-career researcher takes on the Meta Challenge

Facebook Research funding (NZ$142,300)

Winning an industrially funded research project has provided Dr Valerio Terragni with insights into the application process, which may seem daunting to many researchers at first.

Terragni won a small project grant of US$50,000 from Facebook (now Meta) Research in 2019 before joining the University of Auckland.

It isn’t as time consuming as you may expect, and those who do apply have a reasonably good chance of winning, he says.

“It is an excellent opportunity; you just need to write a two-page summary of your proposal. You can do it in maybe a week.”

photo (Valerio)
Valerio Terragni

Terragni received support from the Funds Advisor Team at UniServices for his most recent application, in 2021, for Facebook’s ‘Agent-Based User Interaction Simulation to Find and Fix Integrity and Privacy Issues.’

The checklist provided by the team and a final check before submission was very helpful, particularly because the procedures can change year-to-year, he says.

This time, he won US$100,000 for his research project, ‘Automated Generation of Metamorphic Relations for Testing Web Enabled Simulations (WES)’.

“The application should be very practical because they want to resolve a real issue, so it should not be blue sky.”
Valerio Terragni

For Terragni, winning the Meta Research grant gives him access to cutting-edge industry knowledge, resources from the industry leader and a reputation in the research circle.

“This will, of course, help me with domestic funding because they do look at your CV and the experience will give me a lot of insight and knowledge about cutting-edge research and topics,” he says.

His tips for fellow researchers looking at international funding opportunities include carefully reading the objective and thinking about the solution you may be able to provide.

“The application should be very practical because they want to resolve a real issue, so it should not be blue sky.”

Looking for help or info on research funding?
Contact the Funds Advisor Team