Academia is full of rejection. So much rejection that you can build a business out of it, and many people have done that with blogs, workshops, etc. What I have not seen as much of is how to harness our rejection for goodwill.
There’s so much creativity, labor, and emotional investment that happens when you write grants and concept notes. Because funding is so limited, and rejection so high, there must be lots of dusty old concept notes. So what happens to those rejected concept notes. I ‘m not talking about the ones that you hope to recycle and submit somewhere because the topic/funding is still relevant (and you’re still passionate about executing it). I am talking about those rejected notes from eons ago, or from before your research interests evolved that [for whatever reason] you’re ok to part ways with. What do you with those? I asked, and although only three people responded, I wanted to share the responses. The answers fell between “forgetting about it” and “other”, and the comments got me thinking.
In cases where people are willing to share their rejected notes with colleagues, could we create a repository of ideas for early career (or other stages) scientists to learn from, update and improve, and freshly pursue.
I’d like to start a series of posts, “Steal our ideas”, in which I share some past ideas/concept notes I have co-written/ written with collaborators that never got funded, with precisely this hope – that someone with the interest, time, money, and skill set can execute them/make them better/learn from them. It would be nice to be credited or even have collaboration if anything comes out of it. But I also understand sometimes this just inspires another idea that is totally different so hence the “maybe” part.
First in this series is the AFRESH study (Aligning Food Choices for Environmental Sustainability in Brazil and the US ). The AFRESH study was one of the first concept notes I co-wrote in my first year as a post-doc at Harvard with my wonderful and awesome colleague Dr.Neha Khandpur (shared with her approval, naturally). AFRESH didn’t get funded, but we learned so much and had so much fun writing it. See a short summary and PDF of the concept note below.
[P.S. It’s always a good sign of a fruitful collaboration when writing together brings joy, mutual learning, and respect!]
“Aligning Food Choices for Environmental Sustainability in Brazil and the US: The AFRESH study
The proposed study utilizes behavior-change messages, labeling and salient positioning nudges in shifting food choices for sustainability. Findings from this study could be used to inform interventions. For example, if we find that middle-aged participants from the US respond to labeling more than messaging, this finding would substantiate funding for a future study using discrete choice methodology to examine the effects of labeling on perceived purchase intention among this particular target group. Further, we would also test the use of incentives on these behaviors. Additionally, we would leverage funding to test these pilot findings within real-world setting like restaurants, grocery stores and food companies, and examine these effects on actual purchasing behavior.” [Full concept note of 3 pages attached here]
Do you have a concept note that you’re ok to part way with? Please email me at rambikapathi[@]gmail.com. I would love to create a repository for junior scientists to learn and lead for the next generation.
