This hurt. A lot. The scores showed this submission was the weakest academically of the 97 NSERC applications written by UCalgary PhD students, according to the committee. Ouch. It also scored very poorly for “research” – but scored well for “interpersonal”. So, Ms. Congeniality. Awesome. I, like, totally am all about world peace and junk.
I think the results show a couple of things.
- the local UCalgary NSERC committee doesn’t get the kinds of things CMD thinks about. Good data. Won’t likely try for NSERC funding again. SSHRC is likely a better fit. This proposal didn’t make it past the initial sniff test. I have no idea how the national NSERC committee would have received it. It didn’t fit into a known bucket, so got punted at the first chance.
- I need to take more ownership over shaping my research agenda. I proposed the Baxter follow-up study because it was shovel-ready, but it wasn’t directly related to the kinds of things I’m thinking about. I need to follow my own path, and do so boldly.
So. Next year, I’ll try for SSHRC funding for part of my refined research plan, rather than just pushing an existing project.