Developing as a post-PhD researcher: agency and feedback in construction of grant funding success (El desarrollo del investigador posdoctoral: agencia y feedback en la preparación de propuestas de financiación exitosas)

Abstract

ABSTRACT Grant funding is critical to building a sustained research career. Yet in this climate of academic performativity little is known about how individual academics make their contribution to knowledge fundable. This in-depth longitudinal case study explores an approach evolved by an experienced Canadian scientist whose work is recognized for both scholarly and societal impact. We demonstrate how, over ten years, his agentive participation in academic interactions has contributed to continual development of his research and its funding through: his seeking and engaging with feedback; network-wide view of feedback sources; and drawing on feedback to inform his writing and research thinking. The article suggests a developmental view of the process in which, over time, researchers conceive, expand and draw on their feedback networks. Locating funding success within the social dimensions of knowledge and researcher development, the study sheds light on the role of agency and experiential learning in enabling contributions to frontline knowledge. Results suggest a novel, encompassing way for post-PhD researchers to build towards sustained grant funding.