Using a Virtual Community (the Health Equity Learning Collaboratory) to Support Early-Stage Investigators Pursuing Grant Funding.

Meldra Hall,Kimberly Lawson,Ernest Alema-Mensah,Douglas Paulsen,Japera Hemming,Ann Smith,Adriana Baez,Jeffrey Engler,Priscilla Pemu,Jonathan Stiles,Alexander Quarshie,Elizabeth Ofili,Winston Thompson

doi:10.3390/ijerph15112408

Abstract

Junior investigators often have limited access to networks of scientific experts and resources that facilitate competitive grant submissions. Since environments in which scientists are trained are critically important for long-term success, we built and tested a virtual environment for early-stage investigators (ESIs) working on grant proposals. The aim of this study was to evaluate the virtual community’s influence on grant submission patterns among participants from underrepresented groups. As part of a grant writing coaching model, junior investigators were recruited into a professional development program designed to develop competitive grantsmanship skills. Designed by the Research Resources and Outreach Core (RROC) of the National Research Mentoring Network (NRMN), the Health Equity Learning Collaboratory (EQ-Collaboratory) provided a virtual community for social support, accountability, constructive feedback, and access to peer networks to help investigators overcome barriers to grant submission. This study assessed differences in outcomes for participants who completed the training within the EQ-Collaboratory compared to those who did not. The analyzed data revealed a statistically significant difference in the average time to submission for participants enrolled in the EQ-Collaboratory. EQ-Collaboratory ESIs submitted proposals 148.6 days earlier, (p < 0.0001). The results suggest that a supportive virtual environment can help investigators more quickly overcome barriers to grant submission.

Highlights

Since investigators who come from diverse backgrounds bring a set of distinct experiences to investigating research problems, each one has something unique to contribute to both the conception of theInt
For the post-collaboratory cohorts (Post-CC), the races/ethnicities were more widely distributed among Asian (14%), Black (46%), Hawaiian-Pacific Islander (2%), Latino (9%), Native American (2%), White (26%), and other-Arab (2%)
Most of the trainees were in the post-doc (30%-Pre-CC; 20%-Post-CC) and Assistant Professor (54%-Pre-CC; 61%-Post-CC) career stage, with a few others falling in the Associate Professor (12%-Pre-CC; 13% Post-CC), Professor (0% Pre-CC; 2% Post-CC), and Other/Researcher (2% Pre-CC; 2% Post-CC) stage

Summary

Introduction

Since investigators who come from diverse backgrounds bring a set of distinct experiences to investigating research problems, each one has something unique to contribute to both the conception of theInt. Since investigators who come from diverse backgrounds bring a set of distinct experiences to investigating research problems, each one has something unique to contribute to both the conception of the. Res. Public Health 2018, 15, 2408; doi:10.3390/ijerph15112408 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph. Res. Public Health 2018, 15, 2408 research strategy and the writing process for presenting the findings. Public Health 2018, 15, 2408 research strategy and the writing process for presenting the findings Such diversity of thought and experience is a substantial benefit, when scholars are engaged in scholastic discussions [1]

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