Surviving a Sandpit Catherine Mitchell Xiaoyu Yan 1 June 2015

We both got money! Yehhhhh Both of us ended up in a successful project CM Stepping Up £178K for a 3 year, 4 day a week PDRF XY WEF WEB £150K for a 1.5 year PDRF So, going to a sandpit is a quick way to get funding We are very pleased to have got that money BUT CM found the experience very stressful although XY found it fine Being prepared for it - as CM / XY was not - seems to be essential so that you can get funding without too much stress

What is a sandpit – in brief? They differ but ours was a week-long meeting 24 participants To do with Water Energy Food (WEF) Nexus All ages and stages of our careers More or less equal women to men Individuals chosen by their interests / attitudes / enthusiasms rather than careers About a dozen mentors / advisors who choose the projects 2 days of team and idea building 2 days of more detailed proposal building 1 day pitching of proposals and results on the day About £5m to be given out – 3 valued £4.5m given out

The process – applying and success The application was online About 350 applied for 24 places The 350 was whittled down to 36 by external people The 36 to 24 by the group which ended up choosing the projects on the Friday Not really on career merit but more on interest / psychology Just apply Some universities had had all people in a certain area apply Put too much pressure on participants Once chosen, a 50/50 % chance of getting money

Think Big – if it suits your career situation We definitely did not think big enough CM / XY went to the sandpit wanting a post doc We had some project ideas around governance and the nexus which we would be happy to do but CM / XY had not gone along thinking we wanted to run a project ie be the PI If we went again, we would be ready with a project, value of about £1m and to be a PI The successful PIs were 2 Profs and a SL The choice in many ways is out of your hands but if you do not have the idea ready and the mental vision you obviously will not get it

What the RCs want The RCs are bringing together a bunch of inter-disciplinary people who have their own ideas about the sandpit area to try and create unconventional projects where conceptual outcomes could fail (and therefore risky) The RCs essentially want to mould these different approaches together to create new ways of thinking about things So, they want you to approach the sandpit with a flexible, open mind to allow your own ideas to develop over the week Hence, the week is structured to allow ideas, and new ideas to be discussed, pitched, chosen, thrown out, brought back in a different way and so on

Ideas coming and going + gaming Ideas are pitched, turned down, changed, developed all the time This is the big thing to get used to – and to not get stressed by it Ideas come around Just because something got ditched on Monday does not mean it will not be developed in a new way later Its about flexibility of approach and understanding of the sandpit area so that your own ideas do change and develop as you understand more Expect some people to not be very friendly and to ‘game’ I was not expecting this

The days – pressure builds up CM is a reasonably anxious person who wanted a project so she found the whole process stressful - not for XY Some people – has to be said men – sort of relaxed into it almost as a game – a good approach The days are structured so that Initially ideas come forward and then are supported / rejected by the group By Wednesday ideas are coming forward and little groups of people are discussing and pitching them BUT the advisors steer more By Thursday evening, the project pitches are formally chosen (7 in our case – most people in 2) 3 or so hours to write a 2 page application

Strategy Some people only in one project pitch which was not funded Probably better to try and be in at least 2 To do this you need to have ideas, network, be nice and friendly, preferably be the sort of person who goes with the flow, etc etc We would attend the sandpit with one big project we wanted and try to get people interested Has to be inter-disciplinary You need to be flexible to enable others to join to do what they want BUT you still may not get people / advisors interested so be prepared for it to not make it

XYs particular experience XY is a Lecturer Went with the flow Ended up on 3 projects which were pitched, and got one but could have been on more Question of strategy about how many to choose Uncomfortable is good Advisors said this On Wednesday, XY / CM loosely moved in and out of projects XY moved out of Stepping because did not know people and area Participants should be confident to link with anyone because have been chosen from 350 applicants so XY / CM knowledge wanted

Sleep The days are long You will get tired and so it really is important to pace yourself The pitches went in on Thursday at 10 pm but power points still had to be done for the following morning