1. 1 Practical tips for a VENI application Dr. Connie de Vos Center for Language Studies, RU 11 februari 2016 CLS,

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3. VENI criteria  quality of the researcher  quality, innovative character and academic impact of the research proposal, and  knowledge utilisation

4. Quality of the researcher  Publications, Presentations  Other outputs  Databases/corpora  Scripts  Public outreach  Recognition from within academia  Invited presentations  (International) collaborations  Committee membership\leadership roles within your institution  Recognition from outside academia  Advisory position in boards/foundations  Research picked up by newspapers/websites

5. Quality, innovative character and academic impact of the research proposal  Timing is everything  Feedback  Senior academics, support staff, peers, friends, people on the train!  motivate decisions, research questions, textual logic/consistency, creative ways of distributing word count across the different sections  Innovation versus feasibility  Choose a topic at the intersection of something new and something traditional  List points of innovation in the proposal  Mention pilot results in the proposal (e.g cite your conference presentation)  “ Brief summary of research over the last five years” -> you are the best person for the job

6. Knowledge utilisation  Scientific impact  Societal gain

7. Stakeholders Kata Kolok Bali, Indonesia Sign Language of the Netherlands (NGT - Nederlandse Gebarentaal)  1250 signers (48 deaf)  hereditary deafness  +100 years; generations III-VI  formal deaf education initiated in 2007  33.000 deaf signers, interpreters and teachers of the deaf  emerged in the context of deaf education  +250 years

8. Stakeholders Deaf individuals Sign language interpreters Deaf teachers Projected societal gain Improve knowledge for interpreters and teaching materials on translating facial expressions Stakeholders Deaf and hearing community members Deaf teachers Projected societal gain Create teaching materials for translating facial expressions Kata Kolok Bali, Indonesia Sign Language of the Netherlands (NGT - Nederlandse Gebarentaal)

9. . For the Dutch deaf community Workshop I : assess professional issues in sign language interpretation Workshop II: dissemination to sign language professionals For researchers Workshop III : dissemination to researchers For the Balinese deaf community Further development of curriculum materials 9 Kata Kolok Sign Language of the Netherlands (NGT - Nederlandse Gebarentaal)

10. . 10 Kata Kolok Sign Language of the Netherlands (NGT - Nederlandse Gebarentaal)

11. Positive comments from reviewers 1. Who will benefit from the research? “The societal and cultural effects of this study should not be underestimated and be fully exploited to enhance and encourage the bilingual potential of deaf pupils, students and adult learners.”

12. Positive comments from reviewers 2. What will society gain from research findings? “...the societal gain will be huge: in the Netherlands there are many people who want to learn NGT, and this research will contribute significantly to our knowledge of NGT use. On an educational level, the new knowledge can for instance be ingrained into the newly developed descriptors for CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages) C1 and C2 levels for signed languages for professional purposes (see ProSign project on internet).” “The correct rendering of prosody and other information expressed non- manually (i.e. on the face) is a crucial component of interpretation (both speech-to-sign and sign-to-speech) and is of utmost importance for ensuring high quality mediation of communication between deaf and hearing populations.”

13. Positive comments from reviewers Is the valorisation plan feasible? “The applicant already has ties to professional partners who have expressed interest in collaboration, and effective knowledge transfer and utilisation thus seem ensured.” “As the applicant is already engaged in a project dedicated to curriculum development for education in KK in the deaf school at the Balinese field site, this can be seamlessly continued and teaching materials can integrate information about facial expressions gleaned from the current project.”

14. Criticism Not concrete enough ! “ There is not action described in the proposal that ensures that results of the study will find their way into the NGT curriculum of HU except indirectly through the second workshop; this might be remedied by offering the second workshop to the curriculum developers and NGT teachers of the HU too.” (This question also returned in the VENI interview!)

15. Criticism Not motivated well enough! “Why not make similar educational materials for the NGT data as for the KK data? Or vice versa, provide workshops to KK-users about the new findings. This would anchor all results in the same way for both Deaf communities and professional fields and in my opinion, would still be feasible within the intended period.”

16. Rebuttal Rebuttal with reference to stakeholders and an assessment of societal needs in each case “A precondition to succesfull knowledge utilisation is to match and supplement specific needs and existing expertise in the relevant speech community.”

17. Long term strategy & valorisation Feasibility : Make the relevant connections with other institutions through joint ventures/internships before writing a grant application Relevance : Know what issues stakeholders deal with in their everyday lives/jobs Concreteness: Be as specific as possible in terms of the project outcomes

18. What you should be doing now Knowledge utilisation Planning – identify key stakeholders for your research field – think about examples of how research findings from your fields might inform society – talk about the societal relevance of your work to lay people Practice – Read non-academic texts reporting findings from your field – Write/blog/present for non-academic audiences – Volunteer at info fairs or open days

19. 19 Questions?