0. Surviving a Sandpit Catherine Mitchell Xiaoyu Yan 1 June 2015

1. 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

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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