It is time to have a talk about proposal writing during the summer. Nobody ever really talks about this. But we need to, because it is a rough task that is made much more complicated by different holiday calendars, disrupted work flows and general ignorance vis-à-vis the complex challenges that the proposal writers face. The consequences are more than just a lost trip to the beach – anxiety, heavy stress, solitude, bottomless despair and burn-outs are the reality for many individuals during and after submission of proposals in August and September.

I have invited NGO-representative Ivana Todorovic and independent grant consultant Georg Melzer-Venturi into the virtual podcast studio for a panel discussion about this important subject.

In the first half of the long talk we had, we discuss the annual call circle and the Commissions responsibility for settling the deadlines. Second, we cover how very different the proposal preparation process is during summer compared to the rest of the year. This is a must-hear for all proposal writers, but especially for the less experienced.

In the second part of The Grant summer special episode on proposal writing during the summer. I have invited NGO-representative Ivana Todorovic and independent grant consultant Georg Melzer-Venturi into the virtual podcast studio for a panel discussion about this important subject.We discuss the consequences of summer proposal preparation on especially the mental health and family relations and we discuss how private consultancy business models and university framework conditions don’t help at all with these problems. Finally, we give some advice and solutions on how to handle this as a proposal writer.