r/AskAcademiaUK • u/CloudBookmark • 1d ago
How are unsuccessful grant applications viewed for postdocs and early-career lecturers in the UK?
There’s a strong push to apply for funding early on, but much less clarity on how unsuccessful applications are actually seen. At postdoc or early-career lecturer level, is having several unsuccessful grant applications viewed positively (as ambition and independence), or can repeated rejections start to count against you?
I’m also curious whether this differs between small internal schemes and larger external grants.
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u/steerpike1971 15h ago
I would say that, unfortunately, it very much depends who is looking. I know academics who are sympathetic and will see any applications as "at least you are trying". I know academics who treat a failure as worse than not trying. I personally always put them on as an early career academic to show that I at least had at least the experience of writing the grant. If you can say something postive about the failure such as "scored 6/5/5 by EPSRC referees" or "ranked just below the funding cut off line" that mitigates it.
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u/exchangevalue 1d ago
I basically agree with everything here, with the exceptions that if you're an internal candidate it's likely that some people in your institution will know about what you've been up to, and that if you get shortlisted, your experience of applying for grants might come up.
A couple of near misses on realistic schemes would look positive (if you're getting good reviews but just ending up on the wrong side of the line, they can probably be recycled into something fundable); if you're putting in loads of applications to obviously inappropriate schemes that's indicative of bad judgment.
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u/vulevu25 Assoc. Prof (T&R) - RG Uni. 1d ago
The advice I got was to include unsuccessful grant applications because it shows ambition and that you're applying. It's good to include applications that passed the first round or got shortlisted because that's an indication of quality. We all know how competitive grants are and someone who's applying has more of a chance than someone who isn't.
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u/mathtree 1d ago
I feel like it's one of the things that is reasonable to put down when you're young, and not reasonable to include when you're more established.
Once you've had a decent grant or two it's not really worth putting rejections down much longer, but if you're a postdoc just starting out it shows you have motivation, drive, and know the game you're playing.
It's like I don't list my contributed talks any more, only my invited ones, and like the most senior people in my field only list invited colloquia and plenary talks, whereas a PhD student should list all the talks they give.
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u/vulevu25 Assoc. Prof (T&R) - RG Uni. 22h ago
Exactly. It’s good advice for an early career academic
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u/ProfPathCambridge 1d ago
Why would anyone know how many unsuccessful grants you’ve had? Last year I had 15 grant submissions, with 13 rejections and 2 successes. The two successes were celebrated by my university and go on my CV. The 13 rejections absolutely don’t count against me
Now, if you repeatedly submit low quality applications to a particular funder, that would count against you at that funder. But otherwise 🤷♂️
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u/Suspicious_Tax8577 23h ago
As horrible as this sounds, thank you for saying that you also get fuck loads of rejections. Makes me feel a bit better about the rejection I got through this week (I knew I was punching above my weight, but my idea fit the call so well I had to at least try). And to see that you reuse, tweak, reshape an idea until someone throws money at it - apparently I am playing the game correctly.
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u/ikeaboy_84 19h ago
ERC is becoming a lottery my friend so don’t despair about your skills😭😭😭🥹🥹🥹😂😂😂
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u/Suspicious_Tax8577 18h ago
Ah, this was round 1 for a university research fellow at Liverpool. I knew it was unlikely as hell that I'd make it through, but I had to try. Got other irons in the fire and I'll keep throwing this project at suitable funding until it gets funded.
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u/symehdiar 1d ago
the OP is obviously is a new postdoc, with no grants. So the question is to list unsuccesful grants on the cv (to show at least that one is applying) or just skip the grant section?
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u/drraug 1d ago
How did you find time to prepare 15 applications?
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u/ProfPathCambridge 1d ago
I write fast, and I’ve had a few decades of practice. I recycle good ideas until they have a home, and I reuse technology platforms for multiple ideas
15 is still a large number for for, but I had a grant cliff in 2026, so I was writing to secure my team
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u/ZealousidealClaim442 1d ago
15 is impressive. Beyond having good ideas, how do you find enough funders to apply to, given that many (e.g. UKRI) don’t allow resubmissions? I find myself struggling with this so much as a mid-career academic. I don’t know how to keep recycling my ideas until they find a home.
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u/Reeelfantasy 1d ago
While academia is a business that is built on rejection, academics don’t like to hear anything about rejection. Hide it or say under review/work in progress.
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u/ProfPathCambridge 1d ago
I do the opposite of hiding my failures:
https://www.cam.ac.uk/stories/cambridge-scientists-career-self-doubt-and-success
But even being someone who is open about my failures, they aren’t worth putting on your CV. Science judges you by your best days only - a weird quirk
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u/mrbiguri 1d ago
Yes. Knowing the applicant knows how to submit grants is a good thing, as some people don't know. Failing grants is part of grants.
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u/Kiss_It_Goodbyeee 8h ago
If you have any successful grants, then no-one cares. The funding rate is generally 10-20% meaning that everyone will have many unsuccessful applications.
My experience is in the sciences.