Here's a bit on the personal side: I'm very thankful to the viewers of this blog! I get quite a lot of encouragement from readers and also good suggestions for future blog posts, which is immensely inspiring and helps me to keep up spiritis at times when things are not going my way... like just now: Funding for Blastocystis research is really, - and I mean REALLY difficult to obtain. Lately, I was microns away from notching a €1.34M grant for research in Blastocystis genomics/transcriptomics/phylogenetics/epidemiology - we had the scene all set with great track record and expertise, potential PhD candidates, superb partners and perfect lab infrastructure; I was one of the few runner-ups, but, alas - no luck! Never been so close to something that big and feeling terribly gutted... Well, next up is the EU (again). Also, we're trying to look into the possibility of world experts joining forces, but to find 100% relevant calls for this is extremely challenging. And if the call is not 100% relevant, applying for funding is a complete waste of time...
Hi Cristen,
ReplyDeleteBoy I feel your pain. About to get my PhD and I'm out of academia, in part because of this grant roulette.
I'm sorry you didn't get it.
P.S. Unrelated but: thanks for your "objective" information on blasto. Just done the Australia combo (3rd treatment in 3 years) and I hope it works.