The ‘Research Funding and Grants, including Faculty Research Vertical (Vertical-III), team, Institute of Eminence (IOE) Pillar II: ‘Exemplary Research and Innovation’ of Manipal College of Nursing (MCON), Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE), organized the ‘Workshop on Grant Writing: Series 1’ on June 7, 2024. The program commenced at 9:00 am with Dr. Judith Angelitta Noronha, Dean, MCON, Manipal, inaugurating the workshop with an inaugural address. Dr. Melita Sheilini, chairperson of Vertical-III and organizing secretary of the workshop welcomed the gathering and Dr. Sonia R B D’Souza, senior advisor of vertical-III, IOE Pillar II, MCON, MAHE, Manipal, gave an overview of the workshop.

The first two sessions focused on the ‘Basic commandments in grant writing’ deliberated virtually by Dr. Jeemon Panniyammakal, Additional Professor, Epidemiology, Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology (SCTIMST), Trivandrum, Kerala who spoke through his rich experience and understanding. The next session on ‘Types of Grants & Funding Opportunities’ was dealt by Mr. Renjulal Yesodharan, Asst. Professor-Senior Scale, Department of Mental Health Nursing, MCON, MAHE, Manipal, who also gave practical insights on the grant and funding opportunities available for health science researchers. The pre-lunch session highlighted the ‘Thrust areas for grant proposals’ by Mr Vinish V, Asst. Professor-Senior Scale, Department of Community Health Nursing, MCON, MAHE, Manipal, made it clear through his sessions the importance of knowing the thrust areas of the funding agencies and aligning our ideas to the requirements of the funding agencies.

The post-lunch sessions commenced with an interactive session by the participants, where the various thrust areas of research were brainstormed, and the facilitators were mapped for each of the thrust areas identified. Following this, teams were formulated for each of the thrust areas identified, which were: non-communicable diseases, simulation, maternal health, elderly care, adolescent health, and learning disabilities. After this, the session on ‘Introduction to Grant Portals and Financial Requirements for Grant Proposal’ was delivered by Mr. Royal Monteiro, Coordinator, Grants Office, MAHE, Manipal, which was followed by a session on ‘Orientation to the Outline for Writing Grant Protocol’ by Mr. Vinish V, Asst. Professor-Senior scale, Department of Community Health Nursing MCON, MAHE, Manipal. The program was concluded by Dr. Sonia R B D’Souza, senior advisor of vertical-III, IOE Pillar II, MCON, MAHE, Manipal, with the closing remarks and plan of the ‘Workshop on Grant Writing: Series-2’, to be conducted tentatively in November 2024. The participants were instructed to identify the roles of the members in their respective teams and briefed on the outcome expected by each of the teams before attending the next workshop in the series. Ms. Mitchelle Lewis, Lecturer, Department of Fundamentals of Nursing, MCON, MAHE, Manipal compered the whole day’s proceedings. Workshop sessions were concluded at 4.30 pm with the distribution of certificates to all the participants. A total of 30 participants, including the research scholars and the faculty members of various institutions at MAHE, Manipal, actively participated in the workshop. The workshop was well appreciated by the participants and was aligned with Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4, i.e. Quality education. The overall coordination of the workshop was done by Dr. Melita Sheilini, Chairperson of Vertical III and the Organizing secretary for the workshop, Dr. Sonia RB D’Souza, senior advisor and team members of Vertical III (Dr. Anjalin, Mr.. Renjulal, Mr. Vinish and Ms. Mitchelle Lewis) under the guidance of Dr. Tessy Treesa Jose, Associate Dean and Chairperson - IOE Pillar II.