Online seminar on “How to Succeed in the NIH Grant Application: Lessons Learned and Knowledge Shared”

On Tuesday, March 30, 2021, the Division of Global Research and Innovation Promotion, a new division of the Office of International Affairs and Global Network at Chula whose responsibility is to support international collaboration between Chula academic staff and researchers and international research institutes, organized an online seminar, “How to Succeed in the NIH Grant Application: Lessons Learned and Knowledge Shared”. The event started with a welcoming speech by Assistant Professor Dr. Voraprapa Nakavachara, Assistant to the President for Global Engagement.

The aim of the seminar is to provide information about the National Institutes of Health (NIH), a state-owned organization of the United States’ government, accountable for biomedical and public health research and a major grant provider for international research on health, to Chula lecturers and researchers as well as interested personnel. This seminar was honored by Ms. Mekkla Thompson, MPH., who served as a speaker to provide information and share her personal experience on how to succeed in applying for a grant from the NIH.

Ms. Mekkla provided keys to success in the application as what follows: 1) the project leader’s passion in research grant application, 2) a supportive research team, 3) a well-organized research plan with a specific milestone of each task in a research proposal, and 4) a permanent team or unit that supports lecturers and researchers to write research proposals in order to apply for the grant. During the Q&A session, Dr. Trairak Pisitkun, M.D., one of the participants, assured the importance of the permanent team or unit that supports the writing of a research proposal to be submitted for grant application. Dr. Trirak also gave additional information regarding the practice and some tricks for research proposal writing.

In this regard, Dr. Pattharaporn Suntharasaj, Director of the Division of Global Research and Innovation Promotion, on behalf of Chulalongkorn University, thanked Ms. Mekkla Thompson for her enthusiasm in sharing her experience and expertise on writing research proposals, especially for the NIH grants, in order to increase the number of Thai researchers who succeed in applying for these grants.