NWO Vidi E-learning Trajectory

Categories: NWO grant interview
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About Course

Congratulations! Reaching this final stage of the Vidi procedure is an achievement in itself—it is a validation of your qualities as a researcher.

Yet, one final, critical hurdle remains: the interview. In just 20 minutes, you must dismantle the panel’s doubts about your project and prove you have what it takes to establish and lead a research group. But how do you capture the essence of your project in a five-minute presentation? How do you project authentic leadership qualities in such a short interaction? And how do you handle tough, unexpected questions under pressure?

The interview can play a decisive role in the panel’s final decision. In a highly competitive field, success often comes down to the finest details. The good news? The right preparation can drastically tilt the odds in your favour. Having supported over 300 candidates in the NWO Talent Programme, we have spent years fine-tuning an approach that guides researchers to their absolute best performance.

This e-learning course maps out our proven strategies and provides targeted exercises for every stage of your preparation. Combined with our one-on-one coaching sessions, you will receive expert, personalised feedback exactly when you need it.

Ready to maximise your chances? Schedule an obligation-free strategy call with us via info@visservisible.com and find out how we can help you make the difference.

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Course Content

Welcome
Congratulations on being invited to a Vidi grant interview. Advancing to the second step of the evaluation procedure is an achievement in itself. It proves you have an excellent proposal and impressive resume. Yet, there is still a hurdle to overcome: the interview. This course will support you through the sometimes stressful period that lays ahead.

  • Overview
  • Opening remarks
  • Preparation and support

Module 1: Strategy
In your research proposal you have tried to fit years of research into a few pages. You managed. The document convinced the panel and external reviewers to invite you to evaluation step 2. In this final phase you have an online interview consisting of a presentation and Q&A at your disposal. Depending on the panel you may present your proposal in only ten, eight, five, or even three minutes and you have time to answer around ten questions. That is it. How do you turn this given opportunity into a success? In this module you create a solid strategy in four steps. In step 1 we first explore the low hanging fruit: what does the panel expect from you? Then we have a look at the panel and show how you can use this knowledge to improve your chances of reaching your goal. Step 2 is all about adapting to the online environment. Then we discuss the core message in step 3. Finally, in step 4, you brainstorm about your unique selling points.

Step 1: Audience and Goal
Convincing the panel members to fund your proposal. That is what counts in the interaction you are now preparing for. We first mention the low hanging fruit of checking the boxes and then move on to the audience and goal.

Step 2: Interview setting
NWO organises interviews in-person. This has implications for your preparation.

Step 3: Core message
Audience, goal, and setting: check! Now let us have a look at the actual content of the proposal. We will start with its shortest version: the core message.

Step 4: Unique Selling Points
So you have formulated your Big Idea into a sticky core message. But, why would they buy it? The presentation and the Q&A offer plenty of opportunities to mention (and demonstrate) the reasons for awarding you. Before thinking about integrating them in a storyline, it pays to list your, what marketeers call, unique selling points. These USPs make you and your proposal stand out amongst your competitors. A good way of creating this list of USPs is by brainstorming using five questions. They are: Why this? Why now? Why like this? Why you? Why here? These questions aim at the importance, urgency, approach and methodology, CV, and network respectively. Let’s dive deeper into each of them.

Module 2: The presentation
So far you have explored the panel, defined your Big Idea, listed and prioritised the arguments that will make the panel buy it, and you learned how to optimally prepare for the face-to-face interview. The second module focuses on the first section of the interview: the presentation. In four steps we help you to translate your strategy into a coherent story and slides. We follow a route that fosters creativity and out-of-the-box thinking in step 5 and 6. They respectively deal with composing a compelling storyline that integrates your best unique selling points and sketching the slides that help bring your message to life. You then design a storyboard. In step 7 and 8 you translate this sketch into a script (the words you will say) and a slide deck. Here we focus on the practical aspects of text writing and slide design.

Step 5: Storyline
You have formulated your Big Idea. And, you know why the panel would buy it. Convincing them is not a matter of just sharing the facts. It is a matter of creating a story that makes the panel members believe. What makes a story a story? Let us dive deeper into it.

Step 6: Sketching slides
So far you have been approaching your presentation from a textual perspective. Now we welcome a true rhetoric superpower aboard: images.

Step 7: Script
In the previous step you have completed your storyboard by adding sketches. Now we go back to the text again. Text and images provide different angles on the same story. Iterating between them allows you to both finetune your texts and images.

Step 8: Designing slides
You have finished your storyboard and your script. Now it’s time to open up PowerPoint and actually make your slides. Here are some guidelines that help you to translate your storyboard into slides that don't confuse, but do create impact.

Module 3: Delivery
You strategised in module 1 and compiled your presentation in module 2. Module 3 is about bringing it home. Strategy and presentation are central aspects of the preparation. But, they are useless if you cannot access what you’ve prepared in the heat of the moment. The nervousness you experience during the interview can reduce your working memory capacity. This makes it harder to think clearly and to access both your short-term memory (the information you have prepared) and your long-term memory. Therefore, we put the working memory at the centre of this module. In step 9 we explain what the working memory does and why it fails you when you experience a high level of stress. Also, we teach you how to regain it and keep it up and running by breathing, grounding, and functional movement. Step 10 builds on that and explains a way to train little behavioural changes that promote connection with yourself and the content you present. Then, in step 11 we teach you how to stay in control during the Q&A by defining and structuring what we call answer drawers and how to access them in the heat of the moment. Finally, step 12 provides guidance on how to organise mock interviews so that they help you put the finishing touches to your preparation.

Step 9: Dealing with stress
In module 1, you have been working on your strategy. Module 2 was all about the presentation. Both are essential parts of your preparation. However, a perfect preparation can only be completed by a convincing performance. The most important selling point is a demonstration of genuine enthusiasm during the interview. But, how can you be enthusiastic and authentic during a stressful event such as a grant interview? Stress diminishes your working memory and therefore the accessibility of your memory, the place where all your knowledge is stored. Let us have a look at how this works and what you can do about it.

Step 10: Presenting
What do you like the most: presenting or Q&A? Most people have a preference for one or the other. Some like the presentation better. While presenting you are in control. You can rehearse the script until you’ve fully mastered it. Others prefer the Q&A part. While in conversation you feel connected with your audience.

Step 11: Answering questions
Of course the presentation is an important starting point. The Q&A is where you really bring it home. After a mediocre presentation you can still convince the panel with a strong Q&A. A perfect pitch will be ruined if it is followed by a weak Q&A. But, because of the difficulty to predict what the questions will be, many applicants put a lot of effort into fine tuning the presentation and almost neglect to prepare for the Q&A. Here we give you the tools to master the Q&A in advance.

Step 12: The last stretch
We are almost there. You have worked your way through the presentation and you know how to present it. But, the proof is in the pudding. Organising a few mock interviews can complete your preparation. These simulations provide the outsider’s feedback on your presentation and answers. With this feedback you can finetune your story, slides, and answers. But even more important is the pre-exposure mock interviews provide. During the confrontation with the mock panel, you will experience the same type of stress responses that the actual interview will evoke. This pre-exposure helps you to better cope with the real interview itself.