2018 Marie Curie Individual Fellowship (H2020-MSCA-IF-2018)

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megasphaera@yahoo.it
Posts: 14
Joined: Sat Jan 12, 2019 11:57 am

Re: 2018 Marie Curie Individual Fellowship (H2020-MSCA-IF-2018)

Post by megasphaera@yahoo.it » Tue Jan 22, 2019 7:40 pm

I know there is life, i just said that it is not for me, and that i would find it boring. Maybe in the future i will change my mind, at the moment I am committed to do science in academia, that's it!
lolome wrote:
Tue Jan 22, 2019 6:47 pm
Dealing with rejection is a must. It is most likely that in our careers we have had, have or will have (if still there..) more grants rejected than awarded. I know it is a pain in the neck and it hurts every time, but there is no alternative!

Anyway, and regarding also megasphaera comment: there is life outside academia, and I do not think it would be extremely boring. I am also passionate about science and have shaped my life around it during more than 10 years. And? the fact that you like science or academia does not mean that the whole career is worth it, or that having a poor work-life balance during the best stages of your adulthood is not going to affect you personally, mentally or physically in the long-term. Just saying... it is not a failure not to work in academia after years of dedication. What has been done, has been enjoyed and it has not been a waste of time.
Bren wrote:
Tue Jan 22, 2019 5:21 pm
I remember a few years ago I applied for a Guggenhiem grant, I didn't get it, I assumed I wouldn't get it as I was outside of the USA, I wasn't even sure if I was going to finish the PhD at the time so was unsure if I would even accept the grant if chosen, but, still, man that rejection hurt bad.

Goddamn why do we do this to ourselves?

Bren
Posts: 349
Joined: Sat Jan 12, 2019 11:55 pm

Re: 2018 Marie Curie Individual Fellowship (H2020-MSCA-IF-2018)

Post by Bren » Tue Jan 22, 2019 10:21 pm

Interesting discussion.

I worked outside of academia for 12 years before taking a postdoc position 4 years ago (I also do a crazy amount of part time teaching here and there to make more dough). Academia is something I wanted to try, and while there are parts I enjoy, there is much that is boring, petty, and insubstantial. I've worked on two major EU research projects and man those awful long consortium meetings, Christ on a bike. In my previous job I was manager of a community based project for young offenders and drug users here in Dublin: now that was an eventful position. I wont bore you with the details but there was much that was exciting and fulfilling. I was paid a higher salary in that position than I will be paid if I get the Marie Curie Fellowship. Also, and I dont mean to be aggravating here, theres probably only a 50/50 chance that I will accept this grant if I get it (hmm is that really true? Maybe a 75% chance that I will take it). I have pretty much decided to get out of academia, my second book is about to be published and I kinda feel that I have done what I wanted to do. The MCSA grant is attractive though as I see it as basically being my own boss, designing and conducting my own research without having to answer to anyone really (except a project officer of course). So if I get the grant I may take it, or I may head back to the community sector. If I do take the grant, I'm very sure that it will be my last stint in academia as I think I'm destined to go back into community education management - Christ knows the money is way better.

megasphaera@yahoo.it wrote:
Tue Jan 22, 2019 7:40 pm
I know there is life, i just said that it is not for me, and that i would find it boring. Maybe in the future i will change my mind, at the moment I am committed to do science in academia, that's it!
lolome wrote:
Tue Jan 22, 2019 6:47 pm
Dealing with rejection is a must. It is most likely that in our careers we have had, have or will have (if still there..) more grants rejected than awarded. I know it is a pain in the neck and it hurts every time, but there is no alternative!

Anyway, and regarding also megasphaera comment: there is life outside academia, and I do not think it would be extremely boring. I am also passionate about science and have shaped my life around it during more than 10 years. And? the fact that you like science or academia does not mean that the whole career is worth it, or that having a poor work-life balance during the best stages of your adulthood is not going to affect you personally, mentally or physically in the long-term. Just saying... it is not a failure not to work in academia after years of dedication. What has been done, has been enjoyed and it has not been a waste of time.
Bren wrote:
Tue Jan 22, 2019 5:21 pm
I remember a few years ago I applied for a Guggenhiem grant, I didn't get it, I assumed I wouldn't get it as I was outside of the USA, I wasn't even sure if I was going to finish the PhD at the time so was unsure if I would even accept the grant if chosen, but, still, man that rejection hurt bad.

Goddamn why do we do this to ourselves?

sound
Posts: 191
Joined: Wed Jan 23, 2019 12:07 am

Re: 2018 Marie Curie Individual Fellowship (H2020-MSCA-IF-2018)

Post by sound » Wed Jan 23, 2019 12:09 am

SOC-2018 wrote:
Mon Jan 21, 2019 6:43 pm
ATBGF2017 wrote:
Mon Jan 21, 2019 5:40 pm
I think it is healthier this way. Last year we speculated a lot based on the "phase" which had no meaningful implication. I killed a lot of time on this forum and became super un-productive for 2-3 weeks. This year there is not much to speculate and I did not isolate myself from the real world. I hope we get the results soon and everyone ends up with a big smile on their face :D
Maybe you are right! :| But it is also possible that they have not yet uploaded the evaluation data on the participant portal! ;) Anyway, I hope the results will be announced by this weekend because it is getting really frustrating! :roll:

https://ec.europa.eu/research/participa ... xx/history
What should this link show? it says type " audit". I cant remember it was the same when I checked last time or it has changed.?

Kitten
Posts: 131
Joined: Fri Jan 26, 2018 5:54 pm

Re: 2018 Marie Curie Individual Fellowship (H2020-MSCA-IF-2018)

Post by Kitten » Wed Jan 23, 2019 12:26 am

Yikes my birthday tomorrow - could make or break it if we hear :oops: :cry: :evil: :evil:

sound
Posts: 191
Joined: Wed Jan 23, 2019 12:07 am

Re: 2018 Marie Curie Individual Fellowship (H2020-MSCA-IF-2018)

Post by sound » Wed Jan 23, 2019 12:31 am

Kitten wrote:
Wed Jan 23, 2019 12:26 am
Yikes my birthday tomorrow - could make or break it if we hear :oops: :cry: :evil: :evil:
Goodluck Atleast you can eat cake irrespective of the outcome.

Kitten
Posts: 131
Joined: Fri Jan 26, 2018 5:54 pm

Re: 2018 Marie Curie Individual Fellowship (H2020-MSCA-IF-2018)

Post by Kitten » Wed Jan 23, 2019 12:40 am

Had a bottle of good champagne waiting for 3 years now - this is my third attempt - 92% and 88% - so will be drinking it regardless of outcome. Enough is enough!!! Some good news - have been shortlisted for a Leverhulme this week :D

sound
Posts: 191
Joined: Wed Jan 23, 2019 12:07 am

Re: 2018 Marie Curie Individual Fellowship (H2020-MSCA-IF-2018)

Post by sound » Wed Jan 23, 2019 12:46 am

Kitten wrote:
Wed Jan 23, 2019 12:40 am
Had a bottle of good champagne waiting for 3 years now - this is my third attempt - 92% and 88% - so will be drinking it regardless of outcome. Enough is enough!!! Some good news - have been shortlisted for a Leverhulme this week :D
Nicely done on the leverhulme.
Well this is 2 times in a row for me and 3rd time if i count the MC application i did in 2012. I did not notice a blank page during the PDF conversion and overshot the page limit.That affected my scores. Lets see what happens this year around.

Bren
Posts: 349
Joined: Sat Jan 12, 2019 11:55 pm

Re: 2018 Marie Curie Individual Fellowship (H2020-MSCA-IF-2018)

Post by Bren » Wed Jan 23, 2019 12:58 am

Allow me to ask, why bother applying 3 years in a row? Is the academic job market really that bad or is this a project that you just really want to pursue?
Kitten wrote:
Wed Jan 23, 2019 12:40 am
Had a bottle of good champagne waiting for 3 years now - this is my third attempt - 92% and 88% - so will be drinking it regardless of outcome. Enough is enough!!! Some good news - have been shortlisted for a Leverhulme this week :D

CountZ
Site Admin
Posts: 209
Joined: Thu Jun 01, 2017 7:14 pm

Re: 2018 Marie Curie Individual Fellowship (H2020-MSCA-IF-2018)

Post by CountZ » Wed Jan 23, 2019 1:08 am

Quite a few of us here are applying for the third year. Including me! Some people here I know have applied for four years... Each situation is different, for some people it frees you from your current institution that you may not like, or allows you to travel somewhere you want to be (or maybe even need to be for other reasons), to have some more years as a postdoc before taking on the admin load of a tenure track, to improve your cv because you don’t think it’s good enough for an academic job (maybe you just didn’t publish, or chose to save all your ideas for a book that never came out), or as you say because it’s harder and harder to get a tenure track job in academia.

Kitten, my birthday is the day after yours - on Thursday - so I’m in the same situation. Let’s just enjoy our cakes whatever’s the result or lack of result :)
Bren wrote:
Wed Jan 23, 2019 12:58 am
Allow me to ask, why bother applying 3 years in a row? Is the academic job market really that bad or is this a project that you just really want to pursue?
Kitten wrote:
Wed Jan 23, 2019 12:40 am
Had a bottle of good champagne waiting for 3 years now - this is my third attempt - 92% and 88% - so will be drinking it regardless of outcome. Enough is enough!!! Some good news - have been shortlisted for a Leverhulme this week :D

sound
Posts: 191
Joined: Wed Jan 23, 2019 12:07 am

Re: 2018 Marie Curie Individual Fellowship (H2020-MSCA-IF-2018)

Post by sound » Wed Jan 23, 2019 1:10 am

Bren wrote:
Wed Jan 23, 2019 12:58 am
Allow me to ask, why bother applying 3 years in a row? Is the academic job market really that bad or is this a project that you just really want to pursue?
Kitten wrote:
Wed Jan 23, 2019 12:40 am
Had a bottle of good champagne waiting for 3 years now - this is my third attempt - 92% and 88% - so will be drinking it regardless of outcome. Enough is enough!!! Some good news - have been shortlisted for a Leverhulme this week :D
Well, permanent positions in academia are not easy to get these days and a fellowship can give an edge in the race for a permanent position as this is an independent funding. If you see posts in this forum many apply three times or sometimes even more than three times. Given how competitive these applications are i think getting it the first time around is not all that common.

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