GrantsNet's Growing Impact

GrantsNet is in a strategic position to connect funders with interested scientists, funders with other funders, and the entire community with scientific-funding news.

"Before GrantsNet, people relied on the bulletin boards at their grad schools or institutions, which had a 'take-it-or-leave-it' feel," says Timothy Coetzee, the Director of Research Training Programs at the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. "GrantsNet is oriented to the users." He also notes that as a funder, he uses GrantsNet to peel away several layers of bureaucracy to communicate with other institutions more efficiently.

GrantsNet also attracts many users to the larger site of Science's Next Wave. Crispin Taylor, Science's Next Wave editor, has seen a natural movement of users between the two sites, activity he encourages by coordinating editorial content between the database-driven GrantsNet and the news and career-development focused Next Wave. For example, when Next Wave focused on career opportunities in the marine sciences, GrantsNet published information on funding opportunities in the area. "GrantsNet closes the circle for Next Wave's readers," says Taylor.

To serve the international community, GrantsNet offers a filter that locates grants without U.S. citizenship requirements, a boon for non-U.S. scientists looking for research opportunities in the United States. And whether it's a deadline shift or a new research opportunity, Taylor and the other GrantsNet staff take the integrity and accuracy of the grant information seriously. "We work hard to ensure that changes in the grant-making world are reflected in the database," he says.

Registration to search GrantsNet.org is free and open to interested scientists. Representatives of funding organizations seeking to enter data on their programs into the database need to contact GrantsNet staff directly. And anyone can visit www.GrantsNet.org to read the "Profiles of the Month" as well as many other news items and features designed to keep the lid on the sometimes daunting task of finding funding support for research programs. Once registered, users can create and save profiles that allow them to run the same search on different days to find new grant postings and other updated information.

"Think of the database as the steak and the editorial content as the gravy—it adds depth and a bit of flavor," says Taylor. It is this combination of substance and seasoning that keeps hungry scientists satisfied at GrantsNet.org.

—Daniel Kane

17 June 2002

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