The objective of this workshop is to equip participants with both methodological and theoretical tools for developing their research proposals. Participants will have the opportunity to make substantial progress on their individual proposals and to draft initial versions of various sections.

In addition, during the workshop reseach advisors from our research operations office are available for individual consultations.

Key elements this workshop will cover:

Clarifying your own research profile and developing proposal ideas

Research trends and your own research motivation as key cornerstones of a successful proposal (including disciplinary research landscapes and your own positioning within the discipline; individual research biographies; drafting career paths)

Clarifying your research question and research goal

The importance of a clearly defined research question and a clearly defined research goal for a successful application; differentiating between topic, research question and research goal

Outlining the components of your application

The Pentagon Model (Lotte Reinecker / Peter Stray Jørgenson) as the basic structure for research projects and research applications

Focus 1: Material
Focus 2: Methods/theories/concepts
Focus 3: Research and application design

Fine-tuning the application: techniques and methods for revising and finalising the text

Basic techniques for revising initial drafts

Focus 1: The importance of the reader's perspective/change of perspective
Focus 2: Further step-by-step revision (including focus contouring, skeleton and storyboard methods)

Getting to the heart of the application: Writing a good abstract

• Dos and don'ts of abstract writing; building blocks of a good abstract
• Individual development of an application abstract

Feedback

• Feedback as a building block of the application process
• Individual feedback on selected parts of the application (together or in small groups, depending on the size of the group)

Speaker: Dr. Tobias Zervosen
Course language: English
DATE: 22.-24.09.2026
REGISTER: https://veranstaltungen.uni-weimar.de/e/BRS_PROPOSALWRITING