Abstract
Writing proposals and job applications is arguably one of the most important tasks in the career of a scientist. The proposed ideas must be scientifically compelling, but how a proposal is planned, written and presented can make an enormous difference. This Perspective is the third in a series aimed at training the writing skills of professional astronomers. In the first two papers, we concentrated on the writing of papers; here we concentrate on how proposals and job applications can be optimally written and presented. We discuss how to select where to propose or apply and how to optimize your writing, and add notes on the potential use of artificial intelligence tools. This guide is aimed primarily at more junior researchers, but we hope that our observations and suggestions may also be helpful for more experienced applicants, as well as for reviewers and funding agencies.
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Acknowledgements
We thank our colleagues for providing input and suggestions at various stages of the preparation of this paper. In particular, we thank S. Comerón and Junais for providing detailed comments. Funding: co-funded by the European Union (MSCA EDUCADO, GA 101119830, and Widening Participation, ExGal-Twin, GA 101158446). Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of their employers, nor of the European Union. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them. J.H.K. acknowledges grant PID2022-136505NB-I00 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and EU, ERDF.
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J.H.K. and H.M.J.B. drafted the paper combining their years of experience as professors, lecturers, reviewers and application process managers. Nushkia Chamba and Natashya Chamba helped develop the final text from the perspective of a postdoc in astronomy and an English language lecturer using AI in a developing country.
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Knapen, J.H., Boffin, H.M.J., Chamba, N. et al. How to prepare competitive proposals and job applications. Nat Astron 9, 951–956 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-025-02593-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-025-02593-9
