The Grant Writer’s Paradox
Public scholars face an ethical dilemma when asking partners to apply for funds that may not materialise. What happens to the rich storytelling, planning, and relationship building in an imperfect scholarly communication system?
In the Special Issue of Journal of Electronic Publishing Kath Burton and Erica Machulak make a case for the value of grantwriting as a form of scholarly communication in “The Grant Writer’s Paradox: Leveraging Public Scholarship Ideas When the Money is Uncertain.”
Volume 28 • Issue 1 • 2025 • Special Issue: On Gathering: Exploring Collective and Embodied Modes of Scholarly Communication and Publishing
Pause | Shape | Make
The Grant Writer’s Crafting Cycle, as imagined by Sophia van Hees (Brave Snail Designs).
In this essential special issue we explore the many overlooked, under-recognised and ephemeral facets of publication 🌟 For Radically Hopeful, in collaboration with the amazingly entrepreneurial Erica Machulak that has meant exploring how scholarly communication resides in grant writing activities.
We’ve absorbed many nutrients from the myco-tastic vision of Katina L. Rogers to craft an article that is rich in community cooperation, authentic storytelling and how unexpected outcomes can lead to successful collaborative grantwriting.
Katina writes in the introduction to the special issue:
“Form and structure are objects of inquiry in many contributions, with creative and critical examinations of what relational scholarship looks like through postcards, invitations, podcasts, and multivocal pieces. Many contributors used the space to engage in collaborative work that self-reflectively considers the possibilities of collaborative writing. Others reflect on design studios, on academic administration, on grantwriting, on queer bibliography—all in order to better understand how we might bring about more justice, joy, and sustainability in our scholarly lifeworlds.”
In our contribution, we have also reflected on how crafting knowledge in community means radically rethinking what counts as scholarly communication, with the aim of moving towards a more hopeful process where what matters - the sharing, recycling and gifting of knowledge - counts just as much as the outputs. Writing about our own direct experiences of the collaborative grantwriting process - and in homage to the quiet power of mycological growth cycles - our work has spored Pause | Shape | Make a reflective and deliberative approach to building strong partnerships.
Kath Burton, Radically Hopeful
Erica Machulak, Hikma Collective
