ERC / NWO interview coaching
Did you receive the invitation to an interview at ERC, NWO, or another funcing agency? This means you are an excellent researcher with a brilliant proposal. As your competitors are. In this final stage of the procedure details really matter. A thorough preparation is of vital importance. We would love to help you with that.
Contents
We adjust the content and approach of our coaching to the needs and wishes of the individual candidate. For some the biggest challenge is the structure of the presentation, to others it is overcoming their fear of presenting. During an intake session we discuss the needs of the candidate and translate that into a timeline. Usually the coaching first focusses on the presenation. We discuss strategy and unique sellingpoints, storyline, and slides (we also design slides). Then we shift the focus to delivery, we work on e.g.: stress, body language, interaction, use of voice, pronunciation, and answering questions.
Timeline

The above presented timeline is typical of our support of ERC StG, CoG, AdG and other candidates who receive their invitation to the interview months in advance. It consists of a sequence of shorter coaching sessions and slide design. We optionally also take part in mock interviews (or analyze recordings of them). When candidates receive their invitation shortly before the interview (or out of budgetary reasons), we compose a condensed version of this timeline (intake > presentation > delivery). Examples of this are single four hours sessions, two sessions of two hours, and the one day group training followed by two individual sessions for each candidate.
Consortia
We also coach groups preparing for e.g. ERC Synergy, NWO-Large, NWO Gravitation, and NWA-ORC interviews. Then we compose a trajectory consisting of individual sessions with the PI (if they are presenting the project), slide design, and group sessions aiming at a synergetic performance. The latter consists of a strategic session (who takes the lead, who answers what, etc.) and group rehearsal in order to train the answering of questions as a synergetic group.
Venue
When preparing for in person interviews, the delivery sessions are preferably taking place at the location of our clients. However, since we are located in The Netherlands, this is in principle a service we only offer to here located candidates. In preparation for online interviews (or when in person sessions are not possible, e.g. when the candidate is abroad) we prefer online sessions via Webex, the platform used for most ERC and NWO interviews. This allows for learning how to operate the platform smoothly.
Track record
Since 2011 we trained more than two hundred candidates who prepared for their interviews at both ERC (e.g. Starting, Consolidator, Advanced, Synergy) and NWO (e.g. Mosaic 2.0, Veni, Vidi, Vici, Gravitation, NWO Investment Grant Large, KIC, NWO Perspectief, NWA-ORC). Our success rate is 49 percent for ERC grants and 50 percent for NWO grants. Which is around 10 – 20 percent higher than the overall success rates of the interviews.
Our unique approach results in a growing customer base in our home country The Netherlands (in 2023 1 out of 10 Veni laureates and 1 out of 5 ERC StG laureates were coached by us), and in recent years we work for more and more clients from other European countries (e.g. Germany, UK, Portugal, Italy, Slovenia, Norway, Estonia).
Practical
Trainers: Kick Moors and/or Hermen Visser | Maximum number of participants: 1 | Duration: flexible
Contact us for more information
Related
Do you want us to design your slides? Take a look at our slide service.
Trainers

