Jeremy Tomlinson is Professor of Metabolic Endocrinology and a consultant endocrinologist based in the Oxford Centre for Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolism at the University of Oxford. He has served on a number of local, national and international grant panels, including positions at the British Heart Foundation and Medical Research Council.

Jeremy became Chair of the Society’s new Grants Panel in 2023. We caught up with him to find out about his new role, as well as to hear how the Society’s grants have changed, and his advice for early career members on writing successful grant applications.

How did you become involved with the Society?

I have been a member of the Society for Endocrinology for almost 25 years – ever since I first decided that I wanted to pursue a career in endocrinology. I’ve had a number of roles, including serving on the Clinical Committee, being part of the SfE BES Programme Organising Committee, helping to establish the Leadership and Development Awards Programme (and sitting on the assessment panel), as well as being a convenor for Clinical Update. I was also one of the convenors of the Society’s Adrenal and Cardiovascular Network, a member of our governance review team, and I sat on the Society’s Council of Management for several years.

How has the Society helped your career?

The Society for Endocrinology has played a really important part. It has provided me with the opportunities to work with, collaborate with, and form friendships with like-minded clinicians and scientists across the UK and beyond. It has been a huge privilege to sit on Society committees that provide the highest quality training, facilitate high quality research and make a positive difference to patient care. It was a great honour to be awarded the Society for Endocrinology Medal in 2021. It is these experiences that have inspired me to encourage others to pursue a career in endocrinology.

Why were you keen to become Grants Panel Chair?

In all walks of life, it is always important to give something back. Recognising the huge benefits I have had from the Society for Endocrinology, I was keen to try and help by taking up the role of Grants Panel Chair. I have seen first-hand the benefits that grants from the Society can have for individuals – especially those at early career stages and for nurses, midwives and other allied health care professionals. Providing support for their work, education and research is so important, and I see this as a really important part of the Grants Panel remit.

How will the changes to our grants benefit early career members?

We have hopefully made the application process a little more straightforward and focused. Having three opportunities to apply for funding throughout the year will mean that there is less of a rush to meet a specific deadline, and that there is time to make sure that each application is as good as it possibly can be when it’s submitted. Often taking a little extra time and getting feedback on applications – perhaps from more senior and experienced colleagues – can maximise the chances of success.

What opportunities will arise from all members being eligible for all grants?

It is important that we try and fund the best proposals and the best research, but the benefits to the field and the benefits to the applicant are also important criteria. From personal experience, I know the benefit that securing your first grant (however small) can have. Therefore, particularly for early career members, there is a real opportunity to stress and emphasise this as part of the application. Although we are opening up applications to all members, our assessment of what an application will mean to an individual (relevant to their career and their career stage) forms a really important part of the assessment criteria.

How will the Grants Panel judge early career applicants fairly against experienced colleagues, ensuring transparent allocation of funding?

Much of this is about ‘impact’! Whilst people often think about the impact that their proposal might have on patients, participants or delegates (which is, of course, fundamentally important), it is also very important to consider the personal impact. How will this grant funding impact me? It may well be your first research grant, it may be the stepping stone to larger applications or a personal fellowship, and it may be something that takes you in a slightly different direction from your research supervisor, moving you towards research independence. As an early career researcher, you may have much more to gain from this than a potentially well-funded established investigator.

When we established the grants panel, we also wanted to provide early career members with opportunities to be part of the panel, to perhaps gain their first experience of how funding panels operate. There will certainly be opportunities for new panel members in the future, so if this is something that interests you, I would strongly encourage you to apply when there are vacancies.

Will this change have a big impact on early career endocrinologists?

Having worked and been involved with other specialties, the breadth of grant support that the Society for Endocrinology offers is really exceptional, and we mustn’t take it for granted. The Society has always made huge efforts to support individuals at the earliest stages of their careers: it continues to support undergraduate studentships. It is really important that we continue to support and encourage people to become part of the endocrine community. I hope that, by restructuring our grants, the Society will continue to deliver on that aim, with even more junior members applying for support.

What is your advice to early career members writing grant applications?

First, make sure you do apply – do not think that these awards are for others – your application may be just what we’re looking for. Definitely do read the guidance and the application form and make sure you answer all the questions that have been asked, rather than simply including what you think should be in the form!

I would always ask a more senior and experienced colleague to look over the application and provide some open, honest and robust feedback. Make sure you give them sufficient time (not just the day before the deadline). Writing grant applications is a skill that we all have to learn. The more we do it, the better we get.

Finally, don’t be put off by rejection – that happens to us all. I don’t know anyone who has not had a grant application rejected. Often, it’s not that the application is bad, but resources and funding pots are always finite, and sometimes it’s just that there isn’t enough money to go around. Don’t give up!

Find out more about Society grants and apply