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Maybe you miss the research you did during your dermatology training, or maybe you want to emulate the research of dermatologists you admire. No matter your motivation, every research scientist needs a good – and hopefully fundable – research question in order to get started. Here are some tips for creating a big idea:

How to create an idea

Find your passion

You need to be excited to get others excited. Look at where you are naturally curious and consider the questions that come up in discussions with your colleagues.

Keep it simple

Reviewers have to be able to understand your question and its support in a first pass. The question needs to make sense. Make it understandable if the reviewer is reading your proposal while watching football and drinking a beer.

It doesn’t have to be new

While some funders may want a new idea, others may be open to building on an existing idea. Consider conducting an extension of your mentor’s research, such as a new application for something tried and true.

Once you have an idea

Don’t reinvent the wheel

Conduct a literature search to make sure no one else has answered the same question, or at least answered it in the same way.

Ask yourself, “Why should the funder care?”

Make it translatable to the bedside. Even if your idea is basic science, show the grant committee the trajectory of where you are going.

Make it doable

Your research question must be accomplishable. Make sure you have the tools and resources you need to make it happen and get results.

Show your idea to collaborators and mentors

Run your question by your collaborators and mentors. They may help you fine tune the question or provide insight on the concept’s viability.

Remember, you may not land a research grant on your first pass. However, keep honing that idea. It may simply need a tweak to make it a full-fledged – and funded – research project.