grant status

Back in March, there was a staff meeting at work, which I attended, regarding our annual report. I won't get into the details since I've mentioned it in a prior post, but the main takeaways for me were the fact that we applied for a new grant, and I went to my P.I. (Primary Investigator) aka Lab Director to ask if I could possibly do something different within the lab, maybe on this new grant even.  

Fast forward to the beginning of July, while in a meeting with my P.I. and a few others, she actually brought up my desire about wanting to do some different things within the lab (she remembered!)  Now jump ahead to last week, when we found out that we were awarded the grant!  Hopefully she still remembers my desire to take on a new role within the lab. There is the potential for an additional 4-8 positions split between our lab and the Mycology lab.  Ideally, she still remembers and is able to move me into one of these new positions once they are posted and I apply.  

This is no guarantee of getting one of these new positions, a lot of the time it seems positions are posted but unfortunately "already spoken for".  It's also no guarantee of long term work here.  Grants come with an "end date", be it one year or five, you have to apply for renewal and sometimes the organization that holds the grant doesn't get it renewed. This could happen either because the funding ran out or the scope of the project changes and the money will be used for another aspect of the project at a different site.  

It also doesn't mean I will stop looking for another position somewhere else.  I'm not all together clueless.

On another note...It's just under a month until our holiday to Portugal.  Everything is all set aside from getting Euros and packing.  I am ready to leave right now!