Streamlining Grant Writing and Operations with ChatGPT Edu

Emmanuelle Denis is responsible for coordinating complex grant applications, reviewing detailed funder guidance, and preparing accurate meeting minutes. Before adopting ChatGPT Edu, these processes were slow and manual: drafting proposals by reworking old documents, combing through long guidance documents to find key requirements, and typing up meeting minutes from scratch. 

Now, ChatGPT has become a central support tool in Emmanuelle’s workflow. For grant applications, she uses it to generate first drafts of sections such as project plans and budget narratives. She also asks ChatGPT to cross-check grant applications against funder requirements, ensuring eligibility and compliance. For meetings, she provides ChatGPT with transcripts (with the permission of meeting attendees) and a template, so that it produces concise minutes in the correct style and format, complete with action owners and deadlines. Summarising complex guidance and contracts is also now significantly faster and easier. 

The impact has been clear: faster first drafts, improved accuracy, and a much smoother process overall. Grant writing is less daunting, comprehension of dense documents is quicker, and Emmanuelle’s least favourite task, writing meeting minutes, has become painless. 

Emmanuelle’s advice for others is simple: always verify outputs. For instance, when using ChatGPT to summarise guidance, she asks it to include citations and section references so she can cross-check against the original. She also recommends investing time in carefully formulating prompts, instructing ChatGPT to seek clarification if needed. Finally, she highlights the value of the ‘Projects’ capability in ChatGPT: by uploading guidelines, draft protocols and past applications, she creates a reference base that ChatGPT can draw on, across multiple sessions.