79 Maria Leptin and creativity in grant writing

Maria Leptin is the President of the ERC , the European Research Council, and Professor of genetics at the University of Cologne. In this episode, Maria describes her own path as one driven by observation and curiosity rather than long-term planning, and discusses why small, intellectually vibrant institutes often outperform large labs. We discuss how funding agencies can better support bold ideas, and we explore how to evaluate creativity in grant proposals and why a focus on feasibility can stifle innovation. We also consider the role of grant writing in shaping ideas, the differences between academia and industry, and the importance of stable yet non-complacent careers. The Night Science Podcast is produced by the Night Science Institute . For more information on Night Science, visit night-science.org .®

You can listen to 79 Maria Leptin and creativity in grant writing online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

79 Maria Leptin and creativity in grant writing is an episode from Night Science by Itai Yanai & Martin Lercher.

This episode is 30:51 long.

This episode was published on Dec 8, 2025.

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