Examples
Worked examples
- Is an instance
Section A ('Personal Statement') of the NIH Biosketch, where an applicant explains their qualifications for the specific proposed role and cites up to four representative publications.
- Is an instance
A grant applicant using the personal statement to note a documented career break for parental leave, so reviewers can factor that context into their assessment of productivity.
Counter-examples
Looks similar, but isn't
- Not an instance
A section devoted narrowly to diversity, equity and inclusion contributions and plans is a diversity statement, not a personal statement, even where the two appear as separate sections in the same application.
- Not an instance
A full track-record document restructured entirely around prose contribution categories is a narrative CV, not a personal statement -- a personal statement is one component within a larger application, not the whole document.
Editorial commentary
A personal statement is a short narrative section within a researcher’s CV, biosketch, or grant application, in which the researcher explains — in their own voice — why they are qualified to undertake the proposed work, describes their career trajectory, and notes any contextual factors relevant to how the application should be assessed, such as a career break, a change in research direction, or non-traditional entry into the field.
How this differs from a diversity statement and a narrative CV
A personal statement is broader in subject than a diversity statement, which is narrowly about DEI contributions and plans rather than the applicant’s overall qualifications and trajectory. It is narrower in scope than a full narrative CV: a personal statement is typically one section or component within a larger application, while a narrative CV restructures the entire track-record document around prose contribution categories. This is also where career diversity considerations most often surface in a concrete application document — the personal statement is the place a reviewer is explicitly invited to read context for a non-linear career path, rather than infer it, or fail to, from a bare list of dates and outputs.
A related but distinct assessment-context use
A structurally similar but distinct concept, personal statement (research assessment), refers to narrative statements submitted within institutional or national research-assessment exercises such as the UK’s REF — a different context (institutional submission, not an individual grant or job application) with different audiences and evaluation criteria, though both share the same underlying idea of first-person narrative context supplementing a structured record.
Example
Section A (‘Personal Statement’) of the NIH Biosketch is the canonical example of this format in a grant application context; analogous sections appear under different names in fellowship applications and academic job applications, and in the UK’s R4RI (Resume for Research and Innovation) format used by several UKRI research councils.
Also known as
Personal narrative · Bio personal statement
Machine-readable encodings
Use in your systems
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