How research funding took one scientist from the lab into leadership
Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-026-02184-2
When Anna Sandak submitted her first proposal to the European Research Council in April 2021, she was seeking support for a new scientific direction. After an interview in January 2022, she learned two months later that the project had been funded. The grant provided nearly €2 million over five years to develop living coatings for buildings based on fungal biofilms, with the aim of enabling self-repair and protection from ultraviolet radiation.
The funding expanded what Sandak could study, but it also changed how she spent her working days. She had previously been closely involved in designing experiments, analysing data and writing papers. As the project grew, more of her time moved towards recruiting researchers, managing budgets, coordinating collaborations and working across institutional structures.
The science remained at the centre of her work. Her role in producing it, however, began to change. Instead of contributing mainly through experiments she performed herself, she increasingly created the conditions in which other researchers could do their best work. This meant identifying the expertise the project needed, bringing together people at different career stages and helping the team maintain a shared scientific direction.
In 2024, Sandak secured a further €3-million European Innovation Council Pathfinder grant. Her group grew to 16 scientists, while the wider consortium expanded across six institutions in Slovenia, Austria, Slovakia and the Netherlands. The larger programme created new scientific possibilities, but it also brought greater responsibility for planning, communication and collaboration.
In this Nature Career Column, Sandak presents leadership not as a departure from science, but as another way of practising it. Her contribution is no longer defined only by the experiments she conducts herself. It also lies in setting a direction, building a team and giving other researchers the support and space needed to produce strong work.
Her account captures a transition that can follow major research funding. A successful grant can open an ambitious scientific programme, but it can also reshape the principal investigator’s daily role. For Sandak, learning to lead became part of learning how to move the science forward.
Author: Anna Sandak
Source: Nature · Career Column
Published: 18 September 2026
Original article: How research funding took one scientist from the lab into leadership
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