Writing Research Grants
Dr John Burden
Research Support Services
Research Grants
About a specific piece of research
Ideas driven
Responsive – Bottom up, researcher driven
Thematic – Top down, specific area
Success rates – higher than fellowships
Eligibility
“Can I apply for a grant if I don’t have a permanent contract?”
Yes
“Can I apply for a grant as PI if I don’t have a permanent contract?”
Maybe…..
Eligibility
The Standard Model – i.e BBSRC, EPSRC
•Cannot apply as PI or Co-I without permanent contract
•Research Co-Investigator is possible
•“identified in the application as a key contributor to the project”
•Employed on the project
•Track record of bringing in funding
Eligibility
Arts, Humanities & Medicine – More flexibility, but open competition
•i.e. MRC, some NIHR, ESRC, AHRC, (Wellcome)
•Can apply as PI or Co-I if no permanent contract
•Will be judged by same criteria as all other applicants,
however experienced
“Proposals by ECRs in such cases would be considerably
strengthened by the inclusion of established academics as CoInvestigators”
Elements of an Application
Online or paper application form
• Affects deadline
• Signatures needed?
• Registering on system
Many pages
• Forms are always long
• Many different boxes asking for similar sounding info
• Need to understand what each bit is asking for
• Takes a lot of time
Elements of an Application
• Case for Support
• Background
– What is the context of the research?
– Why is it important (fit with the funder aims)?
– What preliminary work?
• Aims
– Research Question?
– What do you want to do?
– Why? (funder aims, methodological appropriateness)
• Methodology
– Detailed multi-page programme of research
– Technical (not too technical)
• Outcomes
– What will the research deliver (funder priorities)
– Be realistic, you are committing to deliver this.
Elements of an Application
• Costing
– From RSS (or other institution)
– Well thought through
– Realistic (ask for what you need)
• Justification of Resources
– Why do you need what you have asked for?
– Link costing to Case for Support
– All costs except Estates and Indirects
• Pathways to Impact
– Who will use your research?
– How will you make sure they know about it?
• Management Plan
– How will the project be run?
– What are the risks and how are they being addressed?
• CVs
– All named applicants
Writing the Grant
Before you start:
• Deadline
•Make sure you know exactly when (date & time)
•Non-negotiable
•Do not miss it
•Funder Documentation
•Guidelines for applicants
•Application process
•General funder documents (Mission Statements, Priorities)
•Give yourself enough time
•Writing the proposal
•Sign off procedures
Pre-submission requirements
Internal Peer Review
Process varies by department
Initial Review (2 months before deadline – yes or no)
Final Review (2 weeks before deadline – quality)
FP14a / WOLF
Formal University procedure
must be completed BEFORE submission
Managed by RSS
Signatures on application
Not always needed
Electronic or wet-ink?
Factor in people’s availability near deadline
Writing the Grant
• Never use font size or margins below minimum specified, nor web links
• Opening paragraph is key
• What, Why, How?
• Sets scene for rest of application
• Make sure proposal is easy to read
 Split into sections of manageable size
 Not too technical
 Clear and well written
 Tell a story – all the section link
 “Late-night” Referee
Writing the Grant
• Boxes with “take home” messages
•
Use to emphasise key points
• Always link back to funder aims and requirements
•
•
Emphasise links to strategic priorities etc
Spell it out, don’t hope the panel pick it up
• Tables & Diagrams
•
•
•
Need to be reasonable size
Check numbers
Can be very useful. Trade off against space?
• References
•
Correct style and format
• Get feedback and use it
• Academics, Peers, RSS, Non-specialists
• Repeat process
Philosophy of Approach – Selling to a Customer
Funders are customers buying research
You have to sell your proposal to them and
make it stand out in a very competitive
marketplace
Philosophy of Approach – Selling to a Customer
The manufacturer is applying to have its beans accepted by you. It is saying
“Pick Me”
Assessment Criteria: Quality (Taste, Novelty, Appearance), Impact, Track
Record, Value for Money
What Do Funders Want?
Excellent research Research has to be high quality & novel
Value for money
Delivers successful outcome at reasonable cost
High impact
Research delivers outcomes that benefit
academic and wider community
Strategic fit
Matches what funder wants to buy
Well presented
Application is easy to understand and detailed
Costing Research Grants
Important to make sure you ask for the right amount of money
Too much
Not value for money, uncompetitive, scheme limits
Too little
Can’t deliver objectives, looks poorly thought out
Outline Bids
Many schemes have initial outline application, before main application
invited
Outline must be costed properly as can’t change, or stay within 10% for
full application
Full Economic Costing
Universities are required to recover the full cost of any research they undertake
All grants must have a FEC budget, even if it cannot be recovered from the funder
FEC has three cost categories
Full Economic Costing
Directly Incurred Costs
All costs associated with carrying out the research
Staff Costs (salary, NI, pension)
Consumables (reagents, glassware, computers, software etc)
Travel (conferences, research travel, meetings, collaboration)
Equipment (funder restrictions may apply)
Other costs (equipment hire, fees, recruitment, access charges,
insurance etc)
Full Economic Costing
Directly Allocated Costs
Costs incurred by the university through carrying out the research
PI & Co-I time
% of their time managing the project
Estates
Costs of running the facilities necessary to
carry out the research
Infrastructure
Costs
Technicians etc. Not specifically for the project
but supporting it
Indirect Costs
Other costs for running the University
Library, Payroll, HR, IT, RSS etc…..
Cost vs Price
The FEC is the amount it costs the University to do the research
The price is the amount the funder will pay
This varies from funder to funder
Research
Council
Charity
DI
80%
100%
DA
80%
0%
Indirect
80%
0%
FEC
RC
Charity
PI
£10,000
£8,000
£0
PDRA
£90,000
£72,000
£90,000
Consumables
£30,000
£24,000
£30,000
Estates
£40,000
£32,000
£0
Indirects
£80,000
£64,000
£0
Total
£250,000
£200,000
£120,000
£50,000
£130,000
Deficit
Talk to RSS about choice of funder and budget – might not be viable
The amount the funder is prepared to pay and the costs
that will be covered will have a significant effect on the
amount available for research.
Make sure you know how much you have to spend on the
research and tailor the project to it – offer what you can
deliver with the money
In summary……
• Start early;
• Talk to RSS early
• Give yourself time to write the grant properly
• Develop proposal with input from others
• Offer what the Funder wants;
• Fit research to funder criteria & budget
• Understand the form & fill in correctly
• Excellent research, value for money, high impact, well presented
• Work with the rules
• Rules on eligibility won’t change – be creative
• Work with others to get work funded
• Keep trying