Standard Operating Procedures for
Research Applications
EU and International funding
9/15/2015
Dundalk Institute of Technology
Research Office
DkIT Standard Operating Procedures for Research Applications - EU and International funding
Introduction
These Standard Operating Procedures for Research Funding proposal application and associated
Guidelines on the use of the Research Application Management System have been designed to assist
all DKIT researchers in managing their research proposal applications and to ensure that they are
supported by the Research Office. The Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) relates specifically to
applications for all EU and International financial support from funders such as, but limited to i.e.
Horizon 2020, COST actions, Interreg, LIFE, ERASMUS, COSME, Creative Europe etc.
Please note that applications for funding can include research grants, scholarships and bursaries but
can also refer to financial support to engage in an activity e.g. funding to host meetings or travel
grants to attend meetings such as those provided by Enterprise Ireland and InterTrade Ireland..
The basis for adopting the SoP and using the Research Application Management System consistently
will ensure the central collection and management of European research proposal documents. This
will allow the Institute to keep record of Best Practices in EU funding application and to make tactical
and strategic decisions on how DKIT can optimise future European applications. In addition, the
Research Application Management System contains data such as value of applications, success rates,
value of awards, approvals needed and breakdown of applications.
All researchers, across all Schools and Departments applying to any funding body for support of their
research or proposal are requested to follow the Standard Operating Procedures and related use of
the Research Application Management System as outlined in this document.
This SoP has been organised into a sequence of five Phases associated with the application process
for European funding. These phases are:





Generating leads
Pre-proposal
Proposal development
Official Submission
Post Submission and Project duration
Responsibilities and timelines for individuals required to participate the proposal development and
pre-application process (e.g. the Researcher, Head of School, finance Office, and Head of Research)
are outlined for each phase.
Phase I: Generating leads
There are several possible ways in which a researcher can become aware of EU funding procurement
opportunities and can include:
o
o
o
Identification of a relevant call by Researcher or the Research Office
Invitation to collaborate from a colleague (internal or external to the Institute)
Partner Search sites
Action
DkIT: 10.09.15
Staff
Responsible
Deadline
DkIT Standard Operating Procedures for Research Applications - EU and International funding
1. Individual researchers will undertake periodic reviews of the EU Researchers
research calls of relevance to their research*
2. EU RO will provide an alerting service and notify researchers of EU RO
potentially relevant European calls. This scanning will not be
confined to Horizon 2020 but will also include LIFE+, INTERREG,
and ERASMUS+ etc.
3. Researchers contacted by an organisation/individual to join an EU Researchers
ASAP/monthly
Monthly
On-going
consortium already created or to investigate the possibility to
collaborate with DKIT in any capacity are to inform the EU RO of the
contact as soon as possible
4. Researchers are to review calls that have been identified as
relevant for DKIT by the EU RO and identify strong partners
from personal networks or other sources (conferences, previous
projects, previous roles etc.).
5. The EU RO will keep a Master Log of all potential proposals and
leads. If any researchers has information to add to any of the
calls they are asked to inform EU RO by e-mail
6. EU RO will log all the leads provided by Researchers
7. EU RO will establish and maintain a calendar of EU events and
call deadlines which will be housed on the Research Office
webpage of DkIT website
8. Open leads or expressions of Interest from individuals or
consortia external to DKIT be discussed at a meeting between
the Researcher and the EU RO to establish strategy to follow up
on the expression of interest
9. Researcher or the EU RO will follow the agreed strategy and
keep each other informed of progress
Researcher
On-going
EU RO & On-going
Researcher
EU RO
EU RO
On-going
30/06/14 and
on-going
Researcher & ASAP
EU RO
Researcher &
EU RO
On-going
*All
Researchers
are
required
to
register
with
Research
Professional
(https://www.researchprofessional.com/). Researchers are to contact the Research Office for details on
attend training and information sessions on using Research Professional. All researchers are to review the
Dkit Research Application System User Guide (https://www.dkit.ie/research-office/submitting-proposal)
Phase II: Pre-proposal
Once a relevant EU funding application has been decided the researcher must log the proposal
application on the Research Application Management System (SmartSimple).
Applying for EU research funding is a major undertaking and requires significant effort in terms of
time and money. The researcher must be aware that any pre-award expenditure is not an eligible
cost. Each partner, including the coordinator, is responsible for their own costs in the preparation of
the proposal. At pre-proposal stage researchers must assess if they have the time and support to
complete the application.
Researchers are requested to meet with the relevant DkIT contributors to the proposal development
including the EU Finance Officer (FO), and the Head of School (HoS) or Research Unit Director (RUD).
These meetings will serve to inform the budget development for the project and identify resources
needed to complete the project etc.
DkIT: 10.09.15
DkIT Standard Operating Procedures for Research Applications - EU and International funding
In addition, researchers are requested to undertake an initial scoping meeting with the European
Research Officer (EU RO). This initial scoping exercise will be used to address the conceptual,
administrative and financial aspects of the proposal (refer to Annex 1).
The aim of this meeting is to ensure that effective methods for proposal management; planning,
communicating, and decision-making are in place; that the proposal development work is performed
on schedule; that any elements of the proposal that DkIT researcher is responsible for are delivered
on time and using the allocated resources.
Action
1. Researcher to log the application on the SmartSimple*
2. Researcher to meet with DkIT Finance Officer to ‘scope’
budget for proposal
Staff
Responsible
Researcher
Researcher &
FO
Deadline
ASAP
Within 2 weeks of
notification of
proposal
3. Researcher to meet the Head of School/Research Unit Researcher & Within 2 weeks of
Director to identify resources potentially needed to
HoS/RUD
notification
of
complete the project
proposal
4. Researcher to meet with EU RO to ‘scope’ strategy for
Researcher &
Within 2 weeks of
DkIT involvement, resources and supports needed. This
EU RO
notification of
meeting will serve to:
proposal
- Discuss how the Researcher/PI should interact
with the consortium
- Identify relevant Policy documents relevant to the
call
- Agree on procedures and timeline to deliver on
each proposal
- Show how to use the PM system so that all
information is updated in a suitable manner
- Outline the procedure for the internal review
process for DkIT contributions to the proposal and
identify internal deadlines
- Discuss the estimated budget for the application
and seek DkIT and external advice when required
5. Researchers are required to record details and contacts of Researcher
Within 2 weeks of
other beneficiaries (coordinator, WP leaders, task leaders
notification of
etc. ) involved in the proposal on SmartSimple
proposal
6. The decision to further develop a proposal will be taken
Researcher &
Within 1 month of
jointly among the Researchers, and Head of Research
HoR
notification of
(HoR) and will be based on:
proposal
- DKIT provisional budget allocation
- DKIT resources needed to complete the project
- Consortium composition and network
- Timelines for proposal submission
- Other upcoming calls and proposals
*Researchers are required to attend an information and training session on the use and
management of SmartSimple.
DkIT: 10.09.15
DkIT Standard Operating Procedures for Research Applications - EU and International funding
Phase III: Proposal Development
Once the decision to proceed with a submission is taken the researcher must log the proposal on the
Research Application Management System (SmartSimple). The Researcher is responsible for the
development of the proposal, in particular the Excellence section which outlines the research
element. The EU RO can assist in the development of the Management and Impact sections of the
proposal.
Action
Staff
Deadline
Responsible
1. Researchers are required to provide EU RO with draft DoA and Researcher ASAP and onWP descriptions as they become available
going
2. EU RO will prepare all templates to facilitate the work of the EU RO
8 weeks pre call
Researcher in providing inputs to the EU application including;
deadline
-
DKIT profile
CV of relevant staff
Draft Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)
Draft Consortium Agreement (CA)
Draft non-disclosure agreement (when necessary )
3. The Researcher assigned to each EU proposal will be PI & EU RO
responsible for:
-
-
-
7 weeks prior to
call deadline
Adapting the relevant templates for the application
Complying with the agreed deadlines to deliver on the relevant
sections so that the internal review process (SmartSimple) can be
completed
Submitting reviewed DKIT contributions to the project
coordinator within deadline
Submitting the reviewed DKIT budget to the project coordinator
within deadline
Updating the PM system – this will serve to keep the Master Log
updated on the application status and progress
4. Researchers are required to
Researcher
- Upload the draft proposal to SmartSimple for approval
- Provide supporting documentation (budget etc.) for
approval
5. Initial Stage reviewers stage Approvers to review proposals
HoS
6. Reviewers to amend proposal as necessary and resubmit Researcher
proposal for second round of approval
7. Second stage Approvers to review proposals
HoR
8. Changes and amendments to be made by researcher and final
proposal to be uploaded to the management system
Researcher
9. Researchers are requested to contact the EU RO at any time Researcher
DkIT: 10.09.15
5
weeks
pre
deadline
Within 1 week of
upload (4 weeks
pre-deadline)
Within 1 week of
1st approval (3
weeks
predeadline)
Within 1 week of
amendment
(2
weeks
pre
deadline)
Within 1 week of
2nd approval (1
week
predeadlinel)
On-going
DkIT Standard Operating Procedures for Research Applications - EU and International funding
when assistance is needed or a problem arises
&EU RO
Phase IV: Official Submission
Due to the large numbers of proposals which can be submitted under a call for funding, and in the
case where a DkIT researcher is acting as a coordinator are requested to upload the completed
application to the Participants Portal AT LEAST one week prior to call deadline. The Participants
Portal will only accept completed proposals and submitting early can allow the consortium to
identify missing elements with time to respond. Early applications can be overwritten at anytime
but will ensure that a valid proposal is submitted for evaluation.
When it is not possible to upload the completed proposal until the last day of the deadline,
Researchers are requested to ensure that adequate time is provided to ensure the submission is
completed –noting that it can take over 2 hours for a submission to process.
During times of heavy traffic (as experienced on the day of a European call deadline) significant
delays to submission upload can occur and the Participants Portal site can crash. The Participants
Portal DOES NOT make exceptions for proposal submitted after the deadline resulting from a site
crash.
The status of the proposal will be changed once the proposal has been officially submitted to the
Funding Body.
Action
Staff
Deadline
Responsible
1. Researcher is to ensure that the proposal is submitted to the Researcher 1 week pre
Participants Portal at least 1 week prior to deadline
deadline
2. Researcher is to ensure that all submitted versions are Researcher 1 week after
uploaded to the SmartSimple Management system including
submission
but not restricted to
- Final Proposal (final submitted version – date stamped
from the Participant portal)
- Projected Project budget - full proposal budget and DKIT
budget
Phase V: Post-submission and Project duration
Researchers are requested to ensure all post-submission documents are included on the
Management System.
Action
Staff Responsible
1. Researcher is to requested to contact the coordinator for Researcher
copies of the following documents
- Evaluation report with scoring (for successful and nonsuccessful projects)
- Details of Grant Preparation (when proposal has been
successful)
- Final signed Grant Agreement (when proposal has been
successful and Grant preparation phase is completed)
DkIT: 10.09.15
Deadline
ASAP
DkIT Standard Operating Procedures for Research Applications - EU and International funding
- Contact details of appointed Desk Officer
- Amended budget information
2. Researchers are requested to upload copies of the following Researcher
Ongoing
documents from the implementation of the project to
SmartSimple. Documents to be saved include:
- Consortium Agreement (signed and stamped by all
beneficiaries)
- Memorandum of Understanding (signed and stamped by all
beneficiaries)
- Minutes of the Kick Off meeting,
- Minutes of the Partnership meetings
- Minutes of the Advisory/Steering Committee meeting
- Deliverables for which DKIT is responsible
- Milestones for which DKIT is responsible
- Dissemination and Communication Plans
- All budgetary and financial communications from the
partnership
- Interim Reports
- Final reports
3. Researchers are responsible for uploading all publications, Researcher/Project Ongoing
proceedings, and conference papers etc. to STÓR DkITs Open Manager
Access (OA) Institutional Repository
DkIT: 10.09.15
DkIT Standard Operating Procedures for Research Applications - EU and International funding
Annex 1: Pre-proposal considerations
Concept
Administrative
Financial
Can your project be made to fit Is your organisation eligible?
the funding priorities or are
you fundamentally altering
the project to make it
eligible?
Be aware that any pre-award
expenditure is not an
eligible cost. Each partner,
including the coordinator, is
responsible for their own
costs in the preparation for
the proposal.
What are the main objectives Is the proposal realistic and How much will the project
and do they fit the topic
deliverable in the proposed
cost? Compare this with the
described in the call topic?
timescale?
likely grant rate to assess
feasibility.
Can you clearly define and Are
partner
organisations Does the funding support what
describe the project on one
needed? If so, what type of
you are intending to
sheet of A4 (1-pager)?
partners
and
which
achieve?
countries?
Which problem does
project address?
your Has your organisation applied Where are the match funds to
for this funding or similar,
come from, if applicable?
in the recent past? If so,
Can you get agreement
how successful was this and
before you submit?
can you get a copy of the
application?
Know the field so you know the Individual calls will have specific Is it cost-effective for your
state-of-the-art and how you
conditions (e.g. what type
organisation to pursue the
will go beyond it. Make sure
of partners must be in
application? Will the funds
your project is unique.
consortium) so must be
make
a
contribution
studied very carefully
towards your overheads, or
will it be more costeffective
for
another
partner, who is eligible for
this support, to lead on the
project?
The research must be
Can you get all approvals of Are ‘in-kind’ contributions
interdisciplinary and Work
final content by the
acceptable and, if so, up to
Packages must be unique but
required deadline?
what limit?
interconnected so the problem
is addressed from different
angles
Why does it have to be your
Do you have the time and
consortium working on this?
support to complete the
application?
DkIT: 10.09.15