Writing a winning proposal
When you submit a research proposal to a potential funder you are entering a competition. In order to win that competition you need to convince the judges that your proposal is worth funding and is better than the rest. Always bear in mind the reviewer and try to get them on your side.
This section will provide guidance on:
- some things to think about before you start
- what should you include?
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- summary and background
- aims and objectives
- methodology and milestones
- outcomes and dissemination
- tips on writing style and presentation
- writing a proposal to the EPSRC
Some things to think about before you start
Allow yourself plenty of time for preparing drafts of your proposal, preparing the costings, obtaining the appropriate signatures and approvals.
Study your funding source. All funding agencies have their own criteria for deciding on allocation of their resources. Familiarise yourself with them and ensure that your application clearly addresses your targeted source of support. Consider whether the sponsor is compatible with the mission and objectives of your department or faculty.
Read the rules and the guidance notes. This will help to avoid basic mistakes, which at best will require clarification with office staff and at worst may prejudice chances of success. Check that they will be able to fund at the level you require.
Ensure that you are eligible to apply. Do you have an eligible status and is the University of Bristol an eligible institution?
Try to get copies of the forms the funding body send to proposal referees. Some funders publish referee forms and guidelines on the web, for example
If you know what the questions to the referees will be, you can target these areas in your proposal so the referee can answer them positively!
Discuss your application with peer groups, colleagues and RED Research Development Managers. Contact the people you intend to nominate as referees and ensure they know what your doing. It is not uncommon for nominated referees to be unaware of the substance of the work they have been asked to comment on and have little or no knowledge of the applicant. As a consequence, they either give a poor grading or refuse to comment!
Use your networks to find out who else is applying to your chosen scheme. It may be that you are competing for a similar project with more experienced researchers from other prestigious institutions. Consider whether you would like to involve other partners or collaborators in your project.
Does your project demonstrate a novel aspect? The idea must be exciting both in the eyes of you the researcher, and the funding body.
Justify your costings. Be realistic – lavish costings are unlikely to find favour and a proposal which promises the earth at remarkably low expense will be regarded with caution. Bear in mind though, that reviewers are also looking for value for money.
Content. Ask yourself the following questions:
- Have I clearly formulated the problem?
- Have I established appropriate aims and objectives?
- Have I provided a well-thought out research design?
- Have I given a full description of the research methods?
- Have I anticipated potential difficulties?
- Have I identified potential users both in and outside of the academic community?
Check the details Once you have completed the application, ensure you have completed the form fully. Most common omissions are; obtaining all the necessary signatures, CVs for named staff and a realistic start date.
What should you include?
Most funders have an application form that you are required to complete, a few will ask for a proposal to be produced in your own style. Whatever the format you should always look to include the following sections:
- Summary
- Background
- Aims and objectives
- Methodology
- Milestones
- Expected outcomes
- Dissemination
- Justification of costs
Summary
You should provide a well-written summary in plain English as this can help the assessor grasp the main points. This summary is often used by the funder to publicise the research they fund so it also needs to be clear to non-specialists.
Summarise the project aims and consider the following questions:
- Why are these aims interesting and significant?
- What will be learnt as a result of the proposed project that we don’t know now?
- How will these aims be achieved?
Background
Clearly set out the research area in context.
Demonstrate your knowledge of the full range of background relating to your project. Do everything you can to help the audience understand how your proposal will contribute to, and improve on, existing research.
Ensure you have sufficient references to previously published research. Do not ignore references that don't completely agree with your thoughts, deal with the issues so the reviewer doesn't have to - left to draw their own conclusions, they might not come down on your side.
Aims and Objectives
Clearly specify what your proposal will address and why this is so important.
Research proposals need to be presented in a logical and clear manner, therefore the aims should be obvious and the work should be placed into the wider context.
Try and start with “The purpose of the research is to…” and end with “at the end of this study we will have shown…”
Methodology
This section will contain the most important information describing what you are aiming to do –write clearly and be specific, avoiding vague statements.
Devote enough space in the proposal to describing the research you intend to conduct and explain the research design and methods.
It may be appropriate to identify potential problems and detail alternative approaches that could be taken as this shows flexibility.
You should build up an argument as to why you have developed your research tasks to tackle the problem, rather than simply providing a list of tasks.
Ensure you have included clear management structure of the project. This is particularly true for collaborative bids. Specify what each member of the consortium will do and that they have a significant and active role.
Highlight existing available equipment and facilities at the University that you have access to.
Milestones
Provide a series of milestones. This demonstrates you have thought about what you want to achieve and by when. Do not be frightened of including a 'plan B' - if you can recognise potential pitfalls in your project and be prepared to work around them the reviewer will be convinced that you have considered every element of your research.
Expected outcomes
Always be positive!
Detail the expected outcomes, always targeting the specific funder.
Dissemination
You should build dissemination activities into the structure of your research plan, rather than giving them passing reference at the end.
Be explicit about how the research findings will be disseminated.
This is not just about publishing papers in good journals, but also ‘showing your face’ to the academic community through presenting papers at conferences or organising/attending workshops. More information and ideas about how you can engage with the public about your research is available from the Centre for Public Engagement.
Dissemination is especially important to charities. Charities are usually reliant on public generosity to be able to support the cost of research. They will want to use your outcomes to show that the money has been well spent and to encourage people to continue to give. Consider how you might communicate your findings to the public and potential 'end users', perhaps using the media or specific websites.
Justification of costs
For every cost you have included you need to justify fully why you need that item, for example, if you are employing a research assistant you need to say what that person will be doing. If you are using animals you must justify fully why you are doing so, the choice of species and the number used.
Tips on writing style and presentation
When writing a research proposal you should follow the guidelines below. Your proposal will then sound professional and the reviewer will be able to quickly and easily assess the quality of your proposal.
- Never write in the first person, e.g. use "the research will..." instead of "I will... "
- Do not use jargon. Only use specialist terminology where you have to.
- Do not waffle.
- Write clearly in short, headed sections so that the reviewer can find the information that he/she is looking for with ease
- Use bullets and/or highlight in bold to draw attention to key points.
- Use short, clear sentences.
- Stick to the word limit and use the designated font size- funders do check!
- Do have your proposal proof read by the Research Development Team and your colleagues.
- Include letters of support from your head of department or similar if allowed.
Once you have written your proposal you may find information regarding costing useful. Please contact the Research Development Team if you have any queries.
Writing a proposal to the EPSRC
RED run Writing Surgeries for the Faculty of Engineering which will take place monthly from January - June 2012.
These are targeted at staff who are currently writing grant proposals to UK funders and require help with a particular aspect of their application.
Please see further information.