Developing Winning proposals and beyond

∞

Developing a fundable concept involves innovative, engaged and knowledgeable inquisitors as faculty. A support team in the Sponsored Programs Office (OSP) with resources, experience and a critical eye. Institutional leadership that recognizes the unique opportunity an institution of higher education has to offer the body of knowledge and the future through student research.

Proposal Development & Pre-Award

Research Development is defined by the National Organization of Research Development Professionals (NORDP) as “a set of strategic, proactive, catalytic, and capacity-building activities designed to facilitate individual faculty members, teams of researchers, and central research administrations in attracting extramural research funding, creating relationships, and developing and implementing strategies that increase institutional competitiveness.”

Research or Proposal Development

It’s the new Pre-Pre-Award!

be clear about interests and ideas and get the “key words” right for literature and funding source searches

be aware of funding opportunities and trends

be alert to potential collaborators

be involved and play a role institutional research agenda

Core questions that need to be asked before taking on the work of drafting a proposal:

1. are you willing to dedicate your time to this effort...it is a lot of work and time!

2. are you passionate about the idea? Will anyone else be?

3. is there a need to answer your question? Who will benefit?

4. has someone done work on this idea before? Did they or you develop data supporting the importance of your idea?

5. why is your idea or approach different and innovative?

6. what do you want to accomplish?

So, You’ve Decided to take the Leap!Using RefWorks Pivot, the OSP can help faculty set up their own profile and receive email alerts using the key words and parameters that fit their research interests. CNURSS Feeds, newsletters from topic specific sponsors, professional organizations and other resources are available to find the right sponsor and keep you aware of trends. Refer to the OSP website for subscription details. We find a sponsor! Now we have to be sure there is a meeting of the minds between the sponsor (what is it that they seek to fund) and the faculty member (what is it you seek to learn or do). Review some of their previously funded awards. The match is made and the work begins.

A tried and true structure that can be modified to fit almost any sponsor:

I. Problem StatementII. PurposeIII. Research MethodsIV. QualificationsV. Evaluation PlanVI. Budget

Starting with an outline and keeping in close contact with the OSP, the vision of your research or sponsored activity will start to take form.

At this stage, OSP may encourage you to contact the Program Officer (PO)or contact them with you, if you wish. They are a gauge if you are on the right track and can answer any questions that you may have. One caveat is that PO’s don’t like to answer questions addressed in their announcements.

OSP will make efforts to enlist faculty who have had success either in your field, with your sponsor or in general with winning external funding. We will elicit their assistance, hopefully with some sort of enticement other than collegiality, to be mentors or anonymous readers.

The research or program is the most important component of a proposal. The ability to communicate it in a clear and concise manner that will engage a peer reviewer or the sponsor’s agent is where many great ideas are lost.

Asking academically trained research professionals to communicate their concept in layman's terms, using a little “jargon” as possible, and to keep the interest of the reviewer in the age of texting, “aps”, and Ipads is difficult but VERY important.

I always try to have the proposal author imagine themselves a peer reviewer. They have been locked in a hotel room reading proposals with given criteria for evaluating them. Imagine now that your proposal is the 49th of 50 that the reviewer will read in that day. The reviewer’s interest can be lost at the Abstract.

DRAFTS ARE THE BUILDING BLOCKS TO A STRONG PROPOSAL – VERSION CONTROL IS

SIMILAR TO QUALITY CONTROL OF THE CEMENT USED TO MAKE THE BLOCKS!!!

OSP is here to help evaluate your proposal. Given enough time we will look for required elements of the RFP and ask if they are not included. The preferred method is to work backwards to the Abstract. A logic model or assistance from a program evaluator can be extremely useful. Much like an IRB protocol submission, these tools and people will ask the tough questions that will strengthen your proposal. If they asked it, chances are the reviewer will have that question too.

OSP is not a subject expert but a research administration expert. We will ask questions some of which we will not have the answer. Turning to subject experts and allowing them to evaluate your research design and methods will provide you with a level of confidence that you are adequately testing your hypothesis.

A Logic Model or visual representation of your research will demonstrate any gaps that may be in the research design or the flow to the ultimate outcome. It should appear like this...

rather than

outcome

possible outcome

One Active Voice

Your work “will” produce results. Your work should not “hope” to produce results. Even if the results are not the ones anticipated, they are results.

OSP, in all of its reviews will be keeping this in mind and working with faculty to ensure the continuity of the language of the proposal.

Proposal

Not just the NSF!Broader Impacts

Intellectual Merit

TIMEThere is simply never enough! Structuring an OSP to be responsive to faculty and prospective in seeking out what resources are available can eliminate time sinkholes.

I. Institutional ResourcesII. Community ResourcesII. National Resources

TIMEIn order for everyone involved in the development and submission of a proposal to add their expertise, the faculty must budget their time judiciously.

Given time, we all have something to offer!

Chairs, Deans and up the chain do not enjoy repeated last minute requests for approval.

Time for OSP to ensure all of the compliance areas have been addressed in the Pre-Award stage is just as important as it is in the Post-Award stage. If you get awarded but violated regulations, the Federal government does not accept responsibility for errors in awarded proposals. That rests with the Principal Investigator, OSP and the Institution.

TIME

A plea to faculty seeking external funding. Please give yourself adequate time to perform a final review of the proposal that you’ve invested so much to develop. The peace of mind gained by finding one last typo or a table that didn’t convert into PDF accurately is priceless.

Other ways that you can improve your chances of winning:

1. combine your efforts in research, publishing and teaching

2. find mentors3. attend workshops and be active in professional

organizations4. collaborate 5. become a reviewer6. become a mentor7. publish 8. enjoy research and share it with your students

Proposal Writing Exercises:

what it means not to use jargon what is an active voice vs. a passive voice how to be concise pull apart a successful proposal and see how you can

integrate their style into your style

articles to aid in you style of writing: Journal writing vs. proposal writing

white space!!! make it easy for the reviewer. Being concise allows you not to use every inch of every page.

bulleted lists help to organize related items and add emphasis

by the order. Use up to 7 and remember to not to omit initial capitalization and ending punctuation. Ensure bulleted items are grammatically parallel, i.e. start with same type of speech… Obtain something, Evaluate something, Report on something…