Grant Proposal Workshop “PhD DocLinks EU Initiative” Mr Clement Matasane : - Assistant Director Funding Room 155 CCE Building Tel: - 00267 355 2910 / 00 Email:
[email protected] 7/10/2012
Presentation Layout • • • • • • • • •
Introduction What is Research? Why you need research funding? Strategy in Seeking Grants What Donors are looking within application Why proposals fails Possible Agencies Opportunities Typical procedures for proposal submission Examples of Applications
FREE ADVERT/INFORMACIAL
Prof. I.N MAZONDE, Director, ORD
[email protected]. Ext 2900 Room 150
Dr. Jose-Jackson Malete, Deputy Dir.
[email protected]. Ext 2903 Room 149
Dr. MBM Sekhwela, Assist. Dir, Quality
[email protected]. Ext 2929 Room 154
Paul Ndebele, Assist. Dir. Ethics
[email protected]. Ext 2911 Room 152
Clement Matasane, Assist. Dir. Funding
[email protected]. Ext 2910 Room 155
Dr. Alphonsus Neba, Assist. Dir. Comm
[email protected]. Ext 2061 Room 125
Acknowledge Dr A Neba
Rantsudu Molefe, Centre Administrator
[email protected]. Ext 2904 Room 153
Research
Funding
Research is a central mandate of most universities and one that the UB embraces with vigour. The University and its researchers are committed to research excellence, through the research process as indicated in the UB Research Strategy. The overall objective of research funding is to enable the University achieve research excellence. This embraces setting and achieving research key performance indicators (RPIs) as highlighted in the UB’s Strategy for Excellence. As indicated it will increase funding within the university to enhance the following: -
a) Staff participation in research
Proportion of staff holding external research grants
Proportion of staff receiving contract research income
Number of research chairs, full-time research staff and postdoctoral fellows
b) Student research training
c) Research Funding
Vacancy rate at the professorial level
Training activities for junior researchers
Number of M.Phil/PhD students
Completion rates and times for M.Phil/PhD students
Internal research funding allocation trends (capital and
recurrent)
External research income trends (grants and contracts from public bodies and industry)
d) International Research Collaboration
Number of active international collaborative research projects
e) Research Outputs f) Research Impact
Quality of strategic international research partnerships
Bibliometric data on publications
International peer esteem
Number of patents, licenses and other commercial applications
Documented changes in public policy
Documented changes in professional practice
Institutional Institutional Research Capability
Faculties
Research Areas
Faculty Research Areas
Strategic Goals
Strategic Goals
Departmental Focus/Theme Areas Departments
Department Operational Plans
Individual Operational Individual Researchers
Individual Research Projects(/Themes) Research Plans
“acknowledge Dr MBM Sekhwela”
Research Priority Areas • Culture, the arts and society
• Economic diversification and entrepreneurship • Environmental systems and natural resources management • Health • Indigenous knowledge systems
• Minerals, water and energy • Social and political development
Funding Agencies and Donors •Funding is absolutely essential to science and Technology, humanities and education •There are many donors that have dedicated their resources to funding education, training and research •Grant giving organizations include: »Governments »Foundations (Private, Gov) »Companies »Regional Blocks (EU, ADF) »Development agencies (UNDP, World Bank, DFID etc)
“Type of Grants” •Individual or Collaborative •Program or Project •Research or Education
Types of Proposals Letter of proposal: usually expanded statement of Work Preliminary proposal: used by agency to decide if proposer should develop it further Expanded proposal: contains all of the necessary information to be used in the review process Revised proposal: modified subject to comments by reviewers Concept Note on Renewable Energy.doc
Why Funding? • • • • •
Enables research Attracts Ph.D. students Can build collaborations, increase exposure Measure of quality Helps school -- overhead and student support, which provides growth • Can help in promotion • Can add to income, or can relieve teaching
Funding Cautions • Develop coherent research program • Do not distract from publications or other creative endeavors • Continuity of support • Effort to build research plans • Graduate research support • Embark on research dissemination and conference support • Better to pass an opportunity, than to embark on one with little chance of success
Lifecycle of a Proposal/Award
Getting Started: ATTITUDE! • A good proposal has “attitude” • Don’t assume the reader will grasp the significance of your idea • Give context, explain fully, convince the reader you know what you are doing. • You must convince the grantor that you need the funding and will use it wisely to solve the problem • Marketing yourself and your idea
Key points to consider when looking for a donor •Do your homework about potential funder •Identify funders focus •Identify funding patterns •Know funders proposal requirements (see checklist) •Any proposal deadlines? What is the next deadline? •Locate a recently funded proposal to use as a guide (Ask a colleague) •Funders guidelines have to be followed religiously
Creating the Strategy
• Set your own vision: – Assess your own capabilities and passions for research – Identify capabilities that you can leverage within and outside your institution or country – Create milestones needed for tenure
More Strategy
• Assess the Market – Identify agencies and programs that fund related research – Determine how your vision can be crafted to match funding priorities and the national objectives – Create a proposal writing schedule
1. Identify relevant agencies
Goal: find the sources of funding • Contact your peers, mentors, at Institution and elsewhere • Find out where other universities get funding in your area • Attend relevant conferences and Symposiums • Search the web
2. Research the programs Goal: determine priorities and selection process
• Read material on the web – Program priorities, who has been funded and for what, review process; who decides and how peer review is conducted; grant; size and duration of awards; success rate
• Contact program officer – What is the real story on funding; obtain suggestions on how to structure proposal; volunteer to be on review panel
• Contact other people who have been funded – What did it take for them to get funded; get example of a funded proposal
3. Get to Know the Program Officer Goal: Make your research a priority within the program
• Visit and meet in person; present your ideas and get feedback; find out what the program officer cares most about; find out & influence what will happen in future • Volunteer to serve on a review panel • Try to connect to program officer through conferences, professional meetings
• Treat him or her like a customer
4. Write a Responsive Proposal
Goal: Be responsive, innovative and communicate well • Make sure that you have addressed all requirements • Understand who are the reviewers • Create an appropriate budget and plan
5. Pre-Review, Feedback and Revise Goal: Make sure you got it right • Complete proposal at least 3 weeks before deadline • Show proposal to a peer who knows your area of work well • Show proposal to a peer who is not a specialist in your area • Show proposal to a non-researcher
Exercise
• Imagine you are writing your personal statement for tenure promotion, five years for now: describe your area of research and accomplishments as though you have already achieved them • Assess: how critical is funding in fulfilling your vision
Defining the Project • • • • • •
Choose a problem or an idea you wish to pursue Survey the literature Contact established investigators in the area Prepare a brief concept paper Discuss your idea with others Get started on the project
Your Proposal Should Answer These Questions • • • • • • •
What are you going to do? Why is this important? What is your unique contribution? Is it feasible? Why are you the best person to do it? What are others doing in this area? How will you do it?
• How will you evaluate your results? • How will you disseminate your results?
Proposal Writing Hints • Present your ideas clearly & succinctly to capture the reviewer’s attention • Present the main thrust of the project at the beginning - don’t bury your lead! • Use a concise writing style • Show relevance with specific examples • Organize to enable skimming - use headings • Add a timeline with specific deliverables • Identify the payoff • Use a fresh approach, but don't stray from accepted methodologies • Give yourself plenty of time! Peer reviews before submission are important! Remember that you are selling an idea to the REVIEWERS and the FUNDER
What are Funding Agencies looking for • • • • • • • • •
Relevance to objective of funding agency Team competence Sound science Institutional integrity Gender balance (sometimes) Development needs (sometimes) Monitoring and evaluation plan Dissemination plan and policy relevance Compliance
Why proposals fail 1 • Number of proposals submitted and requested dollars far exceed available funding from all sources. • General rule of thumb is that 80% of all proposals submitted fail. • Bad proposals should fail but many excellent proposals also fail to make the funding line. • Why?
“acknowledged Dr J Malete”
Why proposals fail 2 • Proposal failed to adequately address the funding source rationale for making the funds available • Failed to address one or more of the evaluation criteria – Does the proposal address a well-formulated problem? – Is it a research problem, or is it just a routine application of known techniques? – Is it an important problem, whose solution will have useful effects? – Do the proposers have a good idea on which to base their work? – Does the proposal explain clearly what work will be done? – Is there evidence that the proposers know about the work that others have done – on the problem? – Do the proposers have a good track record, both of doing good research and of – publishing it? – Cost effective project – Feasibility – Strong research team vs new researcher – Balance between different research areas “acknowledged Dr J Malete”
Why proposals fail 3 • One or more of your required proposal components was judged weak or nonresponsive • Budget or budget narrative was unrealistic or incomplete • Proposal failed to clearly demonstrate a need for the funding • Proposal problem is too ambitious • Project activities are not eligible for funding source approval • Proposal is submitted to a funding source that does not match your giving interest or client focus “acknowledged Dr J Malete”
Why proposals fail 4 • Proposed project is judged infeasible on legal or technical grounds • Proposal was viewed by the readers as incoherent or unconvincing • Proposal was poorly written – grammatical errors etc • Did not follow basic instructions for writing, assembling and submitting a grant proposal – page limits, fonts, deadlines
“acknowledged Dr J Malete”
If Your Proposal is Declined, REMEMBER: • • • •
You are in good company Awards are often highly competitive Budgetary limitations exert influence Funding agency priorities exert influence
Read the reviews and TRY AGAIN!
Common Problems of Non-Winning Proposals • • • • •
• • • • • • •
Key points are buried No highlights or impact not apparent Not an innovative topic or approach Difficult to read, full of jargon, too long, too technical, unclear or incomplete Misspellings, grammatical errors, wrong client name, and inconsistent formats Failure to differentiate your work from others; e.g., no reference to relevant literature Deadline missed Guidelines for proposal not followed EXACTLY Not an agency priority for this year Research beyond capacity of proposer Method of study unsuited to the problem Unrealistic budget
Typical procedures for proposal submission
• Most universities including UB have developed guidelines for the review and submission of grant proposals to ensure competitiveness. • These include: – Administrative Review – Budget Review – Additional Clearances – Scientific Review – Ethical Reviews “acknowledged Dr J Malete”
Proposal Submission Idea Development
Funding Source Identification
Proposal Preparation
Routing Submission to OSP
Award
Submission Decline
Return to PI
OSP Review/ Approval
Administrative Review • The general topic & due date of the proposal – Funding agency & URL for the RFA/RFP if applicable
• Names of co-investigators and collaborators. • Names of participating institutions. • Names of 2-5 faculty members who are qualified to review the proposed research for scientific and technical merit and for overall research value. • Resources & timetable to get the proposal out: – – – –
Provide institutional information. Identify statistical consulting support (sampling plan, analysis design). Budget development and budget justification. “acknowledged Dr J Malete”
Budget Review • A draft budget and budget justification must be submitted forReview • Correct PI and Co-investigator salaries and fringe benefits Included – – – – – –
Graduate student tuition, salaries, fringe benefits included External collaborators & consultants salaries included Equipment / vehicle costs and maintenance Detailed travel – air, per diem, road mileage etc University’s overhead Audit costs
• The overall budget reviewed in terms of funders requirements to ensure that all costs are allowable and that sufficient effort has been allocated to complete the research • Finance office to sign off on the budget
“acknowledged Dr J Malete”
Budget Review Include for example, research assistants’ salaries, transport, subsistence, accommodation, equipment, consumables, typing, photocopying, stationery. Note that Laptops are allowable only on a shared basis between the researcher and UB (contact ORD for further explanation). Item Amount () Justification Personnel -
Consumables
Equipment
Travel & subsistence
Other
Dissemination
Budget Preparation Project Budget A categorical list of anticipated project costs that represent the Principal Investigator's best estimate of the funds needed to support the work described in a proposal.
Direct Costs
+
F&A Costs
+
Cost = Sharing
Example of budget preparation: 1. Budget Example - ACCFP_Application_Form_Final.doc 2. JICA MOFAIC Grant Application Budget - Final 08 August 2011.xls
Total Project Budget
Budget - Allowable Costs • Grants may be awarded for any appropriate research purpose, including: • Employment of graduate and undergraduate students as research assistants to conduct research which may or may not be part of their thesis studies. • Equipment • Consumables, chemicals /reagents • Photocopying and printing • Travel and subsistence • Local workshop costs • Conference attendance • Laptops • Budget Justification on Renewable Energy and Rural Development.docx
Not Acceptable Expenditures • • • • • •
Alcohol Tips Laundry expenses Vehicle breakdown expenses A combination of petrol and mileage expenses All other expenses not directly enhancing the business of the university
Additional Clearances • •Collaboration with other departments, schools, or institutions may require clearance of the research proposal by them • PI responsible for determining these requirements and meeting the deadlines
“acknowledged Dr J Malete”
Scientific Review • Grant proposals should be reviewed by qualified peers who are not formally part of the proposal • •Can use existing structures within the University such as the DRPC / FRPC • Can also use potential reviewers externally from names submitted by the PI – Research office will contact these persons and request them to do review (TIMING!!!)
“acknowledged Dr J Malete”
Ethical Review
• Most donors allow for Ethics review submission after the proposal has been funded • Important to check donor requirements • In Botswana, ethics review could take from a 1 week to 1 year depending on the nature of the research
“acknowledged Dr J Malete”
Proposal Development and Submission How to get your proposal signed, sealed, delivered. . . Idea Development
Funding Source Identification
Proposal Preparation
Provide all required information in a timely manner Submission to OSP OSP
Read and become familiar with the sponsor guidelines and policies
Review Approval Award
Submission
Return to Faculty
Rules, Regulations and Sponsor Requirements are legal commitments and must be followed
Decline
Use the OSP Website for guidance
–
Timeliness is critical.
–
Avoid excess or voluntary cost share.
Call our office for technical assistance
Examples of funded Projects
1. Work_Plan_Edulink_-_Day_8_Eveningupdate.xlsx 2. Grant Writing Workshop Jose Mar 9th 2010.pdf
THANK YOU
7/10/2012
