Chapter 4: Bidding for Research Funding

Overview

Organizations that fund research almost invariably define the form in which funding applications or proposals are to be structured. They normally provide guidance on the information they need to see and the way they want it set out. Applications may have to be submitted in two stages - first as an outline proposal or 'concept note' and then as a final bid or full proposal; a call for proposals may be preceded by an invitation to submit expressions of interest to help in preparing work programmes and lists of research topics; or funding applications may take the form of a 'main bid' - providing information on the research unit or partnership, the proposed implementation plan and team, methodology, project control and start date - and a cost bid that includes a financial analysis of the project. Clients may also use proposal structures that focus on a statement of the work programme and its deliverables, the benefits and innovations expected to result from the work and the mechanisms to be used in disseminating and transferring the knowledge gained.

There may be a requirement for research proposals to be prefaced by an anonymous summary outlining the objectives of the project, the proposed approach and methodology and the expected impacts and benefits. The reason is to ensure that an initial appraisal of the proposal will be free from partiality. But recent thinking, as expressed for example by the European Research Advisory Board (Recommendations on the Evaluation of Proposals, Sixth Framework Programme, May 2002), favours the abandonment of anonymity on the grounds that the feasibility of a proposal cannot realistically be assessed without taking into account the scientific and technological record of the proposers.

In calling for bids, many bodies either require or favour the formation of partnerships and associations among researchers. Factors to be considered when selecting research partners include their level of knowledge and experience, the complementarity of their research activities, their status in terms of scientific or technological excellence, their capacity to perform successfully a substantive role in the research, the degree to which they share a common approach and perspective and the technical and management credibility of the partnership. In contexts such as EU-funded work, the choice of team partners will be influenced also by issues such as trans-nationality - for example, the advantages of cooperation with research centres in 'developing countries' or in Central and Eastern European states that are in the phase of pre-accession to the EU.