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• How to Write a Great PhD Research Proposal | FindAPhD.com

How to Write a Great PhD Research Proposal

Written by Mark Bennett

You'll need to write a research proposal if you're submitting your own project plan as part of a PhD application. A good PhD proposal outlines the scope and significance of your topic and explains how you plan to research it.

It's helpful to think about the proposal like this: if the rest of your application explains your ability to do a PhD, the proposal demonstrates the actual PhD you plan to do. Of course, being able to effectively plan and explain a research project is one of the key qualifications for being able to complete one, which is why the proposal is such an important part of the PhD application process.

Thankfully, the secret to writing a good research proposal isn't complicated. It's simply a case of understanding what the proposal is for, what it needs to do and how it needs to be put together.

On this page

What is a phd research proposal.

First things first, do you need a research proposal for your PhD? It depends on the kind of project you want to do:

• If your PhD is advertised by a university, you probably won't need to submit a research proposal for it. The broad aims and objectives for your PhD will already be defined: you just need to prove you're the right person to do it.
• But, if you're proposing your own research topic to research within a university's PhD programme, you will need to write a proposal for it (the clue is in the word "proposing")

As a rule, advertised PhDs are very common in STEM subjects, whereas Arts, Humanities and Social Science students are more likely to propose their own PhDs.

Some PhD programmes actually wait and ask students to develop their research proposal during the degree (usually after they've completed some initial training). This is normal in the USA , but it's becoming more common for some UKRI-funded UK PhDs.

For the purposes of this guide we're going to assume that you do need to write a good research proposal for your PhD application. So let's explore what's involved in that.

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What should a research proposal for PhD admission include?

It's natural to be a little intimidated at the thought of structuring a PhD proposal, particularly if you've never written anything like this before.

But here's the thing: a research proposal isn't a fiendish test designed to catch you out and stop you ever doing a PhD. It's actually much more boring than that.

All a research proposal really is is a document that demonstrates three things:

• Your PhD is worthwhile
• Your PhD is feasible
• You are capable of completing it at this university

Or to put it even more simply: the PhD is worth doing, it's doable and you can do it.

Demonstrate your PhD is worthwhile (the what and the why)

A successful PhD project has to make a significant original contribution to knowledge. If it doesn't, it won't meet the criteria for a doctoral degree and will probably fail the viva exam .

Your PhD proposal itself doesn't have to meet those criteria (or pass a viva!) but it does need to indicate that your PhD project eventually will.

It does that by first demonstrating that your research topic is original. That means nobody else has studied this same topic (or one very similar) before.

There are all sorts of ways a PhD can be original. You might examine new data or primary sources, to look at existing material from a fresh perspective, or deal with the impact of new events. It doesn't matter how your project is original, so long as your proposal is really specific about what makes it original.

You also need to explain why your proposed research will be academically significant. To do this properly, you'll need to acknowledge relevant existing scholarship and explain how your research will relate to it. You don't need to be exhaustive at this point, but you should be able to show how your PhD will contribute to its field and – ideally – indicate some of the gaps in knowledge it will aim to fill.

The final step in demonstrating your PhD is worthwhile is to suggest what will become possible as a result of your research. How could other researchers use or build upon your results? What might closing those gaps in academic knowledge mean for audiences outside the unviversity?

Demonstrate your PhD is feasible (the how)

It isn't enough just to show that your research is worth doing; it also needs to actually be doable.

The length of a full-time PhD is around three to four years in most countries (it's longer in for a PhD in the USA , but you don't spend all that time doing research).

Three years may seem like a long time, but researching a PhD is a lot of work and you'll probably spend at least some of your time on other activities like teaching, conference presentations or even publication.

So, one of the things your proposal needs to do is demonstrate that your project is feasible: that it fits within the scope of a PhD.

The most important criteria for this is to be clear about what you plan to do. It should be obvious from your proposal what the scope of your project is – what is and isn't included within it.

You also need to outline how you plan to go about your research. Where will you start and what order do you expect to proceed in? Is the logic for that obvious? If not, it's probably a good idea to explain it.

Finally, you need to explain the methodology you plan to use. This could include techniques for collecting data and sources, theoretical perspectives for analysing them – or both. You may also need to detail specific equipment you expect to use or fieldwork you'll need to undertake (including trips to archives or other external resources).

None of this needs to be exact or completely final. The key word here is 'plan' – but you do need to have one.

Demonstrate that you can complete it at this university (the who and the where)

So far we've thought about the project itself: what makes it worth doing and how it's going to get done. But your proposal also needs to address the who and the where: why are you the right person to carry out this research, and why do you want to do it at this particular university?

The first part of this is easier than it probably looks. Writing a good research proposal demonstrates enthusiasm for your project much more convincingly than simply saying you're very interested in it (a classic case of 'show, don't tell').

You also don't need to repeat your grades and academic achievements (other parts of your PhD application will cover those). Instead, try to underline experiences that relate to this project. Has a particular module or Masters dissertation topic prepared you with useful subject knowledge or methodological skills? If so, highlight it.

It's also fine, within reason, to be honest about the skills you don't have and to identify your training needs. This shows you're being practical about your project and thinking seriously about what it will require. Just make sure you can realistically acquire the skills and training you need within the time available (this goes back to the feasibility).

Showing your project is a good fit for the university is also relatively simple. There should already be some reasons why you've chosen this university for your PhD so make sure you explain what they are. Perhaps there's a particular supervisor you'd like to work with , or facilities and resources your research could use. The key is to emphasise the fit between the project and the university – so don't just say you want to research there because it's highly ranked .

PhD research proposal structure

Hopefully the above sections have given you a few ideas for the things your proposal needs to include. Let's be honest though, the scariest thing about a proposal isn't deciding what to include: it's actually writing it.

But, if we flip that on its head, we remember that all a research proposal really is is a piece of writing that follows a pretty standard format. And that's a lot less scary.

Research proposal structure

Because proposals for PhD all have to do the same things, they mostly follow a similar structure. Yours will probably go something like this:

• Title – Keep it simple and descriptive: the clever alliteration and quotes can come later when you write up your thesis. For now, you just want the person reading this to know exactly what your research is about and, perhaps, which prospective supervisor to send it to.
• Overview – Start by defining your research question (the what) and explaining how it contributes to current work in your field (the why). This is also a good place to reference one or two pieces of scholarship: the full literature review can wait until your PhD begins, but you should show that you have some understanding of relevant academic research.
• Methodology – Make sure the reader understands the practical and / or theoretical approaches you'll take to your research. What data will you collect, how will you collect it and how will you analyse it? Ideally refer to relevant research methods and models. It's also a good idea to provide some sort of roadmap for how you'll go about things. Don't worry, you can change it later (and you will).
• Outcomes and impact – What will exist as a result of your research (other than just another PhD on a library shelf) and what will it make possible? You don't need to identify every specific outcome from your project (blue sky research is fine) but you should think about what some potential outcomes might be.

You probably won't need to include a specific conclusion - it should be obvious, by now, what your project is doing, how you're going to do it and why that matters. A quick summary sentence is fine though, if you think it will help.

Writing tips

Being able to effectively communicate academic concepts, ideas and results is a key skill for PhD research in all subjects . Think of your proposal as a chance to demonstrate this.

The good news is that the key principles of good proposal writing aren't that different from other work you've probably done as a Bachelors or Masters student:

• Be clear – The person reading your research proposal should know exactly what it is you're proposing to research, with no room for ambiguity and confusion. This is important on a practical level (they need to know where to send it) but it's also important to the success of your application: a confusing proposal suggests a confused project. Try having a friend read it and ask them "do you know what it is I'm proposing to do here?" (even if they don't understand the details).
• Be concise – You will have more ideas than you can include in your proposal. That's fine. Choose the best ones and leave the others for your interview .
• be coherent – Follow something like the structure above. Don't start with your methodology, then say what it is you want to research.

How long should a PhD research proposal be?

Honestly? As long as the university asks for it to be. Most will have guidelines and you should follow them closely if so.

If you honestly can't find a suggested word count for your proposal, then consider asking a prospective supervisor . If you still aren't sure, aim for somewhere between 1,000-2,000 words .

As a very general rule, Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences are a bit longer than STEM proposals (and a lot of STEM students don't have to write one anyway, as we've explained).

Research proposal for PhD admission - dos and don'ts

Research proposals are a popular topic over on the FindAPhD blog , where we've shared stories of how students wrote theirs , along with mistakes to avoid and a counter-intuitive look at the things a PhD proposal doesn't actually need to do .

Here are a few general tips and mistakes to avoid:

#1 Give yourself enough time to do a good job

Preparing to write a PhD proposal takes time and effort. None of this is wasted as the process of evaluating and framing your ideas for a proposal will improve your project plan immensely. So will the need to decide which ideas to include.

But you need time and space to do that, so make sure you get it. How long it will take to write your PhD proposal is heavily dependent on your personal working style, but you'll likely need to give yourself at least a few weeks to do a good job.

#2 Set out to impress

A good proposal isn't a begging letter. You're approaching the university with a great idea that's going to contribute to and enhance their research. Be honest, be realistic, but don't be unnecessarily humble. They should want you and your project.

#3 Demonstrate original thinking!

You may not need to present original research findings yet, but your proposal does need to present original ideas – and it should be clear why and how those ideas are original.

Make sure you indicate how your project is going to expand, enhance or even correct existing work in your field. Remember that making an "original contribution to knowledge" is a key part of what a PhD is .

#1 Send the same proposal to several universities

A good proposal needs to explain why you want to do your research at a particular university. That's a big part of the feasibility (the fit between project, person and place) and methodology (how are you going to use this university's equipment and archives; when and where will you need to travel).

It's OK to apply to more than one university in parallel, but, in that case, you're writing research proposals .

#2 Use online proposal templates (without evaluating them first!)

It can be tempting to search for PhD proposal samples on the internet, but make sure you evaluate what you find. Some websites may host old proposals from previous PhD students, but there's no way of knowing how relevant these are to your subject and university – or if they were even successful! More 'generic' research proposal examples can offer guidance, but they won't be tailored to your specific project.

The best place to look for a PhD proposal sample is your university. Consider asking your supervisor if they can share a good proposal from a previous student in your subject – or put you in touch with a current student you can ask.

#3 Confuse the proposal with the PhD

We've covered this on the blog , but it's simple enough to include here too.

You're setting out to do a PhD, but you (probably!) haven't done one yet. So you don't need to include research findings, in-depth analysis or a comprehesive literature review. You need to make a case for the research and analysis you want to do.

#4 Ignore your university's help and guidance

The advice on this page is necessarily quite general. We're considering adding guides to writing PhD proposals in specific subjects in future but, for now, the best place to get specific advice for your academic field is probably the university you're applying to.

See if you can get some subject-specific tips by contacting a supervisor , or just checking with the admissions team for your department.

And remember: if they give you a structure and a word count, stick to it.

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We've answered some of the most frequently asked questions about PhDs, covering course types, applications, funding and the benefits of further study.

Getting ready to apply for a PhD? Our guides explain research proposals, references and entry tests for doctoral programmes.

Our guide explains how to contact a potential PhD supervisor to discuss your proposal or ideas with them before applying.

A checklist of the things you'll need to do when making an international PhD application, from meeting the entry requirements to sorting out your visa.

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How to nail your PhD proposal and get accepted

Bethany Fagan Head of Content Marketing at PandaDoc

Reviewed by:

Olga Asheychik Senior Web Analytics Manager at PandaDoc

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A good PhD research proposal may be the deciding factor between acceptance and approval into your desired program or finding yourself back at the drawing board. Being accepted for a PhD placement is no easy task, and this is why your PhD proposal needs to truly stand out among a sea of submissions.

That’s why a PhD research proposal is important: It formally outlines the intended research, including methodology, timeline, feasibility, and many other factors that need to be taken into consideration.

Here is a closer look at the PhD proposal process and what it should look like.

→DOWNLOAD NOW: FREE PHD PROPOSAL TEMPLATE

Key takeaways

• A PhD proposal summarizes the research project you intend to conduct as part of your PhD program.
• These proposals are relatively short (1000-2000 words), and should include all basic information and project goals, including the methodologies/strategies you intend to use in order to accomplish them.
• Formats are varied. You may be able to create your own formats, but your college or university may have a required document structure that you should follow.

What is a PhD proposal?

In short, a PhD research proposal is a summary of the project you intend to undertake as part of your PhD program.

It should pose a specific question or idea, make a case for the research, and explain the predicted outcomes of that research.

However, while your PhD proposal may predict expected outcomes, it won’t fully answer your questions for the reader.

Your research into the topic will provide that answer.

Usually, a PhD proposal contains the following elements:

• A clear question that you intend to answer through copious amounts of study and research.
• Your plan to answer that question, including any methodologies, frameworks, and resources required to adequately find the answer.
• Why your question or project is significant to your specific field of study.
• How your proposal impacts, challenges, or improves the existing body of knowledge around a given topic.
• Why your work is important and why you should be the one to receive this opportunity.

In terms of length when writing a PhD proposal, there isn’t a universal answer.

Some institutions will require a short, concise proposal (1000 words), while others allow for a greater amount of flexibility in the length and format of the proposal.

Fortunately, most institutions will provide some guidelines regarding the format and length of your research proposal, so you should have a strong idea of your requirements before you begin.

Benefits of a strong PhD application

While the most obvious benefit of having a strong PhD application is being accepted to the PhD program , there are other reasons to build the strongest PhD application you can:

Better funding opportunities

Many PhD programs offer funding to students , which can be used to cover tuition fees and may provide a stipend for living expenses.

The stronger your PhD application, the better your chances of being offered funding opportunities that can alleviate financial burdens and allow you to focus on your research.

Enhanced academic credentials

A strong PhD application, particularly in hot-button areas of study, can lead to better career opportunities in academics or across a variety of industries.

Opportunities for networking and research

Research proposals that are very well grounded can provide footholds to networking opportunities and mentorships that would not be otherwise available.

However, creating an incredible proposal isn’t always easy.

In fact, it’s easy to get confused by the process since it requires a lot of procedural information.

Many institutions also place a heavy emphasis on using the correct proposal structure.

That doesn’t have to be the issue, though.

Often, pre-designed templates, like the PandaDoc research proposal templates or PhD proposal templates provided by the institution of your choice, can do most of the heavy lifting for you.

Research Proposal Template

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How to write a Phd proposal with a clear structure

We know that the prospect of writing a research proposal for PhD admission may appear the stuff of nightmares. Even more so if you are new to producing a piece such as this.

But, when you get down to the nitty gritty of what it is, it really isn’t so intimidating. When writing your PhD proposal you need to show that your PhD is worth it, achievable, and that you have the ability to do it at your chosen university.

With all of that in mind, let’s take a closer look at each section of a standard PhD research proposal and the overall structure.

1. Front matter

The first pages of your PhD proposal should outline the basic information about the project. That will include each of the following:

Project title

Typically placed on the first page, your title should be engaging enough to attract attention and clear enough that readers will understand what you’re trying to achieve.

Many proposals also include a secondary headline to further (concisely) clarify the main concept.

Contact information

Depending on the instructions provided by your institution, you may need to include your basic contact information with your proposal.

Some institutions may ask for blind submissions and ask that you omit identifying information, so check the program guidelines to be sure.

Research supervisor

If you already have a supervisor for the project, you’ll typically want to list that information.

Someone who is established in the field can add credibility to your proposal, particularly if your project requires extensive funding or has special considerations.

The guidelines from your PhD program should provide some guidance regarding any other auxiliary information that you should add to the front of your proposal.

Be sure to check all documentation to ensure that everything fits into the designated format.

2. Goals, summaries, and objectives

Once you’ve added the basic information to your document, you’ll need to get into the meat of your PhD proposal.

Depending on your institution, your research proposal may need to follow a rigid format or you may have the flexibility to add various sections and fully explain your concepts.

These sections will primarily be focused on providing high-level overviews surrounding your PhD proposal, including most of the following:

Overall aims, objectives, and goals

In these sections, you’ll need to state plainly what you aim to accomplish with your PhD research.

If awarded funding, what questions will your PHd proposal seek to answer? What theories will you test? What concepts will you explore in your research?

Briefly, how would you summarize your approach to this project?

Provide high-level summaries detailing how you mean to achieve your answers, what the predicted outcomes of your PhD research might be, and precisely what you intend to test or discover.

Significance

Why does your research matter? Unlike with many other forms of academic study (such as a master’s thesis ), doctorate-level research often pushes the bounds of specific fields or contributes to a given body of work in some unique way.

How will your proposed PhD research do those things?

Background details

Because PhD research is about pushing boundaries, adding background context regarding the current state of affairs in your given field can help readers better understand why you want to pursue this research and how you arrived at this specific point of interest.

While the information here may (or may not) be broken into multiple sections, the content here is largely designed to provide a high-level overview of your PhD proposal and entice readers to dig deeper into the methodologies and angles of approach in future sections.

Because so much of this section relies on the remainder of your document, it’s sometimes better to skip this portion of the PhD proposal until the later sections are complete and then circle back to it.

That way, you can provide concise summaries that refer to fully defined research methods that you’ve already explained in subsequent areas.

3. Methodologies and plans

Unlike a master’s thesis or a similar academic document, PhD research is designed to push the boundaries of its subject matter in some way.

The idea behind doctoral research is to expand the field with new insights and viewpoints that are the culmination of years of research and study, combined with a deep familiarity of the topic at hand.

The methodologies and work plans you provide will give advisors some insights into how you plan to conduct your research.

While there is no one right way to develop this section, you’ll need to include a few key details:

Research methods

Are there specific research methods you plan to use to conduct your PhD research?

Are you conducting experiments? Conducting qualitative research? Surveying specific individuals in a given environment?

Benefits and drawbacks of your approach

Regardless of your approach to your topic, there will be upsides and downsides to that methodology.

Explain what you feel are the primary benefits to your research method, where there are potential flaws, and how you plan to account for those shortfalls.

Choice of methodology

Why did you choose a given methodology?

What makes it the best method (or collection of methods) for your research and/or specific use case?

Outline of proposed work

What work is required for PhD research to be complete?

What steps will you need to take in order to capture the appropriate information? How will you complete those steps?

Schedule of work (including timelines/deadlines)

How long will it take you to complete each stage or step of your project?

If your PhDproject will take several years, you may need to provide specifics for more immediate timelines up front while future deadlines may be flexible or estimated.

There is some flexibility here.

It’s unlikely that your advisors will expect you to have the answer for every question regarding how you plan to approach your body of research.

When trying to push the boundaries of any given topic, it’s expected that some things may not go to plan.

However, you should do your best to make timelines and schedules of work that are consistent with your listed goals.

Remember : At the end of your work, you are expected to have a body of original research that is complete within the scope and limitations of the PhD proposal you set forth.

If your advisors feel that your subject matter is too broad, they may encourage you to narrow the scope to better fit into more standardized expectations.

4. Resources and citations

No PhD research proposal is complete without a full list of the resources required to carry out the project and references to help prove and validate the research.

Here’s a closer look at what you’ll need to submit in order to explain costs and prove the validity of your proposal:

Estimated costs and resources

Most doctoral programs offer some level of funding for these projects.

To take advantage of those funds, you’ll need to submit a budget of estimated costs so that assessors can better understand the financial requirements.

This might include equipment, expenses for fieldwork or travel, and more.

Citations and bibliographies

No matter your field of study, doctoral research is built on the data and observations provided by past contributors.

Because of this, you’ll need to provide citations and sources referenced in your PhD proposal documentation.

Particularly when it comes to finances and funding, it might be tempting to downplay the cost of the project.

However, it’s best to provide a realistic estimate in terms of costs so that you have enough of a budget to cover the PhD research.

Adjustments can be made at a later date, particularly as you conduct more research and dive further into the project.

Resources are often presented in the form of a table to make things easier to track and identify.

Using PhD proposal templates

Aside from any guidelines set forth by your institution, there are no particularly strict rules when it comes to the format of PhD proposals.

Your supervisor will be more than capable of guiding you through the process.

However, since everything is so structured and formal, you might want to use a PhD proposal template to help you get started.

Templates can help you stay on track and make sure your research proposal follows a certain logic.

A lot of proposal software solutions offer templates for different types of proposals, including PhD proposals.

But, should you use Phd proposal templates? Here are some pros and cons to help you make a decision.

• Expedites the proposal process.
• Helps you jumpstart the process with a flexible document structure.
• Often provides sections with pre-filled examples.
• Looks better than your average Word document.
• May be limiting if you adhere to it too much.
• Might not be perfectly suited to your specific field of research, requiring some customization.

In our PhD research proposal template , we give you just enough direction to help you follow through but we don’t limit your creativity to a point that you can’t express yourself and all the nuances of your research.

For almost all sections, you get a few useful PhD research proposal examples to point you in the right direction.

The template provides you with a typical PhD proposal structure that’s perfect for almost all disciplines.

It can come in quite handy when you have everything planned out in your head but you’re just having trouble putting it onto the page!

Writing a PhD proposal that convinces

Writing and completing a PhD proposal might be confusing at first.

You need to follow a certain logic and share all the required information without going too long or sharing too much about the project.

And, while your supervisor will certainly be there to guide you, the brunt of the work will still fall on your shoulders.

That’s why you need to stay informed, do your research, and don’t give up until you feel comfortable with what you’ve created.

If you want to get a head start, you might want to consider our research proposal template .

It will offer you a structure to follow when writing a PhD proposal and give you an idea on what to write in each section.

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Research proposals for PhD admission: tips and advice

One of the most important tips for any piece of writing is to know your audience. The staff reviewing your PhD proposal are going through a pile of them, so you need to make sure yours stands within a few seconds of opening it.

The way to do this is by demonstrating value and impact. Academic work is often written for a niche community of researchers in one field, so you need to demonstrate why your work would be valuable to people in that area.

The people reviewing your proposal will likely be in that field. So your proposal should be a little like a sales pitch: you need to write something engaging that identifies with the “customer”, speaks to a problem they’re having, and shows them a solution.

Taking some inspiration from the former University of Chicago professor Larry McEnerney , here are some ideas to keep in mind…

• It’s common for undergraduates and even seasoned academics to write in a specific format or style to demonstrate their understanding and signal that they’re part of the academic community. Instead, you want to write in such a way that actually engages the reader.
• Identify an uncharted or underexplored knowledge gap in your field, and show the reader you have what it takes to fill in that gap.
• Challenge the status quo. Set up an idea that people in your field take for granted — maybe a famous study you think is flawed — and outline how your project could knock it down.
• This is why it’s important to understand who your audience is. You have to write your proposal in such a way that it’s valuable for reviewers. But within your proposal, you should also clearly define which community of researchers your project is for, what problems they have, and how your project is going to solve those problems.
• Every community of researchers has their own implicit “codes” and “keywords” that signal understanding. These will be very different in each field and could be very subtle. But just by reading successful PhD research proposal examples in your field, you can get a sense of what those are and decide how you want to employ them in your own work.
• In this model authors start “at the bottom of the glass” with a very narrow introduction to the idea of the paper, then “fill the glass” with a broader and broader version of the same idea.
• Instead, follow a “problem-solution” framework. Introduce a problem that’s relevant to your intended reader, then offer a solution. Since “solutions” often raise their own new problems or questions, you can rinse and repeat this framework all the way through any section of your proposal.

But how can you apply that advice? If you’re following something like our research proposal template , here are some actionable ways to get started.

• Your title should be eye-catching , and signal value by speaking to either a gap in the field or challenging the status quo.
• Your abstract should speak to a problem in the field, one the reviewers will care about, and clearly outline how you’d like to solve it.
• When you list the objectives of your proposal , each one should repeat this problem-solution framework. You should concretely state what you want to achieve, and what you’re going to do to achieve it.
• While you survey your chosen field in the literature review, you should refer back to the knowledge gap or status quo that you intend to work on. This reinforces how important your proposed project is, and how valuable it would be to the community if your project was successful.
• While listing your research limitations , try to hint at new territory researchers might be able to explore off the back of your work. This illustrates that you’re proposing boundary-pushing work that will really advance knowledge of the field.
• While you’re outlining your funding requirements , be clear about why each line item is necessary and bring it back to the value of your proposed research. Every cent counts!

Frequently asked questions

How long should a phd proposal be.

There really isn’t a specific rule when it comes to the length of a PhD proposal. However, it’s generally accepted that it should be between 1,000 and 2,000 words.

It’s difficult to elaborate on such a serious project in less than 1,000 words but going over 2,000 is often overkill. You’ll lose people’s attention and water down your points.

What’s the difference between a dissertation proposal and a PhD proposal?

There seems to be some confusion over the terms “dissertation” and “PhD” and how you write proposals for each one. However, “dissertation” is just another name for your PhD research so the proposal for a dissertation would be the same since it’s quite literally the same thing.

Does a PhD proposal include budgeting?

Yes, as mentioned, you need to demonstrate the feasibility of your project within the given time frame and with the resources you need, including budgets. You don’t need to be exact, but you need to have accurate estimates for everything.

How is a PhD proposal evaluated?

This will change from one institution to another but these things will generally have a big impact on the reviewers:

• The contribution of the project to the field.
• Design and feasibility of the project.
• The validity of the methodology and objectives.
• The supervisor and their role in the field.

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Originally published June 9, 2023, updated February 6, 2024

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Tips for Grads: A guide to writing grant proposals

By Olivia Gacka, PhD Student

One of the things we hear about most often from graduate students is the difficulty and confusion they face when applying for grants. It can feel discouraging if you aren’t sure what to do, what to write, or where to apply! Luckily, the Writing Center has compiled an extremely helpful guide, Planning and Writing a Grant Proposal: The Basics . I would recommend taking the time to read the entire guide for yourself, but in the meantime, here are three key takeaways:

• There is no one size fits all grant proposal: As much as I love to avoid duplicating my work, it is best to tailor grant proposals to the organization, what they are looking for, and what their expectations are for the proposal format and for the usage of the grant itself. You can certainly borrow parts of previous grants you’ve written for the project before, but you should approach each one with your specific audience in mind.
• The smaller grants are worth it: When I think about applying for grant funding, I’ve often narrowed my search to the bigger options out there. My main logic has always been to try to make the investment of my time spent writing the proposal “worth it”, in terms of how much money I get out of it. But the guide reminds us that securing a handful of smaller grants can be a worthwhile strategic move in making your proposal more attractive to larger funding operations. Sometimes, the value of a grant doesn’t just come from the money, but from the weight it lends to your endeavors.
• Grant writing is an exciting thing: I was really surprised to read those words, because my first thought when I know I’m going to need to apply for grants is that doing so is a task and a chore. But the Writing Center encourages us to remember that being in this position means that we have something we are passionate about, something we are doing that no one else is, or an exciting idea that we want to bring to life. Reframing our mindset from “this is something I have to do” to “this is something I get to do” is an essential step in writing a great grant proposal.

Tips for Grads is a professional and academic advice column written by graduate students for graduate students at UW­–Madison. It is published in the student newsletter, GradConnections Weekly.

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Grant Proposals (or Give me the money!)

What this handout is about.

This handout will help you write and revise grant proposals for research funding in all academic disciplines (sciences, social sciences, humanities, and the arts). It’s targeted primarily to graduate students and faculty, although it will also be helpful to undergraduate students who are seeking funding for research (e.g. for a senior thesis).

The grant writing process

A grant proposal or application is a document or set of documents that is submitted to an organization with the explicit intent of securing funding for a research project. Grant writing varies widely across the disciplines, and research intended for epistemological purposes (philosophy or the arts) rests on very different assumptions than research intended for practical applications (medicine or social policy research). Nonetheless, this handout attempts to provide a general introduction to grant writing across the disciplines.

Before you begin writing your proposal, you need to know what kind of research you will be doing and why. You may have a topic or experiment in mind, but taking the time to define what your ultimate purpose is can be essential to convincing others to fund that project. Although some scholars in the humanities and arts may not have thought about their projects in terms of research design, hypotheses, research questions, or results, reviewers and funding agencies expect you to frame your project in these terms. You may also find that thinking about your project in these terms reveals new aspects of it to you.

Writing successful grant applications is a long process that begins with an idea. Although many people think of grant writing as a linear process (from idea to proposal to award), it is a circular process. Many people start by defining their research question or questions. What knowledge or information will be gained as a direct result of your project? Why is undertaking your research important in a broader sense? You will need to explicitly communicate this purpose to the committee reviewing your application. This is easier when you know what you plan to achieve before you begin the writing process.

Diagram 1 below provides an overview of the grant writing process and may help you plan your proposal development.

Applicants must write grant proposals, submit them, receive notice of acceptance or rejection, and then revise their proposals. Unsuccessful grant applicants must revise and resubmit their proposals during the next funding cycle. Successful grant applications and the resulting research lead to ideas for further research and new grant proposals.

Cultivating an ongoing, positive relationship with funding agencies may lead to additional grants down the road. Thus, make sure you file progress reports and final reports in a timely and professional manner. Although some successful grant applicants may fear that funding agencies will reject future proposals because they’ve already received “enough” funding, the truth is that money follows money. Individuals or projects awarded grants in the past are more competitive and thus more likely to receive funding in the future.

Some general tips

• Begin early.
• Apply early and often.
• Don’t forget to include a cover letter with your application.
• Answer all questions. (Pre-empt all unstated questions.)
• If rejected, revise your proposal and apply again.
• Give them what they want. Follow the application guidelines exactly.
• Be explicit and specific.
• Be realistic in designing the project.
• Make explicit the connections between your research questions and objectives, your objectives and methods, your methods and results, and your results and dissemination plan.
• Follow the application guidelines exactly. (We have repeated this tip because it is very, very important.)

Before you start writing

Identify your needs and focus.

First, identify your needs. Answering the following questions may help you:

• Are you undertaking preliminary or pilot research in order to develop a full-blown research agenda?
• Are you seeking funding for dissertation research? Pre-dissertation research? Postdoctoral research? Archival research? Experimental research? Fieldwork?
• Are you seeking a stipend so that you can write a dissertation or book? Polish a manuscript?
• Do you want a fellowship in residence at an institution that will offer some programmatic support or other resources to enhance your project?
• Do you want funding for a large research project that will last for several years and involve multiple staff members?

Next, think about the focus of your research/project. Answering the following questions may help you narrow it down:

• What is the topic? Why is this topic important?
• What are the research questions that you’re trying to answer? What relevance do your research questions have?
• What are your hypotheses?
• What are your research methods?
• Why is your research/project important? What is its significance?
• Do you plan on using quantitative methods? Qualitative methods? Both?
• Will you be undertaking experimental research? Clinical research?

Once you have identified your needs and focus, you can begin looking for prospective grants and funding agencies.

Finding prospective grants and funding agencies

Whether your proposal receives funding will rely in large part on whether your purpose and goals closely match the priorities of granting agencies. Locating possible grantors is a time consuming task, but in the long run it will yield the greatest benefits. Even if you have the most appealing research proposal in the world, if you don’t send it to the right institutions, then you’re unlikely to receive funding.

There are many sources of information about granting agencies and grant programs. Most universities and many schools within universities have Offices of Research, whose primary purpose is to support faculty and students in grant-seeking endeavors. These offices usually have libraries or resource centers to help people find prospective grants.

At UNC, the Research at Carolina office coordinates research support.

The Funding Information Portal offers a collection of databases and proposal development guidance.

The UNC School of Medicine and School of Public Health each have their own Office of Research.

Writing your proposal

The majority of grant programs recruit academic reviewers with knowledge of the disciplines and/or program areas of the grant. Thus, when writing your grant proposals, assume that you are addressing a colleague who is knowledgeable in the general area, but who does not necessarily know the details about your research questions.

Remember that most readers are lazy and will not respond well to a poorly organized, poorly written, or confusing proposal. Be sure to give readers what they want. Follow all the guidelines for the particular grant you are applying for. This may require you to reframe your project in a different light or language. Reframing your project to fit a specific grant’s requirements is a legitimate and necessary part of the process unless it will fundamentally change your project’s goals or outcomes.

Final decisions about which proposals are funded often come down to whether the proposal convinces the reviewer that the research project is well planned and feasible and whether the investigators are well qualified to execute it. Throughout the proposal, be as explicit as possible. Predict the questions that the reviewer may have and answer them. Przeworski and Salomon (1995) note that reviewers read with three questions in mind:

• What are we going to learn as a result of the proposed project that we do not know now? (goals, aims, and outcomes)
• Why is it worth knowing? (significance)
• How will we know that the conclusions are valid? (criteria for success) (2)

Be sure to answer these questions in your proposal. Keep in mind that reviewers may not read every word of your proposal. Your reviewer may only read the abstract, the sections on research design and methodology, the vitae, and the budget. Make these sections as clear and straightforward as possible.

The way you write your grant will tell the reviewers a lot about you (Reif-Lehrer 82). From reading your proposal, the reviewers will form an idea of who you are as a scholar, a researcher, and a person. They will decide whether you are creative, logical, analytical, up-to-date in the relevant literature of the field, and, most importantly, capable of executing the proposed project. Allow your discipline and its conventions to determine the general style of your writing, but allow your own voice and personality to come through. Be sure to clarify your project’s theoretical orientation.

Develop a general proposal and budget

Because most proposal writers seek funding from several different agencies or granting programs, it is a good idea to begin by developing a general grant proposal and budget. This general proposal is sometimes called a “white paper.” Your general proposal should explain your project to a general academic audience. Before you submit proposals to different grant programs, you will tailor a specific proposal to their guidelines and priorities.

Organizing your proposal

Although each funding agency will have its own (usually very specific) requirements, there are several elements of a proposal that are fairly standard, and they often come in the following order:

• Introduction (statement of the problem, purpose of research or goals, and significance of research)

Literature review

• Project narrative (methods, procedures, objectives, outcomes or deliverables, evaluation, and dissemination)
• Budget and budget justification

Format the proposal so that it is easy to read. Use headings to break the proposal up into sections. If it is long, include a table of contents with page numbers.

The title page usually includes a brief yet explicit title for the research project, the names of the principal investigator(s), the institutional affiliation of the applicants (the department and university), name and address of the granting agency, project dates, amount of funding requested, and signatures of university personnel authorizing the proposal (when necessary). Most funding agencies have specific requirements for the title page; make sure to follow them.

The abstract provides readers with their first impression of your project. To remind themselves of your proposal, readers may glance at your abstract when making their final recommendations, so it may also serve as their last impression of your project. The abstract should explain the key elements of your research project in the future tense. Most abstracts state: (1) the general purpose, (2) specific goals, (3) research design, (4) methods, and (5) significance (contribution and rationale). Be as explicit as possible in your abstract. Use statements such as, “The objective of this study is to …”

Introduction

The introduction should cover the key elements of your proposal, including a statement of the problem, the purpose of research, research goals or objectives, and significance of the research. The statement of problem should provide a background and rationale for the project and establish the need and relevance of the research. How is your project different from previous research on the same topic? Will you be using new methodologies or covering new theoretical territory? The research goals or objectives should identify the anticipated outcomes of the research and should match up to the needs identified in the statement of problem. List only the principle goal(s) or objective(s) of your research and save sub-objectives for the project narrative.

Many proposals require a literature review. Reviewers want to know whether you’ve done the necessary preliminary research to undertake your project. Literature reviews should be selective and critical, not exhaustive. Reviewers want to see your evaluation of pertinent works. For more information, see our handout on literature reviews .

Project narrative

The project narrative provides the meat of your proposal and may require several subsections. The project narrative should supply all the details of the project, including a detailed statement of problem, research objectives or goals, hypotheses, methods, procedures, outcomes or deliverables, and evaluation and dissemination of the research.

For the project narrative, pre-empt and/or answer all of the reviewers’ questions. Don’t leave them wondering about anything. For example, if you propose to conduct unstructured interviews with open-ended questions, be sure you’ve explained why this methodology is best suited to the specific research questions in your proposal. Or, if you’re using item response theory rather than classical test theory to verify the validity of your survey instrument, explain the advantages of this innovative methodology. Or, if you need to travel to Valdez, Alaska to access historical archives at the Valdez Museum, make it clear what documents you hope to find and why they are relevant to your historical novel on the ’98ers in the Alaskan Gold Rush.

Clearly and explicitly state the connections between your research objectives, research questions, hypotheses, methodologies, and outcomes. As the requirements for a strong project narrative vary widely by discipline, consult a discipline-specific guide to grant writing for some additional advice.

Explain staffing requirements in detail and make sure that staffing makes sense. Be very explicit about the skill sets of the personnel already in place (you will probably include their Curriculum Vitae as part of the proposal). Explain the necessary skill sets and functions of personnel you will recruit. To minimize expenses, phase out personnel who are not relevant to later phases of a project.

The budget spells out project costs and usually consists of a spreadsheet or table with the budget detailed as line items and a budget narrative (also known as a budget justification) that explains the various expenses. Even when proposal guidelines do not specifically mention a narrative, be sure to include a one or two page explanation of the budget. To see a sample budget, turn to Example #1 at the end of this handout.

Consider including an exhaustive budget for your project, even if it exceeds the normal grant size of a particular funding organization. Simply make it clear that you are seeking additional funding from other sources. This technique will make it easier for you to combine awards down the road should you have the good fortune of receiving multiple grants.

Make sure that all budget items meet the funding agency’s requirements. For example, all U.S. government agencies have strict requirements for airline travel. Be sure the cost of the airline travel in your budget meets their requirements. If a line item falls outside an agency’s requirements (e.g. some organizations will not cover equipment purchases or other capital expenses), explain in the budget justification that other grant sources will pay for the item.

Many universities require that indirect costs (overhead) be added to grants that they administer. Check with the appropriate offices to find out what the standard (or required) rates are for overhead. Pass a draft budget by the university officer in charge of grant administration for assistance with indirect costs and costs not directly associated with research (e.g. facilities use charges).

Furthermore, make sure you factor in the estimated taxes applicable for your case. Depending on the categories of expenses and your particular circumstances (whether you are a foreign national, for example), estimated tax rates may differ. You can consult respective departmental staff or university services, as well as professional tax assistants. For information on taxes on scholarships and fellowships, see https://cashier.unc.edu/student-tax-information/scholarships-fellowships/ .

Explain the timeframe for the research project in some detail. When will you begin and complete each step? It may be helpful to reviewers if you present a visual version of your timeline. For less complicated research, a table summarizing the timeline for the project will help reviewers understand and evaluate the planning and feasibility. See Example #2 at the end of this handout.

For multi-year research proposals with numerous procedures and a large staff, a time line diagram can help clarify the feasibility and planning of the study. See Example #3 at the end of this handout.

Revising your proposal

Strong grant proposals take a long time to develop. Start the process early and leave time to get feedback from several readers on different drafts. Seek out a variety of readers, both specialists in your research area and non-specialist colleagues. You may also want to request assistance from knowledgeable readers on specific areas of your proposal. For example, you may want to schedule a meeting with a statistician to help revise your methodology section. Don’t hesitate to seek out specialized assistance from the relevant research offices on your campus. At UNC, the Odum Institute provides a variety of services to graduate students and faculty in the social sciences.

In your revision and editing, ask your readers to give careful consideration to whether you’ve made explicit the connections between your research objectives and methodology. Here are some example questions:

• Have you presented a compelling case?
• Have you made your hypotheses explicit?
• Does your project seem feasible? Is it overly ambitious? Does it have other weaknesses?
• Have you stated the means that grantors can use to evaluate the success of your project after you’ve executed it?

If a granting agency lists particular criteria used for rating and evaluating proposals, be sure to share these with your own reviewers.

Example #1. Sample Budget

Jet travel $6,100 This estimate is based on the commercial high season rate for jet economy travel on Sabena Belgian Airlines. No U.S. carriers fly to Kigali, Rwanda. Sabena has student fare tickets available which will be significantly less expensive (approximately $2,000).

Maintenance allowance $22,788 Based on the Fulbright-Hays Maintenance Allowances published in the grant application guide.

Research assistant/translator $4,800 The research assistant/translator will be a native (and primary) speaker of Kinya-rwanda with at least a four-year university degree. They will accompany the primary investigator during life history interviews to provide assistance in comprehension. In addition, they will provide commentary, explanations, and observations to facilitate the primary investigator’s participant observation. During the first phase of the project in Kigali, the research assistant will work forty hours a week and occasional overtime as needed. During phases two and three in rural Rwanda, the assistant will stay with the investigator overnight in the field when necessary. The salary of $400 per month is based on the average pay rate for individuals with similar qualifications working for international NGO’s in Rwanda.

Transportation within country, phase one $1,200 The primary investigator and research assistant will need regular transportation within Kigali by bus and taxi. The average taxi fare in Kigali is $6-8 and bus fare is $.15. This figure is based on an average of $10 per day in transportation costs during the first project phase.

Transportation within country, phases two and three $12,000 Project personnel will also require regular transportation between rural field sites. If it is not possible to remain overnight, daily trips will be necessary. The average rental rate for a 4×4 vehicle in Rwanda is $130 per day. This estimate is based on an average of $50 per day in transportation costs for the second and third project phases. These costs could be reduced if an arrangement could be made with either a government ministry or international aid agency for transportation assistance.

Email $720 The rate for email service from RwandaTel (the only service provider in Rwanda) is $60 per month. Email access is vital for receiving news reports on Rwanda and the region as well as for staying in contact with dissertation committee members and advisors in the United States.

Audiocassette tapes $400 Audiocassette tapes will be necessary for recording life history interviews, musical performances, community events, story telling, and other pertinent data.

Photographic & slide film $100 Photographic and slide film will be necessary to document visual data such as landscape, environment, marriages, funerals, community events, etc.

Laptop computer $2,895 A laptop computer will be necessary for recording observations, thoughts, and analysis during research project. Price listed is a special offer to UNC students through the Carolina Computing Initiative.

NUD*IST 4.0 software $373.00 NUD*IST, “Nonnumerical, Unstructured Data, Indexing, Searching, and Theorizing,” is necessary for cataloging, indexing, and managing field notes both during and following the field research phase. The program will assist in cataloging themes that emerge during the life history interviews.

Administrative fee $100 Fee set by Fulbright-Hays for the sponsoring institution.

Example #2: Project Timeline in Table Format

Example #3: Project Timeline in Chart Format

Some closing advice

Some of us may feel ashamed or embarrassed about asking for money or promoting ourselves. Often, these feelings have more to do with our own insecurities than with problems in the tone or style of our writing. If you’re having trouble because of these types of hang-ups, the most important thing to keep in mind is that it never hurts to ask. If you never ask for the money, they’ll never give you the money. Besides, the worst thing they can do is say no.

UNC resources for proposal writing

Research at Carolina http://research.unc.edu

The Odum Institute for Research in the Social Sciences https://odum.unc.edu/

UNC Medical School Office of Research https://www.med.unc.edu/oor

UNC School of Public Health Office of Research http://www.sph.unc.edu/research/

Works consulted

We consulted these works while writing this handout. This is not a comprehensive list of resources on the handout’s topic, and we encourage you to do your own research to find additional publications. Please do not use this list as a model for the format of your own reference list, as it may not match the citation style you are using. For guidance on formatting citations, please see the UNC Libraries citation tutorial . We revise these tips periodically and welcome feedback.

Holloway, Brian R. 2003. Proposal Writing Across the Disciplines. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall.

Levine, S. Joseph. “Guide for Writing a Funding Proposal.” http://www.learnerassociates.net/proposal/ .

Locke, Lawrence F., Waneen Wyrick Spirduso, and Stephen J. Silverman. 2014. Proposals That Work . Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Przeworski, Adam, and Frank Salomon. 2012. “Some Candid Suggestions on the Art of Writing Proposals.” Social Science Research Council. https://s3.amazonaws.com/ssrc-cdn2/art-of-writing-proposals-dsd-e-56b50ef814f12.pdf .

Reif-Lehrer, Liane. 1989. Writing a Successful Grant Application . Boston: Jones and Bartlett Publishers.

Wiggins, Beverly. 2002. “Funding and Proposal Writing for Social Science Faculty and Graduate Student Research.” Chapel Hill: Howard W. Odum Institute for Research in Social Science. 2 Feb. 2004. http://www2.irss.unc.edu/irss/shortcourses/wigginshandouts/granthandout.pdf.

You may reproduce it for non-commercial use if you use the entire handout and attribute the source: The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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How to Write a Successful Research Grant Proposal: An Overview

Writing a research grant proposal can be a challenging task, especially for those who are new to the process. However, a well-written proposal can increase the chances of receiving the necessary funding for your research.

This guide discusses the key criteria to consider when writing a grant proposal and what to include in each section.  

Table of Contents

Key criteria to consider  

When writing a grant proposal, there are five main criteria that you need to consider. These are:  

• Significance  
• Innovation  
• Investigators  
• Environment  

The funding body will look for these criteria throughout your statement, so it’s important to tailor what you say and how you say it accordingly.  

1. Significance  

Significance refers to the value of the research you are proposing. It should address an important research problem and be significant in your field or for society. Think about what you are hoping to find and how it could be valuable in the industry or area you are working in. What does success look like? What could follow-on work lead to?  

2. Approach  

Approach refers to the methods and techniques you plan to use. The funding body will be looking at how well-developed and integrated your framework, design, methods, and analysis are. They will also want to know if you have considered any problem areas and alternative approaches. Experimental design, data collection and processing, and ethical considerations all fall under this group.  

3. Innovation  

Innovation means that you are proposing something new and original. Your aims should be original and innovative, or your proposed methods and approaches should be new and novel . Ideally both would be true. Your project should also challenge existing paradigms or develop new methodologies or technologies.  

4. Investigators  

Investigators here refer to you and your team, or proposed team. The funding body will want to know if you are well-trained and have the right qualifications and experience to conduct the research . This is important as it shows you have the ability to undertake the research successfully. One part of this evaluation will be, have you been awarded grants in the past. This is one reason to start early in your career with grant applications to smaller funds to build up a track record.  

5. Environment  

Environment refers to the scientific environment in which the work will be done. The funding body will want to know if the scientific environment will contribute to the overall probability of success. This could include your institution, the building or lab you will be working in, and any collaborative arrangements you have in place. Any similar research work conducted in your institution in the past will show that your environment is likely to be appropriate.  

Writing the grant proposal  

It’s almost impossible to generalize across funders, since each has its own highly specific format for applications, but most applications have the following sections in common.  

1. Abstract  

The abstract is a summary of your research proposal. It should be around 150 to 200 words and summarize your aims, the gap in literature, the methods you plan to use, and how long you might take.  

2. Literature Review  

The literature review is a review of the literature related to your field. It should summarize the research within your field, speaking about the top research papers and review papers. You should mention any existing knowledge about your topic and any preliminary data you have. If you have any hypotheses, you can add them at the end of the literature review.  

The aims section needs to be very clear about what your aims are for the project. You should have a couple of aims if you are looking for funding for two or three years. State your aims clearly using strong action words.  

4. Significance  

In this section, you should sell the significance of your research. Explain why your research is important and why you deserve the funding.  

Defining Your Research Questions  

It’s essential to identify the research questions you want to answer when writing a grant proposal. It’s also crucial to determine the potential impact of your research and narrow your focus.  

1.Innovation and Originality  

Innovation is critical in demonstrating that your research is original and has a unique approach compared to existing research. In this section, it’s essential to highlight the importance of the problem you’re addressing, any critical barriers to progress in the field, and how your project will improve scientific knowledge and technical capabilities. You should also demonstrate whether your methods, technologies, and approach are unique.  

2. Research approach and methodology  

Your research approach and methodology are crucial components of your grant proposal. In the approach section, you should outline your research methodology, starting with an overview that summarizes your aims and hypotheses. You should also introduce your research team and justify their involvement in the project, highlighting their academic background and experience. Additionally, you should describe their roles within the team. It’s also important to include a timeline that breaks down your research plan into different stages, each with specific goals.  

In the methodology section, detail your research methods, anticipated results, and limitations. Be sure to consider the potential limitations that could occur and provide solutions to overcome them. Remember, never give a limitation without providing a solution.  

Common reasons for grant failure  

Knowing the common reasons why grant proposals fail can help you avoid making these mistakes. The five key reasons for grant failure are:  

• Poor science – The quality of the research is not high enough.  
• Poor organization – The proposal is not organized in a clear way.  
• Poor integration – The proposal lacks clear integration between different sections.  
• Contradiction – The proposal contradicts itself.  
• Lack of qualifications or experienc e – The researcher lacks the necessary qualifications or experience to conduct the research.  

By avoiding these pitfalls, you will increase your chances of receiving the funding you need to carry out your research successfully.  

Tips for writing a strong grant proposal  

Writing a successful grant proposal requires careful planning and execution. Here are some tips to help you create a strong grant proposal:  

• Begin writing your proposal early. Grant proposals take time and effort to write. Start as early as possible to give yourself enough time to refine your ideas and address any issues that arise.  
• Read the guidelines carefully . Make sure to read the guidelines thoroughly before you start writing. This will help you understand the requirements and expectations of the funding agency.  
• Use clear, concise language . Avoid using technical jargon and complex language. Write in a way that is easy to understand and conveys your ideas clearly. It’s important to note that grant reviewers are not likely to be domain experts in your field.  
• Show, don’t tell . Use specific examples and evidence to support your claims. This will help to make your grant proposal more convincing.  
• Get feedback . Ask colleagues, mentors, or other experts to review your proposal and provide feedback. This will help you identify any weaknesses or areas for improvement.  

Conclusion  

Writing a successful grant proposal is an important skill for any researcher. By following the key criteria and tips outlined in this guide, you can increase your chances of securing funding for your research. Remember to be clear, concise, and innovative in your writing, and to address any potential weaknesses in your proposal. With a well-written grant proposal, you can make your research goals a reality.  

If you are looking for help with your grant application, come talk to us at GrantDesk. We have grant experts who are ready to help you get the research funding you need.  

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How to Write a PhD Research Proposal

• Applying to a PhD
• A research proposal summarises your intended research.
• Your research proposal is used to confirm you understand the topic, and that the university has the expertise to support your study.
• The length of a research proposal varies. It is usually specified by either the programme requirements or the supervisor upon request. 1500 to 3500 words is common.
• The typical research proposal structure consists of: Title, Abstract, Background and Rationale, Research Aims and Objectives, Research Design and Methodology, Timetable, and a Bibliography.

What is a Research Proposal?

A research proposal is a supporting document that may be required when applying to a research degree. It summarises your intended research by outlining what your research questions are, why they’re important to your field and what knowledge gaps surround your topic. It also outlines your research in terms of your aims, methods and proposed timetable .

What Is It Used for and Why Is It Important?

A research proposal will be used to:

• Confirm whether you understand the topic and can communicate complex ideas.
• Confirm whether the university has adequate expertise to support you in your research topic.
• Apply for funding or research grants to external bodies.

How Long Should a PhD Research Proposal Be?

Some universities will specify a word count all students will need to adhere to. You will typically find these in the description of the PhD listing. If they haven’t stated a word count limit, you should contact the potential supervisor to clarify whether there are any requirements. If not, aim for 1500 to 3500 words (3 to 7 pages).

Your title should indicate clearly what your research question is. It needs to be simple and to the point; if the reader needs to read further into your proposal to understand your question, your working title isn’t clear enough.

Directly below your title, state the topic your research question relates to. Whether you include this information at the top of your proposal or insert a dedicated title page is your choice and will come down to personal preference.

2. Abstract

If your research proposal is over 2000 words, consider providing an abstract. Your abstract should summarise your question, why it’s important to your field and how you intend to answer it; in other words, explain your research context.

Only include crucial information in this section – 250 words should be sufficient to get across your main points.

3. Background & Rationale

First, specify which subject area your research problem falls in. This will help set the context of your study and will help the reader anticipate the direction of your proposed research.

Following this, include a literature review . A literature review summarises the existing knowledge which surrounds your research topic. This should include a discussion of the theories, models and bodies of text which directly relate to your research problem. As well as discussing the information available, discuss those which aren’t. In other words, identify what the current gaps in knowledge are and discuss how this will influence your research. Your aim here is to convince the potential supervisor and funding providers of why your intended research is worth investing time and money into.

Last, discuss the key debates and developments currently at the centre of your research area.

4. Research Aims & Objectives

Identify the aims and objectives of your research. The aims are the problems your project intends to solve; the objectives are the measurable steps and outcomes required to achieve the aim.

In outlining your aims and objectives, you will need to explain why your proposed research is worth exploring. Consider these aspects:

• Will your research solve a problem?
• Will your research address a current gap in knowledge?
• Will your research have any social or practical benefits?

If you fail to address the above questions, it’s unlikely they will accept your proposal – all PhD research projects must show originality and value to be considered.

5. Research Design and Methodology

The following structure is recommended when discussing your research design:

• Sample/Population – Discuss your sample size, target populations, specimen types etc.
• Methods – What research methods have you considered, how did you evaluate them and how did you decide on your chosen one?
• Data Collection – How are you going to collect and validate your data? Are there any limitations?
• Data Analysis – How are you going to interpret your results and obtain a meaningful conclusion from them?
• Ethical Considerations – Are there any potential implications associated with your research approach? This could either be to research participants or to your field as a whole on the outcome of your findings (i.e. if you’re researching a particularly controversial area). How are you going to monitor for these implications and what types of preventive steps will you need to put into place?

6. Timetable

We’ve outlined the various stages of a PhD and the approximate duration of a PhD programme which you can refer to when designing your own research study.

7. Bibliography

Plagiarism is taken seriously across all academic levels, but even more so for doctorates. Therefore, ensure you reference the existing literature you have used in writing your PhD proposal. Besides this, try to adopt the same referencing style as the University you’re applying to uses. You can easily find this information in the PhD Thesis formatting guidelines published on the University’s website.

Finding a PhD has never been this easy – search for a PhD by keyword, location or academic area of interest.

Questions & Answers

Here are answers to some of the most common questions we’re asked about the Research Proposal:

Can You Change a Research Proposal?

Yes, your PhD research proposal outlines the start of your project only. It’s well accepted that the direction of your research will develop with time, therefore, you can revise it at later dates.

Can the Potential Supervisor Review My Draft Proposal?

Whether the potential supervisor will review your draft will depend on the individual. However, it is highly advisable that you at least attempt to discuss your draft with them. Even if they can’t review it, they may provide you with useful information regarding their department’s expertise which could help shape your PhD proposal. For example, you may amend your methodology should you come to learn that their laboratory is better equipped for an alternative method.

How Should I Structure and Format My Proposal?

Ensure you follow the same order as the headings given above. This is the most logical structure and will be the order your proposed supervisor will expect.

Most universities don’t provide formatting requirements for research proposals on the basis that they are a supporting document only, however, we recommend that you follow the same format they require for their PhD thesis submissions. This will give your reader familiarity and their guidelines should be readily available on their website.

Last, try to have someone within the same academic field or discipline area to review your proposal. The key is to confirm that they understand the importance of your work and how you intend to execute it. If they don’t, it’s likely a sign you need to rewrite some of your sections to be more coherent.

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• Knowledge Base
• Starting the research process
• How to Write a Research Proposal | Examples & Templates

How to Write a Research Proposal | Examples & Templates

Published on October 12, 2022 by Shona McCombes and Tegan George. Revised on November 21, 2023.

A research proposal describes what you will investigate, why it’s important, and how you will conduct your research.

The format of a research proposal varies between fields, but most proposals will contain at least these elements:

Introduction

Literature review.

• Research design

Reference list

While the sections may vary, the overall objective is always the same. A research proposal serves as a blueprint and guide for your research plan, helping you get organized and feel confident in the path forward you choose to take.

Table of contents

Research proposal purpose, research proposal examples, research design and methods, contribution to knowledge, research schedule, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about research proposals.

Academics often have to write research proposals to get funding for their projects. As a student, you might have to write a research proposal as part of a grad school application , or prior to starting your thesis or dissertation .

In addition to helping you figure out what your research can look like, a proposal can also serve to demonstrate why your project is worth pursuing to a funder, educational institution, or supervisor.

Research proposal length

The length of a research proposal can vary quite a bit. A bachelor’s or master’s thesis proposal can be just a few pages, while proposals for PhD dissertations or research funding are usually much longer and more detailed. Your supervisor can help you determine the best length for your work.

One trick to get started is to think of your proposal’s structure as a shorter version of your thesis or dissertation , only without the results , conclusion and discussion sections.

Download our research proposal template

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Writing a research proposal can be quite challenging, but a good starting point could be to look at some examples. We’ve included a few for you below.

• Example research proposal #1: “A Conceptual Framework for Scheduling Constraint Management”
• Example research proposal #2: “Medical Students as Mediators of Change in Tobacco Use”

Like your dissertation or thesis, the proposal will usually have a title page that includes:

• The proposed title of your project
• Your supervisor’s name
• Your institution and department

The first part of your proposal is the initial pitch for your project. Make sure it succinctly explains what you want to do and why.

Your introduction should:

• Introduce your topic
• Give necessary background and context
• Outline your  problem statement  and research questions

To guide your introduction , include information about:

• Who could have an interest in the topic (e.g., scientists, policymakers)
• How much is already known about the topic
• What is missing from this current knowledge
• What new insights your research will contribute
• Why you believe this research is worth doing

Prevent plagiarism. Run a free check.

As you get started, it’s important to demonstrate that you’re familiar with the most important research on your topic. A strong literature review  shows your reader that your project has a solid foundation in existing knowledge or theory. It also shows that you’re not simply repeating what other people have already done or said, but rather using existing research as a jumping-off point for your own.

In this section, share exactly how your project will contribute to ongoing conversations in the field by:

• Comparing and contrasting the main theories, methods, and debates
• Examining the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches
• Explaining how will you build on, challenge, or synthesize prior scholarship

Following the literature review, restate your main  objectives . This brings the focus back to your own project. Next, your research design or methodology section will describe your overall approach, and the practical steps you will take to answer your research questions.

To finish your proposal on a strong note, explore the potential implications of your research for your field. Emphasize again what you aim to contribute and why it matters.

For example, your results might have implications for:

• Improving best practices
• Informing policymaking decisions
• Strengthening a theory or model
• Challenging popular or scientific beliefs
• Creating a basis for future research

Last but not least, your research proposal must include correct citations for every source you have used, compiled in a reference list . To create citations quickly and easily, you can use our free APA citation generator .

Some institutions or funders require a detailed timeline of the project, asking you to forecast what you will do at each stage and how long it may take. While not always required, be sure to check the requirements of your project.

Here’s an example schedule to help you get started. You can also download a template at the button below.

Download our research schedule template

If you are applying for research funding, chances are you will have to include a detailed budget. This shows your estimates of how much each part of your project will cost.

Make sure to check what type of costs the funding body will agree to cover. For each item, include:

• Cost : exactly how much money do you need?
• Justification : why is this cost necessary to complete the research?
• Source : how did you calculate the amount?

To determine your budget, think about:

• Travel costs : do you need to go somewhere to collect your data? How will you get there, and how much time will you need? What will you do there (e.g., interviews, archival research)?
• Materials : do you need access to any tools or technologies?
• Help : do you need to hire any research assistants for the project? What will they do, and how much will you pay them?

If you want to know more about the research process , methodology , research bias , or statistics , make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.

Methodology

• Sampling methods
• Simple random sampling
• Stratified sampling
• Cluster sampling
• Likert scales
• Reproducibility

 Statistics

• Null hypothesis
• Statistical power
• Probability distribution
• Effect size
• Poisson distribution

Research bias

• Optimism bias
• Cognitive bias
• Implicit bias
• Hawthorne effect
• Anchoring bias
• Explicit bias

Once you’ve decided on your research objectives , you need to explain them in your paper, at the end of your problem statement .

Keep your research objectives clear and concise, and use appropriate verbs to accurately convey the work that you will carry out for each one.

I will compare …

A research aim is a broad statement indicating the general purpose of your research project. It should appear in your introduction at the end of your problem statement , before your research objectives.

Research objectives are more specific than your research aim. They indicate the specific ways you’ll address the overarching aim.

A PhD, which is short for philosophiae doctor (doctor of philosophy in Latin), is the highest university degree that can be obtained. In a PhD, students spend 3–5 years writing a dissertation , which aims to make a significant, original contribution to current knowledge.

A PhD is intended to prepare students for a career as a researcher, whether that be in academia, the public sector, or the private sector.

A master’s is a 1- or 2-year graduate degree that can prepare you for a variety of careers.

All master’s involve graduate-level coursework. Some are research-intensive and intend to prepare students for further study in a PhD; these usually require their students to write a master’s thesis . Others focus on professional training for a specific career.

Critical thinking refers to the ability to evaluate information and to be aware of biases or assumptions, including your own.

Like information literacy , it involves evaluating arguments, identifying and solving problems in an objective and systematic way, and clearly communicating your ideas.

The best way to remember the difference between a research plan and a research proposal is that they have fundamentally different audiences. A research plan helps you, the researcher, organize your thoughts. On the other hand, a dissertation proposal or research proposal aims to convince others (e.g., a supervisor, a funding body, or a dissertation committee) that your research topic is relevant and worthy of being conducted.

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How to write a grant proposal: a step-by-step guide

What is a grant proposal?

Why should you write a grant proposal, format of a grant proposal, how to write a grant proposal, step 1: decide what funding opportunity to apply for, and research the grant application process, step 2: plan and research your project, preliminary research for your grant proposal, questions to ask yourself as you plan your grant proposal, developing your grant proposal, step 3: write the first draft of your grant proposal, step 4: get feedback, and revise your grant proposal accordingly, step 5: prepare to submit your grant proposal, what happens after submitting the grant proposal, final thoughts, other useful sources for writing grant proposals, frequently asked questions about writing grant proposals, related articles.

You have a vision for a future research project, and want to share that idea with the world.

To achieve your vision, you need funding from a sponsoring organization, and consequently, you need to write a grant proposal.

Although visualizing your future research through grant writing is exciting, it can also feel daunting. How do you start writing a grant proposal? How do you increase your chances of success in winning a grant?

But, writing a proposal is not as hard as you think. That’s because the grant-writing process can be broken down into actionable steps.

This guide provides a step-by-step approach to grant-writing that includes researching the application process, planning your research project, and writing the proposal. It is written from extensive research into grant-writing, and our experiences of writing proposals as graduate students, postdocs, and faculty in the sciences.

A grant proposal is a document or collection of documents that outlines the strategy for a future research project and is submitted to a sponsoring organization with the specific goal of getting funding to support the research. For example, grants for large projects with multiple researchers may be used to purchase lab equipment, provide stipends for graduate and undergraduate researchers, fund conference travel, and support the salaries of research personnel.

As a graduate student, you might apply for a PhD scholarship, or postdoctoral fellowship, and may need to write a proposal as part of your application. As a faculty member of a university, you may need to provide evidence of having submitted grant applications to obtain a permanent position or promotion.

Reasons for writing a grant proposal include:

• To obtain financial support for graduate or postdoctoral studies;
• To travel to a field site, or to travel to meet with collaborators;
• To conduct preliminary research for a larger project;
• To obtain a visiting position at another institution;
• To support undergraduate student research as a faculty member;
• To obtain funding for a large collaborative project, which may be needed to retain employment at a university.

The experience of writing a proposal can be helpful, even if you fail to obtain funding. Benefits include:

• Improvement of your research and writing skills
• Enhancement of academic employment prospects, as fellowships and grants awarded and applied for can be listed on your academic CV
• Raising your profile as an independent academic researcher because writing proposals can help you become known to leaders in your field.

All sponsoring agencies have specific requirements for the format of a grant proposal. For example, for a PhD scholarship or postdoctoral fellowship, you may be required to include a description of your project, an academic CV, and letters of support from mentors or collaborators.

For a large research project with many collaborators, the collection of documents that need to be submitted may be extensive. Examples of documents that might be required include a cover letter, a project summary, a detailed description of the proposed research, a budget, a document justifying the budget, and the CVs of all research personnel.

Before writing your proposal, be sure to note the list of required documents.

Writing a grant proposal can be broken down into three major activities: researching the project (reading background materials, note-taking, preliminary work, etc.), writing the proposal (creating an outline, writing the first draft, revisions, formatting), and administrative tasks for the project (emails, phone calls, meetings, writing CVs and other supporting documents, etc.).

Below, we provide a step-by-step guide to writing a grant proposal:

• Decide what funding opportunity to apply for, and research the grant application process
• Plan and research your project
• Write the first draft of your grant proposal
• Get feedback, and revise your grant proposal accordingly
• Prepare to submit your grant proposal

• Start early. Begin by searching for funding opportunities and determining requirements. Some sponsoring organizations prioritize fundamental research, whereas others support applied research. Be sure your project fits the mission statement of the granting organization. Look at recently funded proposals and/or sample proposals on the agency website, if available. The Research or Grants Office at your institution may be able to help with finding grant opportunities.
• Make a spreadsheet of grant opportunities, with a link to the call for proposals page, the mission and aims of the agency, and the deadline for submission. Use the information that you have compiled in your spreadsheet to decide what to apply for.
• Once you have made your decision, carefully read the instructions in the call for proposals. Make a list of all the documents you need to apply, and note the formatting requirements and page limits. Know exactly what the funding agency requires of submitted proposals.
• Reach out to support staff at your university (for example, at your Research or Grants Office), potential mentors, or collaborators. For example, internal deadlines for submitting external grants are often earlier than the submission date. Make sure to learn about your institution’s internal processes, and obtain contact information for the relevant support staff.
• Applying for a grant or fellowship involves administrative work. Start preparing your CV and begin collecting supporting documents from collaborators, such as letters of support. If the application to the sponsoring agency is electronic, schedule time to set up an account, log into the system, download necessary forms and paperwork, etc. Don’t leave all of the administrative tasks until the end.
• Map out the important deadlines on your calendar. These might include video calls with collaborators, a date for the first draft to be complete, internal submission deadlines, and the funding agency deadline.
• Schedule time on your calendar for research, writing, and administrative tasks associated with the project. It’s wise to group similar tasks and block out time for them (a process known as ” time batching ”). Break down bigger tasks into smaller ones.

Now that you know what you are applying for, you can think about matching your proposed research to the aims of the agency. The work you propose needs to be innovative, specific, realizable, timely, and worthy of the sponsoring organization’s attention.

• Develop an awareness of the important problems and open questions in your field. Attend conferences and seminar talks and follow all of your field’s major journals.
• Read widely and deeply. Journal review articles are a helpful place to start. Reading papers from related but different subfields can generate ideas. Taking detailed notes as you read will help you recall the important findings and connect disparate concepts.

• Writing a grant proposal is a creative and imaginative endeavor. Write down all of your ideas. Freewriting is a practice where you write down all that comes to mind without filtering your ideas for feasibility or stopping to edit mistakes. By continuously writing your thoughts without judgment, the practice can help overcome procrastination and writer’s block. It can also unleash your creativity, and generate new ideas and associations. Mind mapping is another technique for brainstorming and generating connections between ideas.
• Establish a regular writing practice. Schedule time just for writing, and turn off all distractions during your focused work time. You can use your writing process to refine your thoughts and ideas.
• Use a reference manager to build a library of sources for your project. You can use a reference management tool to collect papers , store and organize references , and highlight and annotate PDFs . Establish a system for organizing your ideas by tagging papers with labels and using folders to store similar references.

To facilitate intelligent thinking and shape the overall direction of your project, try answering the following questions:

• What are the questions that the project will address? Am I excited and curious about their answers?
• Why are these questions important?
• What are the goals of the project? Are they SMART (Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Relevant, and Timely)?
• What is novel about my project? What is the gap in current knowledge?
• What methods will I use, and how feasible is my approach?
• Can the work be done over the proposed period, and with the budget I am requesting?
• Do I have relevant experience? For example, have I completed similar work funded by previous grants or written papers on my proposed topic?
• What pilot research or prior work can I use, or do I need to complete preliminary research before writing the proposal?
• Will the outcomes of my work be consequential? Will the granting agency be interested in the results?
• What solutions to open problems in my field will this project offer? Are there broader implications of my work?
• Who will the project involve? Do I need mentors, collaborators, or students to contribute to the proposed work? If so, what roles will they have?
• Who will read the proposal? For example, experts in the field will require details of methods, statistical analyses, etc., whereas non-experts may be more concerned with the big picture.
• What do I want the reviewers to feel, and take away from reading my proposal?
• What weaknesses does my proposed research have? What objections might reviewers raise, and how can I address them?
• Can I visualize a timeline for my project?

Create an actionable plan for your research project using the answers to these questions.

• Now is the time to collect preliminary data, conduct experiments, or do a preliminary study to motivate your research, and demonstrate that your proposed project is realistic.
• Use your plan to write a detailed outline of the proposal. An outline helps you to write a proposal that has a logical format and ensures your thought process is rational. It also provides a structure to support your writing.
• Follow the granting agency’s guidelines for titles, sections, and subsections to inform your outline.

At this stage, you should have identified the aims of your project, what questions your work will answer, and how they are relevant to the sponsoring agency’s call for proposals. Be able to explain the originality, importance, and achievability of your proposed work.

Now that you have done your research, you are ready to begin writing your proposal and start filling in the details of your outline. Build on the writing routine you have already started. Here are some tips:

• Follow the guidelines of the funding organization.
• Keep the proposal reviewers in mind as you write. Your audience may be a combination of specialists in your field and non-specialists. Make sure to address the novelty of your work, its significance, and its feasibility.
• Write clearly, concisely, and avoid repetition. Use topic sentences for each paragraph to emphasize key ideas. Concluding sentences of each paragraph should develop, clarify, or summarize the support for the declaration in the topic sentence. To make your writing engaging, vary sentence length.
• Avoid jargon, where possible. Follow sentences that have complex technical information with a summary in plain language.
• Don’t review all information on the topic, but include enough background information to convince reviewers that you are knowledgeable about it. Include preliminary data to convince reviewers you can do the work. Cite all relevant work.
• Make sure not to be overly ambitious. Don’t propose to do so much that reviewers doubt your ability to complete the project. Rather, a project with clear, narrowly-defined goals may prove favorable to reviewers.
• Accurately represent the scope of your project; don’t exaggerate its impacts. Avoid bias. Be forthright about the limitations of your research.
• Ensure to address potential objections and concerns that reviewers may have with the proposed work. Show that you have carefully thought about the project by explaining your rationale.
• Use diagrams and figures effectively. Make sure they are not too small or contain too much information or details.

After writing your first draft, read it carefully to gain an overview of the logic of your argument. Answer the following questions:

• Is your proposal concise, explicit, and specific?
• Have you included all necessary assumptions, data points, and evidence in your proposal?
• Do you need to make structural changes like moving or deleting paragraphs or including additional tables or figures to strengthen your rationale?
• Have you answered most of the questions posed in Step 2 above in your proposal?
• Follow the length requirements in the proposal guidelines. Don't feel compelled to include everything you know!
• Use formatting techniques to make your proposal easy on the eye. Follow rules for font, layout, margins, citation styles , etc. Avoid walls of text. Use bolding and italicizing to emphasize points.
• Comply with all style, organization, and reference list guidelines to make it easy to reviewers to quickly understand your argument. If you don’t, it’s at best a chore for the reviewers to read because it doesn’t make the most convincing case for you and your work. At worst, your proposal may be rejected by the sponsoring agency without review.
• Using a reference management tool like Paperpile will make citation creation and formatting in your grant proposal quick, easy and accurate.

Now take time away from your proposal, for at least a week or more. Ask trusted mentors or collaborators to read it, and give them adequate time to give critical feedback.

• At this stage, you can return to any remaining administrative work while you wait for feedback on the proposal, such as finalizing your budget or updating your CV.
• Revise the proposal based on the feedback you receive.
• Don’t be discouraged by critiques of your proposal or take them personally. Receiving and incorporating feedback with humility is essential to grow as a grant writer.

Now you are almost ready to submit. This is exciting! At this stage, you need to block out time to complete all final checks.

• Allow time for proofreading and final editing. Spelling and grammar mistakes can raise questions regarding the rigor of your research and leave a poor impression of your proposal on reviewers. Ensure that a unified narrative is threaded throughout all documents in the application.
• Finalize your documents by following a checklist. Make sure all documents are in place in the application, and all formatting and organizational requirements are met.
• Follow all internal and external procedures. Have login information for granting agency and institution portals to hand. Double-check any internal procedures required by your institution (applications for large grants often have a deadline for sign-off by your institution’s Research or Grants Office that is earlier than the funding agency deadline).
• To avoid technical issues with electronic portals, submit your proposal as early as you can.
• Breathe a sigh of relief when all the work is done, and take time to celebrate submitting the proposal! This is already a big achievement.

Now you wait! If the news is positive, congratulations!

But if your proposal is rejected, take heart in the fact that the process of writing it has been useful for your professional growth, and for developing your ideas.

Bear in mind that because grants are often highly competitive, acceptance rates for proposals are usually low. It is very typical to not be successful on the first try and to have to apply for the same grant multiple times.

Here are some tips to increase your chances of success on your next attempt:

• Remember that grant writing is often not a linear process. It is typical to have to use the reviews to revise and resubmit your proposal.
• Carefully read the reviews and incorporate the feedback into the next iteration of your proposal. Use the feedback to improve and refine your ideas.
• Don’t ignore the comments received from reviewers—be sure to address their objections in your next proposal. You may decide to include a section with a response to the reviewers, to show the sponsoring agency that you have carefully considered their comments.
• If you did not receive reviewer feedback, you can usually request it.

You learn about your field and grow intellectually from writing a proposal. The process of researching, writing, and revising a proposal refines your ideas and may create new directions for future projects. Professional opportunities exist for researchers who are willing to persevere with submitting grant applications.

➡️ Secrets to writing a winning grant

➡️ How to gain a competitive edge in grant writing

➡️ Ten simple rules for writing a postdoctoral fellowship

A grant proposal should include all the documents listed as required by the sponsoring organization. Check what documents the granting agency needs before you start writing the proposal.

Granting agencies have strict formatting requirements, with strict page limits and/or word counts. Check the maximum length required by the granting agency. It is okay for the proposal to be shorter than the maximum length.

Expect to spend many hours, even weeks, researching and writing a grant proposal. Consequently, it is important to start early! Block time in your calendar for research, writing, and administration tasks. Allow extra time at the end of the grant-writing process to edit, proofread, and meet presentation guidelines.

The most important part of a grant proposal is the description of the project. Make sure that the research you propose in your project narrative is new, important, and viable, and that it meets the goals of the sponsoring organization.

A grant proposal typically consists of a set of documents. Funding agencies have specific requirements for the formatting and organization of each document. Make sure to follow their guidelines exactly.

• Postgraduate
• PhD and Professional Doctorates
• How to apply

Writing a research proposal

Your research proposal is the most important part of your doctoral application. Find out how to write a proposal for your own research, for advertised PhD projects, and for Professional Doctorates.

What is a research proposal?

A research proposal is the beginning of your doctoral project. The proposal outlines the intended focus of your research and the possibilities. It will also include your research question, which is the question your project will explore and aim to answer. A good research question will guide your process and should be feasible, specific and relevant to your topic.

Doctoral research should be an original contribution to an academic field, and your proposal should demonstrate that.

Research proposal structure

A proposal should be concise and direct - the panel won’t be expecting you to know all the answers yet, but they need to see the need for the project, your planned approach or methodology, and its potential impact. Make sure your research proposal structure includes these elements:

• a relevant title for the project - the first step in writing your proposal is to decide on a title that clearly indicates the focus of your research.
• an outline of your chosen research question or focus  - this should be outlined at the beginning of your proposal, clearly stating any factors that make the project unique.
• a brief overview of existing academic work on or connected to your topic  - all proposals should include this, and a clear reason as to why your project will differ or add something new.
• details of the methodology you intend to use  - your proposal should also include your plan for the research over the course of your degree and what's called your 'research impact' - the effect your research will have beyond academia.

Your proposal should be no more than 1500 words (not including references). Once you’ve drafted your proposal, ask your potential supervisor for feedback and work on any edits alongside them. Once both you and your supervisor are happy with the proposal, you can submit your application.

Top three tips for your research proposal

1. be distinct.

Amplify the originality of your research, particularly if your work will spotlight an underrepresented area of research or offer a new perspective on a major issue. Outline the need for your research and any elements that might facilitate real-world change.

2. Maximise the potential

How will your project contribute to the research community? Will it have potential for public engagement or be of benefit to a certain community? What could the outcomes be?

Demonstrate your project's scope in your proposal to help it stand out to a decision panel, and to highlight your potential as a researcher.

3. Show your skill

Use your proposal to demonstrate your knowledge of the field, your grasp of methodologies and key concepts, and your abilities as a researcher. Make sure your research plan is feasible and shows your understanding of research practice. The panel will be looking out for good planning and project management.

Research proposals for named PhD projects

Make sure you state which of the projects you are choosing to apply for. Your statement should be concise, with your key points clearly emphasised and detailed. This will help you make a strong impression on the application panel.

Your proposal should provide an outline that demonstrates your understanding of the research project you are applying for, its goals and potential impact, and the approach that you would take as a doctoral candidate. Demonstrate your knowledge of the field and current academic work on the topic and outline what sort of methodology you would choose.

For example, what do you think would be the best way to collect data for the project, and why? Include any potential avenues you would pursue, sharing the project’s research outcomes and possible long-term impacts you could facilitate. Make sure that your proposal has a clear plan for undertaking the research in the proposed timeframe. Your potential supervisor may be able to offer guidance on this.

The statement should be 1500 words, not including any references or appendices.

Personal statements for Professional Doctorates

The researcher is at the heart of any research project -  what is about this research that inspires you? Does your personal or professional background give you a unique insight?

Your personal statement should be a snapshot of you as an individual, your professional identity and your experience. The purpose is to demonstrate to the panel that you have the potential to be an excellent researcher and that you are the right person for your proposed project.

Ready to apply?

When you’ve thought about your proposal, the next step is to submit your application. Read our guide on how to apply.

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Preparing a Proposal

A well-written and skillfully prepared research proposal is crucial to the success of an application for research funding and to the efficient set-up and management of an award. Early planning, and when needed, consultation with [email protected] is encouraged.

• Common Proposal Elements
• Foreign Subrecipients: Access to Data Funded by NIH Grants/Cooperative Agreements
• GMAS Non-HUID PI Signature
• GMAS Retraction Criteria
• Institutional Fact Sheet
• NRSA Childcare Costs Guidance
• Proposal Review
• Sponsor Set up

Cross Lifecycle Topics

Research agreements.

There are several types of research-related agreements that researchers, faculty, and administrators may encounter. They vary by the goal and nature of the engagement, as well as the identity of the other party.... Read more about

Data/Document Retention

A set of basic principles to guide the retention and maintenance of research records by Harvard faculty and staff.  

Equipment Management

Preparing a proposal.

Harvard defines equipment as an item that costs over $5,000 and has an expected useful life of more than one year. A proposal requires special attention if it includes equipment.... Read more about

F&A, Fringe Rates

• F&A Rates - Federal Sponsors  
• F&A Rates - Non-federal Sponsors F&A Rates - Non-federal Sponsors: Indirect costs rates and bases for awards to Harvard within the last 5 years are available in  GMAS  on the “Recent overhead rates” section of each sponsor’s Organization page.  
• F&A Rate Agreements After World War II when the federal government initiated a close partnership with universities in pursuit of the research enterprise, recognition was given to the infrastructure costs needed to support this expensive endeavor.  
• Fringe Benefits Rates Fringe benefits (FB) are employee associated costs such as health plan expenses, pension plan expenses and workman's compensation expenses, among others.

Stipend & Fellowships

Stipends are payments made to individuals for subsistence support or to defray expenses during a period of academic appointment. Stipend payments are not compensation for services rendered and, therefore, are not allowable on federal awards unless the purpose of the agreement is to provide training to selected participants and the charge is approved by the sponsoring agency (OMB Circular Uniform Guidance, Subpart E). The most common type of federal awards that include stipends are fellowships and training grants. Additional information is available in the...

Harvard Global

Harvard Global Research and Support Services, Inc. was established in February 2012 and is dedicated to providing operational support for Harvard University’s international activities. Harvard Global follows Harvard University’s institutional policies and is a 501(c)(3) corporation.

Departments or faculty who are either requesting to submit a proposal to one of the below Harvard Global sponsors or are receiving funds from these sponsors should reach out to the Harvard Global Grants and Contracts Specialist at OSP,...

Sub-Recipient Monitoring

Harvard University is responsible for monitoring the programmatic and financial activities of its subrecipients to ensure proper stewardship of sponsor funds. The PI is primarily responsible for ensuring that the subrecipient is meeting the programmatic objectives of the project. The PI and Department/Local Level Managing Unit provide administrative and financial oversight of the subrecipient to confirm that the subrecipient invoices align with the project deliverables. 

For subawards under federal prime awards, Harvard must comply with OMB Uniform Administrative Requirements...

The Award Lifecycle

A well-written and skillfully prepared proposal is crucial to the success of an application for research funding

Setting up an Award

Steps must be taken to set up accounts or authorize pre-award spending before spending begins

Managing an Award

Ensure compliance while maintaining public trust in research results and outcomes

Closing out an Award

Timely closeout of sponsored awards is essential to Harvard's compliance with sponsor requirements and University policies

How to write a good application - ESRC

The content and quality of the application you submit to us will determine whether you are successful. Therefore, it is vital that you have a full understanding of what is required, as well as knowing the various stages of the application process, so that you maximise your chances of being funded.

These notes are intended to assist you in the preparation of applications to the ESRC responsive mode: research grants funding opportunity  and should be read in conjunction with the ESRC research funding guide .

They provide informal guidance on points for applicants to remember when drafting applications.

You may also find this information helpful if you’re applying to another funding opportunity although you should take care to follow any funding opportunity-specific guidance provided.

Careful attention will help you to avoid some of the basic pitfalls and improve the funding chances of your research idea.

Our guidance for writing a good research grant application

Allow yourself time.

Preparing a draft application and consulting on it, preparing the project costings and getting advice on these, as well as reading the regulations of the funding opportunity to learn what is and what is not permissible, are all time-consuming parts of the process of application.

The key guidance for applicants applying to our research grants scheme is:

• the funding opportunity guidance
• ESRC guidance for applicants
• ESRC research funding guide

Study your funding source

All funding agencies will have their own criteria for deciding on allocation of their resources. It is worthwhile taking time to familiarise yourself with these and ensuring that your application clearly addresses your targeted source of support.

We are an agency funded by the government and its mission is “to promote and support by any means, high quality, basic, strategic and applied research and related postgraduate training in the social sciences; to advance knowledge and provide trained social scientists which meets the needs of users and beneficiaries, thereby contributing to the economic competitiveness of the UK, the effectiveness of public services and policy, and the quality of life; and, to provide advice on, and disseminate knowledge and promote public understanding of, the social sciences”.

All successful ESRC research grants demonstrate four characteristics. They must:

• promise excellent research
• be of value to potential users outside or within the research community
• convince of the ability to deliver research
• demonstrate value for money (not necessarily the same as cheapness).

Further information relating to how applications are peer reviewed and the standards against which you will be judged are provided within ESRC’s guidance for reviewers and ESRC’s peer reviewer training tool – this is an online course which takes around an hour to complete, although it is possible to dip in and out as well.

Read the guidance documents

You should read the funding opportunity guidance which is designed to help you through the process. This cannot be overstressed; familiarising yourself with the content of the research funding guide may seem tedious but will help you to avoid basic mistakes which at best will require clarification with office staff and at worst may prejudice chances of success. Please abide by the rules, since they are there to ensure a level playing field for all applicants, and applications which break the rules will be rejected. Make sure you are using the current versions of guidance as rules and regulations are subject to change. If in doubt, check with the named ESRC contact for the funding opportunity.

Discuss your application

You should discuss your application with peer groups, colleagues and, if you are a relatively new researcher, with senior and more experienced researchers. Experienced collaboration or mentoring rarely goes amiss. If you have never sent in an application to us before, try to get the advice of someone who has already been successful.

Talk to your research office and draw on the support that they can give you in putting together your application and calculating your costings.

Justify your costings

When you justify your costings, they should be considered with care and close reference to our research funding guide.

Be realistic – lavish costings are unlikely to find favour with panel members and an application which promises the earth at remarkably low expense will be regarded with caution.

Panels take a very dim view of applications where the costings have been padded to reach the lower financial threshold for the funding opportunity, and if potential cuts would take the overall cost of the application below the threshold the application will not be funded.

You need to provide clear and convincing justification of your costings and should think carefully about the time and resources needed to complete the research successfully within the specified period.

Grants will be based on the eligible costings included in applications and will be subject to standard indexation and be cash limited at the time of announcement, so it is important to get costings right when applying.

A well thought out financial plan helps to create confidence in the application generally. Give as detailed a breakdown of costs as possible so that the panel can properly assess the application.

Do make sure that what you are asking for is allowed within the regulations. Bear in mind that ESRC is looking for value for money, and that applications which offer poor value for money will be scored down by panels, even when the science may be excellent.

Content and presentation

The research application is the means by which you will be trying to convince the panel that your application is worth funding so think carefully about what information you are going to give and how it is presented.

Make sure you think your project plan through and cover all stages of the research lifecycle. The project lifecycle includes the planning and research design stage, the period of funding for the project, and all activities that relate to the project up to and including the time when funding has ended.

The research lifecycle therefore also includes knowledge exchange and impact realisation activities, the dissemination process including reporting and publication and the archiving, future use, sharing, and linking of data.

Many applications are unsuccessful not because they lack interesting or important research ideas, but because they fail to communicate adequately how these research ideas will be explored and translated into an achievable plan of action.

It is vital that you have a full understanding of what is required, as well as knowing the various stages of the application process, so that you maximise your chances of gaining an award.

Convey to the panel your genuine interest, understanding and enthusiasm for the work.

The vision and approach section is the core of your application. It is also important to make sure that you devote enough space in the application to describing the research you intend to conduct and the research design and methods – the panels find it very frustrating when applicants devote pages to explaining why their proposed research is exciting but then provide only a short and inadequate explanation of how they propose to explore this in practice.

Write in plain English. Your application is likely to be seen by many people, including some who will not be familiar with your particular specialism. Detail and specification may necessitate the use of disciplinary or technical terminology and this will be clear to peer reviewers, but the ideas you wish to convey and your reasons for doing so should be apparent to a wide audience.

Peer reviewers and panel members do not welcome dense blocks of text which have not been broken down into paragraphs and sub sections. By the same token, do take the trouble to check spelling, grammar and punctuation. These are all part of the quality of presentation and presentation matters.

Knowledge exchange and impact

Our mission places emphasis on ensuring that researchers engage as fully as possible with the users of research outcomes. These may be:

• other academics
• government departments
• public bodies
• voluntary organisations
• other interested parties

Try to consult with and involve people who could make a valuable contribution to the research and who could provide support and interest. Involving stakeholders and users in the planning stages can be highly beneficial.

In line with the common position on excellence with Impact adopted by research councils, we expect that the researchers we fund will have considered the potential scientific, societal and economic impacts of their research.

You should actively consider how these can be maximised and developed throughout your application. Consideration of the potential economic and social impact of your proposed research will form part of the peer review and assessment process of your application. You are expected to take impact seriously. If you believe that your research project is purely theoretical or methodological and will only have impacts within academia you should consider your impact strategy to justify your belief.

Opportunities for making an impact may arise, and should be taken, at any stage during the lifecourse of the research. It is important that researchers have in place a robust strategy for maximising the likelihood of such opportunities arising and their own capacity for taking advantage of these.

Further information on impact, innovation and interdisciplinarity.

Check the details

Once you have completed the application make sure that all the required information is provided. Some of the most common issues are:

• an unrealistic start date
• vision and approach section exceeding the specified length
• no additional details provided of revisions made to an application in the case of invited resubmissions

What happens next?

For the esrc responsive mode: research grants funding opportunity.

Applications receiving sufficiently supportive comments from external academic reviewers are forwarded to the panel members (introducers) for a funding recommendation. This is primarily informed by the average expert reviewer score. The minimum threshold score for progressing to the panel is determined on an individual funding opportunity basis.

Applications receiving an average expert reviewer score below the minimum threshold are rejected as not meeting the requisite scientific standard.

At the full panel meetings a proportion of applications will be recommended for funding. Unsuccessful applications fall into two categories – those which are unsuccessful due to lack of funds, and those which do not meet the requisite scientific standard.

A ranked list of recommendations is then considered by the grants delivery group for a final funding decision.

We accept only invited resubmissions. We do not allow the resubmission of any previously unsuccessful applications (including applications previously submitted to another research council), unless applicants have been specifically invited to do so.

In the majority of cases funding decisions are made around six months from the submission of your application, so please bear this in mind when applying.

If your research is time-critical you will need to allow enough time from submission for the application to go through the full application process, and the post-award checks/contracting process which takes an additional two months, on average.

If you are successful

Congratulations, and we hope your project goes well.

However, if difficulties arise such as delays in recruitment, staff illness, replacements, or changes to the work plan then please let us know immediately via your research office.

Under our research funding guide rules you will not need to notify us of virements of funds between headings and no supplementation will be allowed.

Last updated: 16 February 2024

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Writing your research proposal

Your proposal is your chance to tell us why you want to study your PhD at Sussex. Follow our guide to making your research proposal as strong as possible.

Your research proposal

If you are considering studying a PhD, there are two options available to you.

• apply for a funded PhD where you research a set project
• design your own research project, which you can either fund yourself, or apply for external funding.

If you decide to design your own research project, you need to write a research proposal which will form a central part of your PhD application.

Follow our step-by-step guide below to help you through the process of writing your research proposal.

Plan your research proposal

You should contact the relevant academic department before applying to Sussex and check if there are any additional requirements for your research proposal.

Even at this early stage, you may be asked questions regarding your research, and so you should start thinking about:

• the questions driving your research
• how your research makes 'an original contribution' to your field and how will you achieve this
• if your research provides new knowledge, or reinterprets existing ideas in an original way
• how you intend to do the research i.e. the methodology you'll use and how you'll structure your work
• how Sussex can aid you in your research and what you want to study here.

Ask for advice

If you need further advice you can contact our academic staff working in your field.

You can also ask research students and academic staff at your current university for help. It is good practice to discuss your ideas with others in your research area and use their suggestions to further your understanding and strengthen your proposal.

During this process you should start making detailed notes. You might also want to start planning your research proposal. If so, breaking it down into the traditional sections below may help you organise and manage your thoughts:

• introduction
• research background
• research methods
• bibliography.

Find a supervisor

Choosing the right supervisor is one of the most important steps towards a successful and rewarding PhD.

Before approaching a supervisor, you'll need to have a clear idea of the research you hope to undertake.

Once you have established a relationship with a potential supervisor, you can ask them to read the first draft of your research proposal. They can give you valuable feedback and help you refine your ideas before you submit your application.

Discover how to find a supervisor

Write your proposal

You may now be in a position to start writing your proposal. This is central to your final application.

A strong research proposal:

• formulates a precise, interesting research question
• establishes the relevance and value of the proposed research question in the context of current academic thinking
• describes the data or source material your research requires
• outlines a clear and practical methodology, which enables you to answer the research question
• states clearly what you hope to discover at the end of your research and what new areas it might open up.

The exact content and structure of your research proposal will depend on your subject area.

Below you can see information from each academic school which shows what they expect a research proposal to contain:

Length: 8-10 pages

Your research proposal should include the following sections:

Introduction

You should:

• include a short summary of the central question behind your research
• explain the background of your proposed project
• describe the expected outcome of your project.

Thesis statement

Write a summary of your overarching research question and include:

• why your research area is of academic and practical interest
• how your research builds on existing work
• what has inspired you to pursue your area of research
• your knowledge of the research area.

Literature review

You must show you have the ability to review current research (literature and papers) within your field of study. Your literature review should demonstrate that your research question is relevant, you are aware of the work of others in your field, and how your research will contribute new findings to the subject area.

Theoretical Framework

The theoretical framework provides the rationale behind your research proposal. You must provide a critical review of existing theories, which are closely related to your research topic. Show how these theories frame your research questions and the overall structure of your research proposal.

Methodology

You must show how you will carry out the research and analyse your findings. Include potential sources, how data will be collected, and any difficulties there may be in conducting your research.

Ethical considerations

Outline any ethical concerns which arise from your research topic or your proposed methods. Read the existing codes of conduct in the social sciences before writing this part of your research proposal.

Bibliography

List the sources you have used in your literature review and any potential sources you may use for your research.

For more information visit the Business School .

Length: 2,000 - 3,000 words excluding references

Your research proposal should describe what you want to research, why it is important to do this research, and how you plan to conduct your study. Here is a suggested structure:

Provide a clear working title for your research.

The introduction will indicate the focus of your research and your main research question. It should also address:

• why this topic is an important area of research
• why the subject is important to you
• how your research will contribute to our knowledge and understanding.

Research context

Provide a concise overview of the context in which you plan to conduct your research.

This section provides a concise review of related research within your field of study. It demonstrates that you are aware of the work of others and how your research will contribute new knowledge. It should also demonstrate critical engagement with relevant conceptual and theoretical frameworks and make clear your theoretical position about the issues you are researching, how this frames your research questions and your methodological approach.

Methodology and methods

Indicate your methodological approach, followed by details of how you plan to answer your research questions. This should include information about:

• how you plan to collect data (through which research methods)
• how you plan to select participants
• how you plan to analyse the data
• how you will address ethical considerations.

Provide a timeline, including time to conduct the research, process and analyse your data and write your final thesis.

Provide a bibliography of all citations used in your proposal.

For more information visit the School of Education and Social Work .

Length: 2,000 words

You should identify which research group you want to work with and check that we can support your area of research before writing your research proposal.

Your research proposal should include:

• your interest in the particular research area and the topic you want to study
• the specific research questions you want to investigate
• a description of your knowledge of the subject
• the relevant research literature you have read
• the methods and techniques you will use for your research
• an explanation of your motivations for applying for a PhD degree and an outline of your career aspirations
• a timetable for your project (monthly for the first year, and quarterly for subsequent years).

For more information visit the School of Engineering and Informatics

Length: about 2,000 words

You must provide a working title for your research. This is likely to change over time, but provides a good starting point.

You should introduce the questions and issues central to your research and explain how your research will benefit the field.

Research background

Expand on the information you have given in your introduction and try to answer the following questions:

• what are the key texts already existing in your field?
• how does your proposal differ from existing research?
• what will your project contribute to existing work in the field?
• how does your project expand our understanding and knowledge of the subject?

You must set out your research questions as clearly as possible and explain the problems you want to explore.

Research methods

Show how you plan to carry out your research:

• does your project involve archives, databases or specialist libraries?
• is your study interdisciplinary?
• what are the theoretical resources you intend to use and why?
• is your research based on a single author or a group of writers and texts?

Set out your timescale for completing your study. You need to think about dividing your research into sections and indicate how you plan to write up each section.

Include a bibliography, which lists the books and articles, you have referred to in the proposal.

Extra information

Some of these sections will be easier to write than others at this preliminary stage. The selectors who read your proposal know that it is a provisional statement and that your ideas, questions, and approaches will change during the course of your research.

You should treat the proposal as an opportunity to show that you have begun to explore an important area of study and that you have a question, or questions, that challenge and develop that area. It is also necessary to demonstrate that you can express your ideas in clear and precise English, accessible to a non-specialist.

For more information visit the Department of English

Length: 1,000-2,000 words

Include a short summary of your central question. You should tell us what you are attempting to research and why it is significant.

Thesis statement and literature review

Explain the subject matter of your project, and why you think the issues raised are important. You should also show us you are familiar with texts in the field, and can show how your research area is relevant, and in context to current academic thinking.

You must explain how your proposed project is original and will increase our understanding of the subject matter.

You must state clearly what you hope to discover at the end of your research.

Theoretical framework

Show how you plan to carry out your research and how you will analyse the findings.

Outline any ethical concerns which arise from either your research topic or your proposed methods of collating data.

List the sources you have used in your literature review and point to potential sources for your research.

For more information visit the School of Global Studies

You must provide a working title for your research, this is likely to change over time, but provides a good starting point for your proposal.

Include a bibliography, which lists the books and articles you have referred to in the proposal.

For more information visit the School of History, Art History and Philosophy

Length: 2000-3500 words (excluding bibliography)

Your title should give a clear indication of your proposed research approach or key question.

Include a short summary of your central question. You should tell us what you are attempting to research and why it is significant. You must state clearly what you hope to discover at the end of your research.

Explain the subject matter of your project and why you think the issues raised are important. Provide a summary of the key debates and developments in your chosen area and demonstrate your knowledge and grasp of the specific literature (global) that you will be engaging with during your research. You should show that you are familiar with texts in your chosen area, and what are the gaps in the literature that your research is attempting to fill, i.e., how your proposed research is original and will increase our understanding of the subject matter. Through this, you should detail how your research area fits into current academic thinking and/or policy discourse.

The theoretical framework provides the rationale behind your research proposal. You must provide a critical review of existing theories or concepts (global), which are closely related to your research topic. Show how these theories/concepts frame your research questions and the overall structure of your research proposal, and clearly state the specific theoretical concepts/analytical frameworks that you are engaging with.

You should outline your draft overall research question and any relevant sub-research questions and hypotheses through engagement with the theoretical literature.

State to what extent your approach is distinctive or new or builds on/deepens existing theoretical literature in your chosen area.

Research Design

Show how you plan to carry out your research (including fieldwork) and how you will analyse the findings. You should also show how this relates to your hypothesis. Put details of your research design in terms of approaches, methods and tools, along with some indication of specifics such as sample size (i.e., give an idea of the scope of your research project).

Outline any ethical concerns that arise from either your research topic or your proposed methods of collecting and collating data.

List the sources you have used in your literature review. Also, separately, point to potential sources that will be appropriate for your proposed research.

For more information about the PhD in Development Studies by Research visit the Institute of Development Studies website .

Length: 2,000-3,000 words

• what has inspired you to pursue your area of research.

You must show you have the ability to review current research within your field of study. Your literature review should demonstrate that your research question is relevant, you are aware of the work of others in your field, and show how your research will contribute new findings to the subject area.

Outline any ethical concerns which arise from your research topic or your proposed methods.

For more information visit the School of Law, Politics and Sociology

Length: 1,500-2,000 words

You should identify the research group you want to work with and ensure that we can support your area of research before writing your research proposal.

• a general personal statement, which describes a broad topic of interest to you and how your areas of academic strength would benefit the topic
• a specific personal statement, which shows us why you are the right person for one of our advertised research projects
• explain your motivation for applying for a PhD degree and outline your career aspirations
• your knowledge of the subject and relevant research literature you have read
• the methods and techniques you will use for your research.

If you are applying for an advertised research project you should tell us:

• which project or PhD scholarship you want to be considered for in the financial information session
• if you have another way of funding your studies if we are unable to offer you a place on a funded project
• the name of your sponsor, if you will be funded by a third party.

For more information visit the School of Life Sciences

You should identify the research area (and/or the researchers) you want to be involved with.

You should either:

• write a new research proposal
• write a general personal statement, which describes a broad topic of interest to you and how your areas of academic strength would benefit the topic
• write a specific personal statement, which shows us why you are the right person for one of our advertised research projects.
• explain your interest in the research area, your motivation for carrying out the research and your career aspirations
• describe the questions you want to investigate
• describe your knowledge of the subject and relevant previous research experience and skills
• tell us about the relevant research literature you've read
• describe the methods and techniques you will use to achieve your aims.

If you are applying for advertised funding you should tell us:

• which project or PhD scholarship you want to be considered for in the financial information section

For more information visit the School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences

Length: about 2,000 words (not including bibliography)

You must provide a working title for your research. This is likely to change over time but provides a good starting point for your proposal.

Brief abstract

Write a paragraph summarising your proposed project.

Research questions and rationale

Introduce your main research questions and why you think your research matters. Indicate how you think your research will be an original contribution to the knowledge and understanding of the subject. Describe the form of your anticipated outputs if your proposal includes creative practice. You may want to explain how you think your research will connect with existing research interests at Sussex.

Conceptual framework

The conceptual framework should elaborate the rationale behind your research proposal. You should demonstrate a critical engagement with theories and secondary literature or other artefacts that are relevant to your research topic. Show how these theories frame your research questions and the overall structure of your research proposal. If relevant, reflect on the research dimension of your creative practice.

Methodology and Research Ethics

Show us how you intend to achieve your research aims and outcomes and how you will answer your research questions. Include information about specific methods and access to relevant sources. If your project involves creative practice in some way, it is important that you describe what facilities you will need and indicate your experience in the relevant production techniques. You may want to include a practice portfolio, or provide links to online examples of your work. Reflect on any ethical considerations relevant to the conduct of your research.

Indicative timeline

Provide an account of how you envisage conducting your research to completion within the period of registration. Note that we fully expect proposals and attendant timelines to evolve in practice, but we are keen to see your ability to design a research project, bearing this in mind.

Include any literature, audiovisual or online resources you have referenced in the proposal.

For more information visit the School of Media, Film and Music

Length: 1,000-1,500 words Your research proposal should contain the following sections:

• why your research topic is interesting and important
• what we know already about the research area and how your study will expand our knowledge of it.

You should assume you are writing your research proposal for someone who has a good understanding of psychology, but not an expert in your area of research.

You should identify any gaps in our knowledge in your research area, and how your research will fill them. At the end of the section outline your aims and hypotheses.

We are interested in your ability to think critically. You should answer the following questions:

• what kind of control conditions are needed for your research?
• what do you need to measure and how?
• do you need to run any pilot studies?
• what difficulties might you have carrying out your research, and how can these be overcome?

You are expected to show how your initial idea can be developed and expanded over the duration of your PhD degree.

Reference list

You must add in a reference list in American Psychological Association format.

For more information visit the School of Psychology.

Proofread your research proposal

Once you have completed your proposal, check it through thoroughly. You should make sure all the information you have cited is accurate. Correct spelling and punctuation is also essential.

Write in clear sentences and structure your research proposal in a logical format that is easy for the reader to follow.

It is easy to miss errors in your own work, so ask someone else to proofread your research proposal before submitting it to Sussex.

You might also be interested in:

• finding a supervisor
• using our postgraduate application system
• how to apply for a PhD

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Advisor is using my ideas as grant proposal

I am having a hard time deciding what to do or feel so I wanted to ask this question here.

For background, I am a PhD student and am doing pretty well overall. I also happen to have a fellowship that covers my tuition and stipend for the next two years. At this point, I have a very clear and novel research agenda that I will most likely work on for the rest of my career and that I have presented at different venues.

My advisor has recently watched a talk I gave and told me that she would like me to write a grant proposal based on the ideas in my talk. Now, I feel uncomfortable doing this because I feel like she had absolutely zero contribution in the development of any of these ideas in this talk, and, if she gets the grant based on these ideas, I would lose "authority" over my own research agenda.

During my time in the Ph.D., my advisor has contributed very little intellectually to my work, (although I admit he has been a great editor). When it came to publications, I never had an issue regarding this because I would always be the first author, and it was clear that I was the expert on the topic (giving talks, etc...). However, if I understand correctly this grant proposal will only have his name on it, and it would not mention that the ideas developed in the grant belong to me (other than references to our past work).

Am I right to worry? What can I do?

• 1 Would you enjoy collaborating with the professor long-term? If an idea is good enough, there are often many pieces of it that require work. I always have more ideas than time to fundraise, do paperwork, manage students, and write. –  Dawn Commented Jul 13, 2022 at 1:02
• 4 Relevant PhD-Comic Not 100% true, not 100% your situation, but close enough. –  Sabine Commented Jul 13, 2022 at 14:37
• 3 Are you sure advisor isn't indirectly trying to teach you how to write grant proposals? Did you ask them why they need YOU to write a grant proposal? Are you sure this grant proposal will be submitted? –  Mindwin Remember Monica Commented Jul 14, 2022 at 18:07
• "However, if I understand correctly this grant proposal will only have his name on it" --> can you confirm that you indeed understand this correctly? I know of different countries (e.g. UK, the Netherlands), which do allow including Named Researchers in the proposals (e.g. naming the postdoc -- presumably you -- who would work on the project), and even allow Research Co-Investigators (you) to be included as the proposal authors. –  penelope Commented Aug 8, 2022 at 15:27

10 Answers 10

Here are two simple reasons why you should encourage your advisor to write the research grant with your idea:

• In your own words:

I admit she has been a great editor

Editing a scientific manuscript seems like a trivial thing, but depending on the context sometimes it is the task that requires the most effort. This is not something that you can ignore.

• Your advisor asking you to write a grant proposal means that she finds your ideas valuable enough to convince a funding source.

Since you are a member of the project, this is a great opportunity for you. At the end of the day, the funds will not be spent on your advisor's personal purchases. It will be your travel money, conference registration fee, research visit compensation, etc.

I do not believe that the ambition of getting the credit that you think you deserve is a feasible goal here. In the best case, she will say "OK then, I won't write a grant based on your idea." And then what? You are back to square one.

In the future, you will have many brilliant ideas, and most of them will be way better compared to the one that you have today. So, the best course for you (I think) is writing the proposal, and enjoying the grant both by putting an item in your CV and spending the money to travel around.

• 13 +1 but be alert "At the end of the day, the funds will not be spent on your advisor's personal purchases. It will be your travel money, conference registration fee, reseearch visit compensation, etc." Do not take this for granted . Maybe these funds would cover just one year of a PhD position, but then the work promised in the grant will need two years of a PhD position ... but professor&dept head would be happy to show the university board "look, we got $$funds$$ for a PhD for one year!" –  EarlGrey Commented Jul 13, 2022 at 9:19
• 1 Is it in the US the same that: you cannot use grant money for your own salary, meaning yes while a phd student could apply for a grant they could only use it to fund equipment and other people. So practically a person on the payroll of the uni basically has to be the person applying. –  lalala Commented Jul 14, 2022 at 6:18

I understand your concern, but you have a couple of things backwards.

While, in theory, when it comes to papers, you could write these yourself and you don't need your supervisor*, when it comes to grants, however, it's a completely different story. I'm speaking from a UK perspective and terminology here, but I assume similar practices apply elsewhere.

Unfortunately, in practical terms, there is absolutely no way for you to apply for a traditional grant as a PI at your stage, and are unlikely to for a long time. This is because funding bodies tend to have strict eligibility criteria, of which the most common is "permanent academic position in a recognised higher institution", closely followed by the often unstated criterion "demonstrates experience and an established presence in the field, and is the most suitable permanent post academic to lead this particular proposal"

In other words, it is probably not possible for you to be writing a grant at this stage. Which means, your best bet of actually continuing this line of research that you're banking the rest of your entire career on, may in fact well be to convince someone grantworthy to apply for a grant on the basis of your ideas, for you to continue working with them. Otherwise, once you're out of the phd and looking for a job, your most likely route is that you'll have to join a project based on a grant that someone else proposed, which is unlikely to be your particular niche topic that you so love. And this doesn't even address the whole "even if you apply for a grant yourself to resurrect this line of research once you've made permanent, say, 7 years down the line, this research may no longer be grantable, based on current trends and buzzwords".

Having said that, there are ways for you to be an official contributor on the grant proposal, rather than simply be a person that your PI happens to hire with the grant money. Many funding bodies allow the concept of a "named researcher" on the grant. This is typically someone who is at a stage in their career that is ineligible to apply for the grant per se, but it is understood that they are an integral part of the proposal (typically understood to mean the project is largely their baby and they will be the ones pouring all the work on it), and is therefore named on the grant. This is great for your CV, because it shows you have experience submitting grants and getting funding. Plus it saves the university time and money because they won't have to go through the hiring process.

So if I were you, not only would I encourage your advisor to write the grant, but I would try to find out if you can be a named researcher on the grant and continue your research with them in that capacity.

Ok, I am lying a bit, because there is in fact another, more straightforward way to go about this after your phd, which is to apply for a postdoctoral fellowship. This is an award that allows you to work as a postdoc for a few years working alone on your own research. But at the end of the day, these grants are far rarer than traditional grants (which are already in high competition), and are thus even more competitive than normal grants, are much less flexible (e.g. in terms of creating a partnership), and still require finding an interested supervisor to supervise the work. If you do get one of these, it may be seen more favourably than a named researcher route (in that you won such a grant directly), I'm not too sure. But in reality, if you are a named researcher on a grant, this is already great, much easier, and will still allow you to control and continue your research.

These are all personal opinions, and I'm also still learning the ropes and shortcuts of the system, so I may be wrong on a couple of points. But more or less this has been my experience. Happy to be corrected in the comments below. Hope it helps.

PS. The cutting edge novel stuff I was working on during my PhD that I thought would change the world and I was ready to base my entire career on? Haven't managed to touch that in 7 years now. Now that I'm getting a permanent post I may go back to it, but I've already got other projects in my hands already, which are far more practical from a funding point of view.

* Though in practice, even here, I think you're probably underestimating the impact that your supervisor will have had, both in terms of what they contributed to the research in indirect terms, as well as how the impact of the paper may have changed from the network effect of having their name on it.

An idea can be put down to a A4 page. Writing a superb 20-50 page grant proposal, project and financial plan is something completely different. Managing a project successfully is another different career step.

What you have to decide is not who had the idea or is the "owner", but what is the likelihood to get funding for it without your advisor and that someone else doesn't have the same idea at another place/how long you can save it up.

This is a poker game. You know what professional poker players do? They invest in other poker players (to get some ratio of their win) even playing the same tournament as their opponents to maximize their winning chances.

I was also thinking like you once. Maybe there are branches and periods within a research career within you can work and manage a project/idea/proposal completely on your own. But this cannot stay your modus operandi to become professor and stay profressor. You have to share ideas and success, delegate responsibilities, divide labour to stay successful.

If you idea is more than an idea, then patent it. Universities often ask their coworkers to come with patent-ready ideas to their patent departments. Then it will also be clear who had which share % developing the idea.

• 7 Research is not a poker game. What you describe (betting on one's opponent in a tournament) sounds unethical, and I'm having trouble understanding what the analogy in the academic world would be. Give some of your grant money to your competitors? This only makes sense if you don't think about it. –  N.I. Commented Jul 13, 2022 at 20:54
• 1 @N.I.the analogy is quite simple and obvious. Time is money and risk evaluation to invest time and share ideas with other researchers/opponents concering funding money essential to be more successful than others. But this question is not meant to explain game theory basics...Poker might have higher standards and rules of behaviour than the research game, when many research results are not reproducable nowadays. You think research is more like chess? :-) Then we strongly disagree and I take your downvote happily. Alone your assessment that poker is an unethical game is kind of strange...?! –  user48953094 Commented Jul 13, 2022 at 22:13
• 2 @N.I. "Give some of your grant money to your competitors?" that's exactly what you do when you participate in workshops and conferences organized by other institutions ... –  EarlGrey Commented Jul 14, 2022 at 8:12
• @EarlGrey Not all fields have registration fees –  N.I. Commented Jul 14, 2022 at 11:59
• 1 @N.I. you mention there are no registration fees. However, there are expenses involved (for example travel, remote conferencing infrastructures ... ) and costs: I understand that (often and unfortunately) time has no value in science/research, but someone participating in a conference/workshop is spending time, time that is paid from somewhere (even without grant). I hope you are oblivious to the costs of workers (yes, being a researcher is the best possible job in the world...) but not to the other side of the medal, that costs of workers must also be a fair salary... –  EarlGrey Commented Jul 14, 2022 at 12:27

In the short-term: a grant may expose your idea to third party, so you may loose some ownership on it. However, if you published the idea, there is no doubt about the ownership.

it would not mention that the ideas developed in the grant belong to me (other than references to our past work).

A grant is a funding request. You have to write it based on solid proof that what you plan to do will work, so what you downplay as "references to our past work" is of the uttermost importance. The rest of the grant (PI, name of the person proposing the grant, etc) is 20% politics and 80% bureaucracy. So publish as much as you can, but if your advisor is involving you in grants' writing it will be a good learning experience (unfortunately, even if your idea is good to guarantee you a career in the future, you will have to write more and more grants...)

In the long-term: I urge you to consider you are among peers[1]. You may have had a great idea, and you may have a plan for the future, since you state you have

a very clear and novel research agenda that I will most likely work on for the rest of my career and that I have presented at different venues.

Be realistic, there are many good ideas out there, not all of them get the required fundings. Additionally, if you were to have the absolute scientific breakthrough idea in your topic, you would be busy managing your own funds, not asking how to proceed to random strangers on the internet.

Being ambitious and knowing the own capabilities and value is good. But what is coming out from your writing/question is the usual self-entitled behavior of "succesful" PhD students. I am not saying you will not have a successful career, I hope you will have one. What I want to stress is that if it will happen only because of your merits and ideas ... it will only happen this way in your head, because your head will trick you in ignoring all the support you received and that you will be given, from your current and future peers (see your curent advisor doing a great job, supporting and setting you free to pursue your ideas).

[1] if you feel you are significantly smarter than your peers ...

• 1 I don't think "ownership" is the right word here - it's not possible to own an idea. There are issues of getting credit for the idea, as well as having control over the direction of research, but the OP cannot gain or lose ownership of the idea no matter what they do. Publishing a novel idea means the OP gets credit for it, but that doesn't mean they own it. –  Nuclear Hoagie Commented Jul 13, 2022 at 17:34
• @NuclearHoagie I agree, idea has no ownership, I just wanted to tag along the OP concept, if they are smart enough they will understand the concept you expressed ... –  EarlGrey Commented Jul 14, 2022 at 6:24
• dear editor of the answer, I am not quoting anyone, so please do not edit the final joke –  EarlGrey Commented Jul 14, 2022 at 6:24

At this point, I have a very clear and novel research agenda that I will most likely work on for the rest of my career and that I have presented at different venues... My advisor has recently watched a talk I gave and told me that she would like me to write a grant proposal based on the ideas in my talk...

You are very worried that, by winning this grant, your advisor will somehow "scoop" all credit for the research agenda you've identified... but you seem completely indifferent to the notion that audience members from any of those multiple other venues (or readers of your first-author publications) might just as easily scoop you by writing their own grants.

Even if it plays out exactly as you most fear, working with your advisor on this will lead to funding and more publications (presumably where you are still first-author); whereas some other group beating you both to the punch might lead to only a couple citations or footnotes.

What your advisor is offering here is a way for you to start the ball rolling on your research agenda at a very early stage in your career. Will this lead to some future confusion about "priority"? Maybe, maybe not. It sounds like you've given plenty of talks on the subject and have a good number of first-author publications under your belt so I wouldn't be too worried about one grant tipping the scales (particularly not if this grant leads to more publications where you are once again first-author).

Also, since we are talking about a "research agenda that I will most likely work on for the rest of my career" who's to say that this one grant proposal must give away the entire plot? Presumably, if this research territory is unexplored enough to build an entire career out of it, then some first exploratory forays can likely be packaged as post-doc projects, PhD theses, or even MS theses. Your advisor's editorial/administrative experience should actually be invaluable here - both in terms of knowing the project scopes most likely to be funded, as well as knowing how to maximize the amount of strong publications from a project of a given size.

(Moved from comment to answer)

I see two major concerns from your side. 1. You are afraid that you will "loss the authority". 2. You are afraid that you cannot be one of the authors of the application.

For 1: I am not sure what do you mean by "authority". Do you mean that you used to be the single author in these papers, and now you have to share authorship?

For 2: I personally think you can be one of the listed coauthor of the grant application. I personally know quite a few PhD candidates coauthoring grant application with professors across different institute (with or without the involvement of their advisor). So I am not sure if there is rule prohibiting students to be listed as coauthors.

PS: Besides proof-reading, I think there are some other value your advisor might be able to give you. For an incomplete list:

• Share his network capital
• Identify good citations and potential referees
• Share the skills in communication with editors and other senior academics
• Identify the "taste" of editors and potential referees
• Share his experience in paper submission and grant application

I am just a PhD student myself (so take this with a grain of salt) but I don't think one should conflate a grant proposal with a publication. Also, isn't it likely that a successful grant application would bring more funding to the research group, thereby benefiting you? Finally, I would think that one needs to trust their PhD advisor's judgment on these kinds of things, otherwise your degree may be a rocky road.

• Trust their experience on publications, yes. But write a funding proposal to benefit a professor contributing only editorially to that innovation, this is irresponsible. It makes other advisers think why they should not also advance their careers by association rather than by significant contribution. And demoralises those doing the latter. If adviser made a significant contribution, well and good. –  Trunk Commented Jul 15, 2022 at 12:43

I feel your pain. I have had to be satisfied with insufficient credit a few times and have even once had an entire final form paper outright stolen from me by researchers higher up the food chain. It happens. Don't listen to anyone who says it doesn't.

But you have to consider your position. The awarding of grants is a notoriously subjective process. (WHAT??? SUBJECTIVITY in SCIENCE??? Surely you jest! Ummm ... no.) Granting agencies will look at a proposal from an established researcher much more seriously than they will from a newbie, even a potentially talented newbie. I remember speaking with a someone who sat on such boards from time to time who said, "Seriously, I just don't have time to read these proposals. Last month I granted money to this one proposal just because I like the guy!" Now, don't blow a gasket; she went on to say, "Of course, one of the reasons I like the guy is that he does good work!" Point being, if your grant -- a first time effort -- had come across her desk in a stack of 10 others when she was already up to her nose in her own work, you wouldn't stand a chance.

In short, you need to ask yourself if you can get this funded without your advisor's help.

Also, for my money, whose name gets put on the papers that come out of the research will be more far more important than who is the lead on the grant. If your advisor is a decent person (Beware! Not all of them are!) she will put you as first author on the papers, as long as you actually do the work.

One last thing: It's not necessarily a binary thing; you don't necessarily have to tell her all or nothing. You don't have to tell your advisor your every thought. You can be cagey. There may be ways to keep the good stuff under wraps until you are ready to reveal it in a way that mark it as unmistakably yours. (Does your research group publish pre-prints, for instance?) It can be miserable having to go through life thinking like that, but sometimes that's what you have to do.

A couple of years ago I took a "Researcher Management and Leadership Training" Coursera course from the University of Colorado. In it they said that a good advisor will have you write a grant with them as the PI, and commit that if they get the grant and you go off to a faculty position somewhere else, you can take some of the money. This way, when you are on the job market you have a little pot of money to make yourself more attractive to potential employers. See if your advisor will do something like that.

• I think this is unlikely. This would require university approval as the research funds are given for so much work at the applying university. Extracting just x% of this for a PhD or fellow would make the university department liable to make up the shortfall. Proposals are already cut to the bone as far as grant amount to man-hours are concerned. Anyway there is no way that someone would be allowed take a piece of grant money to another university/research institute labs. And the idea of people buying their way into openly competitive positions is professionally shocking. –  Trunk Commented Jul 15, 2022 at 17:18

Kick for touch - and make it a Percy Montgomery !

Say you have to finish your PhD now - you must focus on that to the exclusion of all else.

After that you have to defend the thesis, apply for publication and get some well-earned R & R back home.

Then is the time to look at looking for funding for the idea you've had.

Though in the meantime you can look at who else in the country is doing similar research, whether you can work with them and so on . . .

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Grant proposal writing - How to design and communicate your project convincingly

Short description

Succesful grant proposal writing offers you the opportunity to drive your career as a researcher, to fund your own research, to get you into independence early after obtaining your PhD and to grow your research group. Also, outside of academia it plays an important role for funding research and innovation activities.

There are plenty of national and international funding programmes with different funding schemes. Although there are differences between the funding schemes that influence what each winning proposal would look like, the process of how to turn your idea for a project into a proposal is the same.

Therefore, this workshop focuses on a) How to develop your idea for a project into a sound work programme; b) how to match it with the requirements of a particular funding programme; and c) how to facilitate communication with the reviewer by presenting your complex ideas in an easy-to-understand way.

Target group

This training is dedicated to researchers with little or no experience in grant proposal writing. 

At the end of the workshop, the participants will have:

• An overview of funding possibilities and helpful sources of information
• A list of contact points, websites and phone numbers which provide support and detailed answers to questions
• A set of tools for efficiently developing research ideas into research projects and designing them to a funding programme of interest
• Examples of proposal building blocks, as well as comments on these
• Concise building blocks for different parts of a proposal: Work plan, Pert-diagram, objective, innovative aspects, impact.

SESSION 1: Funding programmes and how to read the documents (3.5 hours) • The triangle of projects • Overview of funding opportunities • Background information on funding programmes and evaluation processes • How to read the official documents • The funding scheme fingerprint

SESSION 2: Developing your idea into a work plan (3.5 hours) • Elements and structure of a work plan • The Disney method • Developing your idea for a research project into a first work plan • Visualisation of the work plan

SESSION 3: Communicating your project convincingly (3.5 hours) • Matching your idea with the funding programme of choice • Communication with the reviewer • Objectives and how to get the details to make them SMART • Innovative aspects

SESSION 4: Impact and budget (3.5 hours) • Where to put which information in the proposal and how to write about it convincingly • The eagle’s perspective on research projects • Impact • Budget calculation • Coordination of the grant proposal writing process

Dr. Sabine Preusse decided to quit academia in 2006 after obtaining her PhD in Astrophysics and moved on to the project management of European Funded Research projects in the Steinbeis-Europa-Zentrum. Besides writing grant proposals and being a project manager in the field of production technologies, she has also trained herself as a business economist (IWW) and a professional business trainer. With this she founded her own company RaumZeit e.K. Coaching Training Beratung in 2011 and is now (also as a professional business coach) supporting researchers from all levels and disciplines in grant proposal writing and the implementation of research projects, dissemination and exploitation of project results, as well as open educational resources.

Since 2011 Sabine Preusse has given more than 150 two-day workshops on grant proposal writing and more than 80 coaching sessions with respect to grant proposal writting, design of research projects and career-building for young researchers, postdocs and professors.

Instructor photo © Dean Vrakela; website photo © Sabine Preusse 

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• Writing Tips

How to Write a Nonprofit Grant Proposal

• 6-minute read
• 24th July 2024

If you’re seeking funding to support your charitable endeavors as a nonprofit organization, you’ll need to write a compelling grant proposal . A well-crafted proposal outlines your organization’s mission, objectives, and impact on the community.

By understanding the key interests of granting agencies , customizing your proposal to align with their priorities, and presenting a clear and compelling case for funding, you can increase your chances of securing the financial support you need to advance your philanthropic goals. In today’s post, we’ll look at why grant proposals are important, their key components, and how to write a good one.

Importance of Grant Proposals

Understanding what grant proposals are is crucial. A grant proposal serves as a formal request that outlines your organization’s mission, projects, and financial needs to potential funders. 

These documents play a pivotal role in securing funding for nonprofit organizations. They showcase the purpose of the organization, the specific projects or initiatives that require funding , and how the funds will be used to make a positive impact. A well-crafted grant proposal can attract donors and establish credibility and trust with funding agencies.

Key Components of a Nonprofit Grant Proposal

Writing a nonprofit grant proposal requires careful attention to the components that make a strong case for funding . Together, the different elements define your organization’s mission, goals, and financial stability. Let’s dive into the essential sections to include in an effective nonprofit grant proposal .

Executive Summary

The executive summary provides a concise overview of the relevant project, emphasizing key points. This section should encapsulate the purpose of the proposal, the amount of funding needed, and the anticipated impact on the community.

Organizational Background and Mission

In this section, outline your organization’s history, mission, and values. Highlight its core principles and explain how they align with the potential funder’s objectives. Demonstrating a deep understanding of your nonprofit’s background and purpose can reinforce credibility and trust with the grantmaker.

Program or Project Description

When detailing the program or project in your grant proposal, clarity is key. Describe the objectives, activities, target beneficiaries, and expected outcomes with precision. This section should clearly articulate how the proposed initiative addresses a specific need in the community and the strategies you’ll employ to achieve the desired results.

Budget and Financial Information

The budget and financial information section provides transparency regarding the allocation of funds and the sustainability of the project. Include a detailed budget that outlines the costs associated with the initiative, including personnel, supplies, overheads, and any other relevant expenses. You should also emphasize the potential for long-term financial viability and the impact of funding on achieving the intended goals.

By incorporating these key components into your grant proposal, you can effectively communicate your organization’s mission, vision, and impact , ultimately enhancing your chances of securing the funding you need to drive positive change in your community.

Writing an Effective Nonprofit Grant Proposal

When crafting a nonprofit grant proposal , paying attention to several key elements can significantly impact its success. From researching and targeting funders to aligning with the funder’s mission and priorities, thorough preparation is essential. Let’s look at how to write a compelling nonprofit grant proposal.

Research and Target Funders

One of the initial steps in developing a successful nonprofit grant proposal is researching potential funders whose missions align with your organization’s objectives. Use online resources, grant databases, and networking opportunities to discover funders that have previously supported similar projects. 

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By understanding a funder’s priorities, preferred projects, and funding criteria, you can tailor your proposal to resonate with their interests, increasing your chances of securing the grant.

Craft a Compelling Narrative

Incorporating storytelling elements into your grant proposal can captivate funders on an emotional level. By weaving narratives that illustrate the potential impact of your project on the community or cause you aim to serve, you create a connection that goes beyond statistics and figures. 

Share real-life anecdotes, personal experiences, or case studies that convey the urgency and relevance of your proposed initiative. Engaging funders through storytelling can leave a lasting impression and reinforce the significance of your project.

Align the Proposal With the Funder’s Mission and Priorities

Your potential funder needs to believe that your project aligns with their mission and objectives . Clearly show how your initiative resonates with the funder’s core values and priorities. Demonstrate a deep understanding of their focus areas and indicate how your project addresses critical issues. This not only showcases your organization’s commitment but also increases the likelihood of your proposal being favorably received.

Proofreading and Editing Your Proposal

After writing your grant proposal, proofreading and editing are crucial to ensure clarity, accuracy, and professionalism. By meticulously reviewing and refining your document, you can significantly enhance its coherence and impact on potential donors and grant organizations.

Editing for Coherence and Impact

Editing focuses on the overall coherence and impact of your grant proposal. It involves restructuring sentences for better flow, ensuring the logical progression of ideas, and enhancing the persuasiveness of your arguments. 

By editing your proposal, you sharpen your message, reinforce key points, and ensure a compelling narrative that captivates the reader. This elevates the overall quality of your proposal, presenting a more convincing case for why your nonprofit deserves funding.

Importance of Proofreading

Proofreading is the final polish after editing. Proofreading plays a pivotal role in the grant proposal process by ensuring that your ideas are conveyed clearly and concisely. It eliminates typographical errors, grammatical mistakes, and inconsistencies that could detract from the credibility of your proposal. A thorough proofread will allow you to present a polished and professional document that reflects your organization’s dedication to securing funding for your projects. 

When proofreading and editing your proposal, remember that precision and attention to detail are paramount. By investing time and effort into refining your proposal, you can significantly increase its effectiveness and maximize your chances of securing the funding you need to advance your organization’s mission.

Crafting a compelling nonprofit grant proposal requires attention to detail and a clear understanding of your organization’s needs and goals. As a nonprofit, conveying your message effectively is critical to securing funding for your projects. In this guide, we explored the essential elements of writing a successful grant proposal, from identifying funding opportunities to articulating your mission with clarity and purpose .

Remember, proofreading and editing play a crucial role in ensuring clarity, coherence, and professionalism. Thoroughly reviewing your proposal for errors, consistency, and adherence to guidelines can significantly enhance its impact and persuasiveness. If you’d like a professional to take over this part, our expert editors can help. Try our service for free today !

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• Tribal Climate Resilience Annual Awards Program

Grant Writing Workshop - FY24 Annual Awards Program

The Bureau of Indian Affairs Branch of Tribal Climate Resilience presents a virtual 90-minute Grant Writing Workshop led by Dr. Meade Krosby (Senior Scientist with the University of Washington Climate Impacts Group and University Director of the Northwest Climate Adaptation Science Center) and Dr. Chas Jones (CEO and Director for PICEA Consulting Group). Learn project proposal development and grant application writing strategies to improve your chances of securing needed funding for climate resilience projects.

A recording of the event will be posted to the Tribal Climate Resilience Annual Awards Program web page.

Event Details

• Start and End Date(s) Start and End Date(s):
• Virtual: Join Virtual Event
• More Event Information: Workshop to learn proposal development and grant application writing strategies for the Annual Awards Program.

Additional Information

Related information.

• FY 2024 Annual Awards Program Solicitation
• Annual Awards Program Online Portal

indianaffairs.gov

An official website of the U.S. Department of the Interior