February 2011 cc: by-sa

Writing mini-project and other HE funding proposals

Gillian Brown (Advisor Education) and Megan Quentin-Baxter (Director)

Higher Education Academy Subject Centre for Medicine, Dentistry and Veterinary Medicine

www.medev.ac.uk

February 2011 cc: by-sa

2

Outline of the session

• 10:50 Optional Elluminate 'orientation' session (with Gillian)

• 11:00 Welcome and introductions - what participants want from the session (with Megan)

• 11:10 Introduction to funding calls, evaluation criteria and process

• 11:40 Allocation to break out groups and reviewing 2 proposals (template to be provided .doc)

• 12:30 Regroup to discuss outcomes

• 13:00 Lunch

• 13:30 Introduction to writing a proposal (individually)

• 13:40 Time to draft proposal (and 1:1 discussion with participants)

• 14:30 Feedback to group

www.medev.ac.uk

February 2011 cc: by-sa

3

Rationale

• The MEDEV team see many mini-project proposals which could have been improved if they had:– Better reflected the call for funding and the funders purpose– Had the right partners– Sold the ideas outlined in the proposals better – Maximised evaluation and dissemination activities– Been more aware of their own university processes (e.g.

contracting, finance)

• The workshop outcomes include:– Raised skills in writing high quality proposals among the

delegates– Improved critical review of proposals 

www.medev.ac.uk

February 2011 cc: by-sa

4

Process

• To review past proposals – analysing them against evaluation criteria

• Draft a proposal– Introduction– Method– Outcomes– Evaluation and dissemination– Ethical considerations, quality management, risks and finance

• Critique proposals from others

www.medev.ac.uk

February 2011 cc: by-sa

5

Process

• Participants will be split into pairs to review past proposals using documents provided on the workshop website– Call for mini-project proposals – Instructions to proposal reviewers - full 'instructions to

reviewers' documentation– Miniproject review template This template is to be used by

participants (working in pairs) during the workshop– Past projects (see titles on the next screen)

www.medev.ac.uk

February 2011 cc: by-sa

6

Projects to choose from

• Enhancing deaf awareness and communication skills of medical students: development of online resources

• Why are MBChB teaching staff reluctant to give negative feedback to students or fail low-achieving students?

• A qualitative study to inform the development of a theory-based questionnaire and staff training

• Establishing an Exotic Animal Teaching Unit for veterinary students• Assessment discourses and students' engagement with the

assessment in schools of veterinary nursing, nursing and pharmacy at Myerscough College and the University of Central Lancashire

• Dental, nursing, pharmacy and physiotherapy students' professionalism dilemmas: a UK questionnaire survey

• Contribution to ASME booklet/guide series

www.medev.ac.uk

February 2011 cc: by-sa

7

Headings to try to cover in your own proposals

• Introduction (to this proposal)• Background (be brief!!)• Partnership (how is this partnership more than the sum of the parts? If

on your own explain that too!)• Method (what will you do?)• Management, ethics, quality assurance and risk analysis (how will it

be managed, what metrics will be put in place to capture impact, and what will happen if things go wrong?)

• Evaluation and dissemination (evaluation of the impact of this project, not what the project is set up to evaluate)

• List of personnel and CVs if requested• Letters of support, including host institution (I always write these for

the other party, and ask them to edit/print it onto their letterhead)

www.medev.ac.uk

February 2011 cc: by-sa

8

In the future

• Tips and tricks– Plan well in advance – take it in turns to read calls for proposals– When you find one which suits read the call carefully!– Choose the right partners and get senior stakeholder support– Discuss the proposal with partners so that they are clear– Re-use/modify the layout of old proposals and use high quality

formatting techniques (your proposal should be ‘bursting out of the word count’).

– Reference your proposal– Don’t focus on the problem – write what the solution/s are– Plan the finance carefully and use fEC methods, cost the

project fully then highlight any discounts– Include the funder in your evaluation/dissemination

www.medev.ac.uk

February 2011 cc: by-sa

9

Summary

• Enjoy writing it – chances are the intellectual effort that you put in will be worthwhile regardless of the outcome

• Don’t pin all of your hopes on it• Good luck!

www.medev.ac.uk

February 2011 cc: by-sa

10

Attribution and disclaimer

• This file is made available under a Creative Commons attribution share alike licence.

• To attribute author/s please include the phrase “cc: by-sa Megan Quentin-Baxter, February 2011, http://www.medev.ac.uk/funding/workshops/228/view_workshop/”

• Users are free to link to, reuse and remix this material under the terms of the licence which stipulates that any derivatives must bear the same terms. Anyone with any concerns about the way in which any material appearing here has been linked to, used or remixed from elsewhere, please contact the author who will make reasonable endeavour to take down the original files within 10 working days.

www.medev.ac.uk