Writing research proposals and identifying early career bidding opportunities Kesia Reeve Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research, Sheffield Hallam University Early Career Researcher Funding Workshop, HSA Conference, University of York, April 6 th

housing researcher for 20 years dedicated researcher (no teaching commitments other than PhD supervision) CRESR = research centre, 25 staff, self-funding, around 50 proposals submitted per year, and 'live' projects mostly contract research (reactive, policy/practice oriented), some JRF projects, the odd ESRC/Nuffield etc bid My background / institution

Identifying and taking opportunities

look for  calls / funds targeted at ECRs (see John Flint's slides)  small projects, less attractive to others (but also beware of these..)  uncontentious / lower profile projects  funders interested in developing ECRs or enthusiastic about fresh thinking (e.g. JRF)  funders for whom academic status / a PhD is impressive enough consider focusing on emerging policy / academic areas, particularly if linked to PhD - you may be the expert include a senior colleague on the team - provides reassurance to the funder (but can also signal lack of experience....) Getting started - identifying opportunities

your institution is supportive of ECRs and committed to staff development you have a (formal or informal) mentor who sees the value in developing and encouraging the next generation of researchers (and if not, find one!) there is an effective appraisal system - so that securing your own project becomes a core objective with a measurable outcome rather than something you might try and fit in when all your other work is done (which it never is....) senior colleagues are willing to play a role in your projects you have expertise (subject or method) that could help expand the research portfolio of your institution there is a staff development fund It helps if

Writing a proposal

Orientation  self-generated or responding to a specification?  open-ended or dirigiste?  conceptual or policy/practice-based Nature of the research  exploratory  evaluative  validating/confirmatory The expectations of the funder  academic contribution?  knowledge transfer?  policy influence?  international? The approach will very much depend on.....

as with any writing, be clear! Do not over-complicate. If a funder/reviewer does not understand your proposal they will not think you are clever, they will think you can't write. make the proposal appropriate. A small organisation funding a 10k evaluation of their housing support scheme will not be impressed by two pages of sociological references. make sure your proposal meets the objectives and requirements don't forget the mundane requirements (word length, CVs, risk register etc) signpost. A lot. Basic principles

funders are more interested in end product than starting point work backwards from (hypothesised) structure of final report spend time on the introduction (demonstrate the contribution the research will make, don't just rehash the proposal) have a clear structure, e.g. context (I understand the policy context/current academic debate), expertise (I can prove it, and am a safe pair of hands), methods (these methods and the data generated will meet all the objectives), costs and timetable suggest variations to spec (methods, timescale, cost) but provisionally not dogmatically, and include the rationale optional extras can help where maximum funds are unknown - but think carefully about core and periphery research tasks Approach

If you are a single bidder do not over-reach; don't make it read like another PhD thesis, a luxury (in terms of time etc.) that can never be repeated if a team bid think of both vertical ways of working (division of labour/expertise) and horizontal communication (to fuse together different components) make accountability clear, with one person carrying the can use 'expert advisors' to strengthen the team and plug gaps in expertise but take care not to expose a lack of expertise in the core team target your relevant expertise, don't just list everything you have ever done, which you will not be thanked for Capacity

Thank you I hope that has been of some use.....