There's no secret about winning European research funding. Do your homework, build a solid team, be clear about proposals, budgets and impacts and, above all, be persistent, says Harriet Swain
How does anyone ever get anything out of Brussels? All you want is a few thousand euros of research funding, but you get nowhere. Your budgets are accurate, your English is, of course, impeccable. You've even enlisted an academic superstar from Estonia - but still no joy.
What's the secret? The Central Information Point for Framework Programme 6 UK stresses the importance of preparing well before a call for proposals is issued.
"A lot of it is who you know," says Rob Newbold, director of the Brunel Institute of Cancer Genetics and Pharmacogenomics, who has been involved in ten successful bids for Framework Programme money.
He advises getting to know the key people in Brussels and in your field.
"That does not help you get through the scientific review," he says. "But it does help smooth your way in getting information." He says that as your proposal must meet precise criteria, you must find out exactly what the European Commission is looking for.
Jenny Bellamy, research officer at Bradford University, says it is important not to rely on old information about criteria because policy on what is considered good practice can change rapidly.
Juliet Gayton, European research officer at Exeter University, says you need to use every source of information available. Ask for help from European bodies such as the Community Research and Development Information Service (Cordis), the specialist advisory team in the UK Research Office in Brussels and the research support office at your university.
One way to work out the standard and content of successful applications is to read the published guides for evaluators - or even to volunteer to work as an evaluator.
Adrian Vranch, academic developments manager in information and learning services at Plymouth University, recently served as an expert evaluator for FP6. He learnt that one of the main reasons for rejecting applications is that they do not follow instructions. Another is that they propose research that is not sufficiently new.
"And business plans are usually rubbish," he says. "Make sure you write a good business plan."
Gayton says you must understand the aims of European Union funding. Its goals are to build a research base of excellence in Europe, to reduce fragmentation of research between member states and to provide the human resources to do all this - all the while meeting wider European aspirations to improve social cohesion and achieve a better quality of life for the EU's citizens. With those goals in mind, you can start thinking about how your proposal might fit in and how it could add value at a European level.
Gayton suggests prospective applicants look at the EU's "work programmes", which are available on the web through Cordis, to see what research topics it wants to fund. "Prepare to read significant volumes of guidelines, work programmes and forms," she says. "Try not to be put off."
Martin Penny, director of the UK Research Office in Brussels, which provides information and advice on European funding, says you have to understand that the European Commission is not a research council. "There is a specific policy need for funding research, and that will have to be drawn out in your proposal," he says. Applicants need to offer European funders a research solution, which is different from the research answer demanded by UK funding sources.
You also need to choose partners carefully. "Do not have any token partners or sleeping partners," he says. "Do not believe anything you have heard about having to have certain countries on board." He advises including a mixture of disciplines and sectors, particularly small businesses. It is also a good idea to incorporate key players in EU research and younger investigators.
Gayton suggests that you consult publication lists in your field to identify suitable people at conferences or that you survey the Cordis projects database to pick out those who have already participated in a successful project and see if you can make some extra niche contribution to their work. She advises against aiming to be a co-ordinator of a project the first time you apply.
Researchers will have to work to build a genuine partnership. "It cannot just be someone you met at a conference," Vranch says. "That becomes really obvious when you read a proposal." He says evaluators' alarm bells start ringing when a consortium involves one or two famous names. "You know they are not going to do anything."
Applicants will have to have a solid management plan and, Vranch stresses, a realistic and consistent budget. "Often the applicants have been going through so many drafts that they are all mixed up and do not know what is going on," he says.
You should not assume that writing the proposal in your native tongue will give you an advantage. "The flowery nature of your mother tongue can mask the elegance of your science," Penny warns. Worse, it may mean that those who are not native speakers, perhaps even your partners, do not understand you.
Penny says your proposal must include clear dissemination and exploitation plans - and that you might consider including some partners for this purpose alone.
Finally, do not give up. While success in a Framework Programme often snowballs, resubmitting an unsuccessful proposal is common. According to Gayton, those who succeed are often those who have been willing to refine and try again. "My most successful academic originally acquired his first contract at the third time of trying," she says. "After that, the floodgates opened."
More information
UK Research Office - www.ukro.ac.uk
Community Research and Development Information Service - www.cordis.lu
FP6UK Central Information Point - http:///fp6uk.ost.gov.uk
TOP TIPS
- Assemble a good and genuine consortium
- Present an accurate budget - do not over or underestimate
- Take deadlines very seriously
- Be persistent