Proposal Development Resources
Resources for developing your ideas and planning proposals
- UNL Office of Research faculty resources summarizes some of the best internal and external resources for investigators.
- The Research Development Fellows Program is an initiative from the UNL Office of Research to help full-time, pre-tenure faculty develop and submit competitive grant proposals.
- “What to Say—and Not Say—to Program Officers,” an article from The Chronicle of Higher Education, provides advice on how to discuss your research with program officers.
- Scientists in Science Education is an excellent resource for NSF investigators who need to enhance the "Broader Impact" portion of their proposals and for junior faculty interested in developing applications to the NSF CAREER Award program.
- For investigators wishing to enhance the “Broader Impact” component of their NSF proposals, The Chronicle of Higher Education article “Teaching Future Scientists to Talk” describes a collaborative project between life scientists and journalists to improve the research communication skills of undergraduate scientists.
- Video: How to Write Successful Proposals for the NSF CAREER Program, April 5, 2012
- "So You Want to Win a CAREER Award," a short column that appeared in Chemical Engineering Education, offers pragmatic advice to CAREER Award applicants from all disciplines.
- The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services commissioned The Program Manager's Guide to Evaluation to help investigators develop plans to assess project progress, measure impacts, and document successes.
- The 2002 User-Friendly Handbook for Project Evaluation is a guide for investigators needing to develop basic evaluation plans for NSF-supported educational projects.
Resources for identifying grant programs and potential funding sources
- Funding Announcements is a weekly list of funding opportunities relevant to UNL expertise. To receive Funding Announcements via e-mail, contact Tisha Mullen (402.472.2894 or tgilreathmullen2@unl.edu).
- UNL internal funding opportunities and limited submission competitions feature funding opportunities limited to members of the UNL community and application information for competitions to select the UNL designees for external funding programs that limit applicants.
- Nebraska EPSCoR funding opportunities is a list of funding competitions coordinated by the Nebraska EPSCoR/IDeA office.
- Grants.gov is the access point for competitive funding opportunities from more than 900 grant programs offered by the 26 federal grant-making agencies.
- FedBizOpps.gov is the single government point-of-entry for federal procurement opportunities of more than $25,000.
- Philanthropy News Digest publishes funding opportunities and award notices for grant-making and non-profit organizations.
- UNL’s Coordinator of the Foundation Center Cooperative Collection can provide a variety of information, supplementary materials and services related to grantsmanship and foundation funding, including assistance with individual funding opportunity searches.
- H-Net Academic Announcements disseminates faculty and student grant and fellowship opportunities in the arts, humanities and social sciences.
- Nationally Coveted College Scholarships, Graduate Fellowships & Postdoctoral Awards provides information regarding competitive and prestigious undergraduate scholarships, graduate fellowships, minority postdoctoral awards and more from national and international organizations.
- The Michigan State University Libraries’ Grants and Related Resources page provides a gateway to a range of funding opportunities (e.g., scholarships, fellowships and grants). Users may review funding opportunities in a number of categories, including subject and academic level.
- The Office of Research developed a "Guide for a Successful Visit to a Funding Agency" to help investigators make the most of their visits to program officers at federal agencies and other funding organizations.
Resources for preparing proposals and meeting sponsor requirements
- The National Institutes of Health's Center for Scientific Review developed "The Peer Review Process" to provide a step-by-step summary of NIH's proposal review process, including a video with insights on panel review and scoring.
- NSF's Grant Proposal Guide contains the current guidelines for preparing proposals to be submitted to the National Science Foundation.
- DHHS PHS Grants.gov Application Guide SF 424 (R&R) provides instructions and templates for additional format pages (e.g., the biographical sketch format page, enrollment table format pages, etc.) to be used for Grants.gov submissions.
- Public Health Service Grant Application Instructions (PHS 398) includes the guidelines and templates for preparation of applications to the National Institutes of Health that are not submitted through Grants.gov.
- On-campus grant proposal writing seminars are held annually to provide researchers at all stages of development advice on preparing winning grant proposals.
- The Office of Research offers expert review of grant proposals to provide investigators with subject matter review.
Resources for routing and submitting your proposals
- UNL's Office of Sponsored Programs conducts a final check of all proposals submitted by UNL investigators to ensure they comply with sponsor requirements regarding budget, format and treatment of human or animal research subjects.
- NUgrant is UNL's electronic research administration system designed to help faculty, staff and administrators manage research projects.
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