Programme overview
Introduction:
Research project management often fails not in the laboratory but around it: proposals miss funder criteria, budgets omit real costs, ethics approval arrives after fieldwork should start, data is stored without a plan and final reports scramble for evidence of outputs. This Core Concept course gives principal investigators and research office staff a disciplined method for research grant management across the award cycle, from framing a fundable question to closing the account. Participants apply it to a case call for proposals and produce a Research Project Plan with a costed budget and a data management plan.
Course Objectives:
- Structure a research idea into aims, work packages, milestones and deliverables with a realistic schedule and named responsibilities
- Prepare a costed research budget that separates personnel, equipment, consumables, travel, access fees and indirect costs and justifies each line
- Assemble a grant proposal that addresses the funder's call text, assessment criteria and eligibility rules
- Plan research ethics submissions, integrity safeguards and a data management plan aligned with the FAIR principles
- Coordinate investigators, postdoctoral staff and partner institutions while controlling risk, deviations and spending during the award
- Deliver progress and final reports on publications, datasets and impact, and close the grant ready for financial audit
Target Audience:
- Principal and co-investigators who lead funded studies and answer to funders for scientific and financial delivery
- Research managers who coordinate multi-partner consortia, laboratory programmes and R&D centre projects
- Research office staff who support pre-award proposal development and costing
- Post-award and research finance officers who monitor spending, reporting and audit readiness
- Laboratory and research facility coordinators who schedule instruments, staff and consumables across funded studies
Course Outline:
Day 1: The Research Award Cycle and the Research Environment
- Research Award Cycle Map: Idea, Pre-Award, Post-Award and Close-Out
- Roles of the Principal Investigator, Research Office and Finance Unit
- Funding Landscape Scan: Competitive Calls, Industry Contracts and Internal Seed Schemes
- Call-for-Proposals Reading Grid: Scope, Eligibility and Assessment Criteria
- Research Unit Readiness Checklist for Submitting and Managing Awards
Day 2: Research Design into Work Packages, Milestones and Proposals
- Aims-to-Work-Package Breakdown and Research Work Breakdown Structure
- Milestone and Deliverable Table with Gantt Scheduling for Experiments and Fieldwork
- Grant Proposal Structure: Abstract, Methodology, Workplan, Dissemination and Team
- Theory of Impact Pathway from Outputs to Outcomes for Research
- Proposal Red-Team Review Against the Funder's Scoring Rubric
Day 3: Research Costing, Ethics Approval and Data Stewardship
- Research Budget Build: Personnel Effort, Equipment, Consumables, Travel and Access Fees
- Full Economic Costing and Indirect Cost Rate Application
- Research Ethics Committee Application: Consent, Risk and Participant Protection
- Research Integrity Safeguards: Authorship Agreements, Conflicts of Interest and Lab Notebooks
- Data Management Plan Drafting with the FAIR Principles and Metadata Choices
Day 4: Running the Award: Teams, Deviations, Reporting and Audit
- Consortium Agreement and Collaborator Responsibility Matrix
- Research Risk Register: Recruitment Shortfalls, Equipment Failure and Negative Results
- Scope Deviation, No-Cost Extension and Budget Transfer Requests to Funders
- Progress and Final Reporting of Publications, Datasets and Impact Evidence
- Grant Close-Out: Final Financial Statement, Asset Transfer and Audit File
Day 5: Case Grant Workshop: The Research Project Plan
- Case Call Analysis and Research Question Framing for the Team Proposal
- Case Work Package, Milestone and Deliverable Schedule Build
- Case Research Budget with Cost Justification Narrative
- Case Data Management Plan and Ethics Approval Timeline
- Research Project Plan Defence Before a Mock Funding Panel
Skills You Will Gain:
- Research Work Package Design
- Research Budget Costing
- Funder Call Analysis
- Proposal Narrative Writing
- Research Ethics Submission
- Research Data Stewardship
- Consortium Coordination
- Grant Close-Out Management
Why Attend This Course:
- Leave with a Research Project Plan, costed budget and data management plan built on a case grant and reusable for a real call
- Spot the costing, eligibility and scheduling gaps that most often weaken proposals before a panel sees them
- Handle deviations, extensions and budget transfers with funders using documented requests rather than informal emails
- Compare research administration practice with investigators and research office staff from universities, R&D centres and laboratories in several disciplines
Conclusion:
Funded research succeeds when the science, the money, the data and the people are planned together. The week moves from the research award cycle and funder calls, through work packages, milestones and proposal structure, to research costing, ethics approval, integrity safeguards and data stewardship, then to consortium coordination, research risk, deviations, reporting and close-out. The final day applies every step to a case call, and each participant defends a Research Project Plan with a costed budget and a data management plan before a mock panel.