Submitting a research proposal

You must ensure that the proposal has been fully signed off by your internal approval process before submitting it. An increasing number of sponsors are using electronic submission systems - do not underestimate the time needed to use these systems to submit proposals. At your earliest opportunity you should ensure that:

• your institution is registered to use the system
• you are registered to use the system.

Most electronic submission systems require a central sign-off, which means that when you submit your proposal it does not go directly to the proposed funder but instead is routed to your central research office for them to do the actual submission (after they have made appropriate governance checks). You will need to leave additional time for this step.

For non-electronic submissions (or submissions by email) you will probably need to ensure that your institution's research office has a copy of the proposal as submitted. You will almost certainly need a number of signatures on hard-copy submissions - again you need to leave time for this; many research offices will arrange for the central signature for you (often a deputy/pro-vice-chancellor signature is needed).

Then it is just a case of waiting to get a response from the proposed funder.

You may also be interested in the contract negotiation page.