Different programmes have different requirements and consequently each proposal needs to be written individually for each call.
Here is a pre-award checklist to help you to go through this process step by step.
Go through the requirements and terms and conditions of the call.
Make sure your project idea matches the call for proposal. If it does not, review the funding sources or consult with your research advisor.
Discuss your project with colleagues and research advisor.
For support on Horizon Europe grants get in touch to establish a support timeline towards the deadline with the Research and Development Division (AFU).
Often research projects require departments’ support. Discuss your project with the head of your department and make sure to obtain approval to start preparation of your proposal.
Finding partners for research collaboration can be a crucial step in advancing your research projects and expanding your academic and scientific network.
Here are some steps to help you find research collaborators:
- Connect, be active and visible. Attend academic conferences and workshops in your field. Contact fellow researchers and express your interest in collaborating and highlight your expertise. Be specific about how you can contribute to their work. Join relevant professional societies or organisations. They often have networking events and resources for collaboration. Reach to your colleagues form different department and faculties, collaborate within Nord University.
- Use our networks: Nord University has partners at regional, national and international levels from both the private and public sector, including SEA-EU which is a European university alliance for collaboration in education and research across borders in Europe.
- EU funding and tenders portal: In the portal you will find most of the calls for proposals financed by the European Commission. Under each of the calls there is a section: Partner search announcements, where you could find partners interested in a particular call.
- Search through CORDIS database (comprehensive information about EU Research & Development projects). CORDIS can be utilised as a source of information regarding potential partners involve in the projects in your field in the past.
- Consider your role: As a part of a consortium in research project you can play different roles. A role of a partner and coordinator can vary and come with different level of responsibility.
- Analyse what countries and type of organisations are eligible for the call of your interest. Often specific calls have specific requirements regarding members contributing to the project. Those criteria need to be taken into consideration in the process of creating a project consortium.
- Connect, be active and visible. Attend academic conferences and workshops in your field. Contact fellow researchers and express your interest in collaborating and highlight your expertise. Be specific about how you can contribute to their work. Join relevant professional societies or organisations. They often have networking events and resources for collaboration. Reach to your colleagues form different department and faculties, collaborate within Nord University.
Drafting a proposal is a demanding process which requires a comprehensive approach. Here are some guidelines to help you along the way.
There are many courses and guidelines available to help you to write a good application:
- Courses provided by Nord University (Course Catalogue)
- Courses provided by the Norwegian Council of Research
- General proposal writing tips
- Use your One-Pager. You will find tips on how to write a One-Pager in Step 1 of the Research Handbook. This can also be used to explain the project to your new partners.
- Identify the impact. Impact is a key part of most of the research project. In order to help you to identify potential impact in your research project please use the Impact consideration template.
- Plan your budget. Your research advisor will provide you with all necessary information and templates to be used to plan the budget of your project. For coordination of Horizon Europe projects, contact the Research and Development Division for budget templates and support on budget development.
- A data management plan is often one of the requirements in the call of proposal. Here you will find guidelines regarding management of the data in your project.
- Consider potential ethical issues. Here you will find more information regarding research ethics at Nord.
- Consider gender dimensions in your project. Having a Gender Equality Plan (GEP) in place is now an eligibility criterion to participate in Horizon Europe programme and Nord University is complying with this requirement on institutional level. Here you will find more information regarding gender equality in the research projects.
- Consider if you can implement Open Science practices in your project. Most publishers require Open Access publishing and sharing of data (FAIR data management). Open Science is one of the evaluation criteria for grant applications to EU (Horizon Europe) and the Research Council of Norway, and implementation of Open Science practices can contribute to a higher score.
- Consider Intellectual Property Rights (IPR). The rules for management of intellectual property at Nord University are stated in the institution’s IPR regulations. See information on IPR to scholarly publications and the guidelines for management of research data at Nord University.
- Consult your proposal with your research advisor to review your draft before sending your application.