How we can help you write better proposals

Writing proposals can be a frustrating business. You know you have a great idea, a fantastic consortium and a good plan, but time after time the referees don’t give you the high scores you need to get funded. This is where we can help.

A proposal needs to appeal to the particular type of referees who are chosen for different calls. The referees who evaluate Marie Sklodowska Curie Networks are very different to those going to judge your ERC Grant proposal. Knowing how these referees are likely to respond to the content of your proposal is the key to improving your succes rate.

From 15 years of experience with proposals in the EC’s FP7, H2020 and Horizon Europe framework programmes, we know what it takes to write a proposal that will succeed, whether it be a €20 m Research & Innovation Action or a Marie Sklodowska Curie Post-Doctoral Fellowship for one individual.

How we work with you

We work with different researchers in different ways. Very often we take a proposal that has been submitted previously and failed to reach the threshold for funding. In this case we usually take the existing proposal apart and then re-assemble it, piece by piece to create an attractive, engaging and impacting document. First, we work on a new, dynamic introduction that sets the scene and really draws the referee into your story. Then we produce new figures that illustrate your ideas, adding an additional dimension to the proposal. Other sections are re-drafted (and sometimes completely re-written) to make the potenial impact of your research more attention-grabbing and exactly in line with the demands of the call. In short, we take your old proposal and turn it into a completely new version that will be more persuasive and have greater appeal to the referees.

We also work with groups to build new proposals, helping them to bring together the right consortium and convert their science case into a winning proposal.

We are a team of two. We will work with you directly; you will not be handed over to a “junior member of the team”. We are kind and friendly, and we will dedicate our efforts to making your proposal as good as it can be, going that extra mile to ensure that your proposal is succesful.

How much does this cost?

The price is €750 per day. Something like a Post-Doctoral Fellowship proposal is normally 2-3 days; a Doctoral Network typically 10 days; while a large, multi-partner action could be 20-25 days.

Paul McGuiness

2022, by a wall in Birmingham

I studied physics at the University of Birmingham, then stayed on to do a PhD in materials. With some knowledge of rare-earth magnets and hydrogen, I left for US and worked for a couple of years with Crucible Steel in Pittsburgh, PA and the magnet division Crucible Magnetics in Elizabethtown, KY. Next stop was Istanbul, where I worked at the Turkish National Metrology Institute, emplyed as a consultant for the magnetic measurements laboratory. After 4 years there I moved to the Jožef Stefan Institute (JSI) Ljubljana, Slovenia, working on magnetic materials, quasicrystals and hydrogen storage, and after 20 years I moved down the road to the Institute for Metallic Materials and Technologies (IMT).

Since 2010 I have been writing project proposals for European funding. Initially for the JSI, but more recently for IMT and clients in Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Sweden, France, Czechia, Spain, Greece, Slovenia, the UK and the USA.

Romana Ogrin

2023, with my sister preparing the spring exhibition of my paintings

I was born in 1974 in Postojna, Slovenia. In my late teen years I went to France and did odd jobs and after my return to Slovenia I graduated from the Faculty of Law in Ljubljana in 2000. I worked in the field of law for a while and then as the director’s secretary at the Jozef Stefan Institute, where I met Paul.

There is a profound love of knowledge in me and sometimes an insatiable urge to make sense of things, and so in 2018 I decided to turn my life around and went back to university to study Philosophy at the 1st Bologna level as well as a training programme in Marital and Family Therapy at the Faculty of Theology of the University of Ljubljana and finalised the latter in June 2023.

In writing project proposals my job are details. Details in text, content, figures and overall image of the proposal.

I am also an amateur oil painter and so far I have had three solo exhibitions: Ljubezen, Čas v čipki and Zamaknjenosti. This is a link to my painting web page: https://www.romanaogrin.com/

How succesful are we?

These are some of our winning projects:

EU MSCA ITN/DNs: Demeter, Cosmic, New Mine, Avatar, Magnolia, Charming, Sultan, Peter, SAS, AMS2, C-Planet, DigiCAR, Eco Drive, Eternity, Auto Barge, Catchy, Greydient, Moira, Multitech, Parasol, Sennet, Helios, Tribos, Aerialist, iSense, Pattern

ERA.MIN2: Antisolvo

ERC Advanced Grants: CoolMag, SOLVOMET, NEON

FET Open: Magneliq

MSCA COFUND: MobilityGT, SMASH

MSCA RISE: Phoenix

EU SC1- Eximious

EU SC5- Nemo, Susmag, Susmag Pro, Passenger,

RS, RIA - HE Cicero, HE Enicon, HE Exceed, HE Reemag, Lithos

MSCA Post-Doc Fellowship-MSCA for Ukraine

Pathfinder Open

Pathfinder Transition

Crocodile, New Mine, Socrates

FWO- Enact