ICEG European CenterICEG European Center 6/B Dayka Gabor Street, Budapest 6/B Dayka Gabor Street, Budapest

Tel/Fax: +36 1 248-1160 e-mail: office@icegec.hu website:www.icegec.huTel/Fax: +36 1 248-1160 e-mail: office@icegec.hu website:www.icegec.hu

Proposal Writing

ICEG European Center

ICEG European CenterICEG European Center 6/B Dayka Gabor Street, Budapest 6/B Dayka Gabor Street, Budapest

Tel/Fax: +36 1 248-1160 e-mail: office@icegec.hu website:www.icegec.huTel/Fax: +36 1 248-1160 e-mail: office@icegec.hu website:www.icegec.hu

Structure of the presentation

Proposal writing = cooking a meal for your guests• You have to choose the right recipe• You have to optimise your inputs• You have to meet your guests’ expectations, taste

I. Ingredients of a proposalII. Instructions for the cooking

ICEG European CenterICEG European Center 6/B Dayka Gabor Street, Budapest 6/B Dayka Gabor Street, Budapest

Tel/Fax: +36 1 248-1160 e-mail: office@icegec.hu website:www.icegec.huTel/Fax: +36 1 248-1160 e-mail: office@icegec.hu website:www.icegec.hu

Different proposals

1. Made for your own purposes2. Made for a scientific paper, for education,

PhD programme3. For a grant call4. For a tender call5. ...

ICEG European CenterICEG European Center 6/B Dayka Gabor Street, Budapest 6/B Dayka Gabor Street, Budapest

Tel/Fax: +36 1 248-1160 e-mail: office@icegec.hu website:www.icegec.huTel/Fax: +36 1 248-1160 e-mail: office@icegec.hu website:www.icegec.hu

Ingredients

I. „Scientific”II. Managerial, operativeIII. BudgetIV. Administrative

I. + II.: „Technical proposal”

ICEG European CenterICEG European Center 6/B Dayka Gabor Street, Budapest 6/B Dayka Gabor Street, Budapest

Tel/Fax: +36 1 248-1160 e-mail: office@icegec.hu website:www.icegec.huTel/Fax: +36 1 248-1160 e-mail: office@icegec.hu website:www.icegec.hu

Introduction

1. Who prepares for this proposal 2. For what reason 3. Date, signature 4. If it is an answer for a call: cite all details of

the call5. Any declarations (Consortium, validity, etc)

ICEG European CenterICEG European Center 6/B Dayka Gabor Street, Budapest 6/B Dayka Gabor Street, Budapest

Tel/Fax: +36 1 248-1160 e-mail: office@icegec.hu website:www.icegec.huTel/Fax: +36 1 248-1160 e-mail: office@icegec.hu website:www.icegec.hu

Background

1. Summarises the knowledge already available in the field

2. Shows your competence 3. Gives a literature review 4. If it is an answer for a call: reflect on the

Terms of Reference (ToR) / Request for Proposal (RFP)

ICEG European CenterICEG European Center 6/B Dayka Gabor Street, Budapest 6/B Dayka Gabor Street, Budapest

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Research questions

1. Which are the most important research questions/challenges that need to be answered?

2. What are YOUR questions for this work? 3. How will your project add value to the

existing? (Scientificly, policy-wise, etc)

You have to SELL your idea!!!! WHY is your work of crucial importance?

ICEG European CenterICEG European Center 6/B Dayka Gabor Street, Budapest 6/B Dayka Gabor Street, Budapest

Tel/Fax: +36 1 248-1160 e-mail: office@icegec.hu website:www.icegec.huTel/Fax: +36 1 248-1160 e-mail: office@icegec.hu website:www.icegec.hu

Methodology

How do you want to answer the research questions?

• Literature review (National and international, theoretic and other empirical, best practices, etc)

• Empirical (questionnaires, surveys, databases, statistical and econometrical analyses)

ICEG European CenterICEG European Center 6/B Dayka Gabor Street, Budapest 6/B Dayka Gabor Street, Budapest

Tel/Fax: +36 1 248-1160 e-mail: office@icegec.hu website:www.icegec.huTel/Fax: +36 1 248-1160 e-mail: office@icegec.hu website:www.icegec.hu

Proposed structure

1. What will be the outcome of the project? One report? One paper? Several? In what structure?

2. Give a detailed (2 or 3 levels) planned Table of Contents (the titles of the chapters and subchapters)

3. You may also want to describe in 1-2 paragraphs the planned content of those chapters

ICEG European CenterICEG European Center 6/B Dayka Gabor Street, Budapest 6/B Dayka Gabor Street, Budapest

Tel/Fax: +36 1 248-1160 e-mail: office@icegec.hu website:www.icegec.huTel/Fax: +36 1 248-1160 e-mail: office@icegec.hu website:www.icegec.hu

List of deliverables

If it is an answer for a call, please list out the main deliverables of the project.

• Reports, papers2. Workshops, events3. Managerial and financial reports4. ... Anything else the ToR / RFP requires as

deliverables

ICEG European CenterICEG European Center 6/B Dayka Gabor Street, Budapest 6/B Dayka Gabor Street, Budapest

Tel/Fax: +36 1 248-1160 e-mail: office@icegec.hu website:www.icegec.huTel/Fax: +36 1 248-1160 e-mail: office@icegec.hu website:www.icegec.hu

Timetable

A planned timetable for the project, including all deliverables and main phases of the work. (e.g. When do you do the literature review, surveys, submission of drafts.. Etc)

• Time indication: t0+1, t0+2 ... t0: start of the program (signature of contract in case of grants or tenders)

• You might want to give a graphical representation

ICEG European CenterICEG European Center 6/B Dayka Gabor Street, Budapest 6/B Dayka Gabor Street, Budapest

Tel/Fax: +36 1 248-1160 e-mail: office@icegec.hu website:www.icegec.huTel/Fax: +36 1 248-1160 e-mail: office@icegec.hu website:www.icegec.hu

Who does what

If it is a work carried out by several people with different competencies or carried out by several institution, specify the exact roles, responsibilities

! If it is a big project with many deliverables and details, give a managerial overview anout how you plan to conduct it.

ICEG European CenterICEG European Center 6/B Dayka Gabor Street, Budapest 6/B Dayka Gabor Street, Budapest

Tel/Fax: +36 1 248-1160 e-mail: office@icegec.hu website:www.icegec.huTel/Fax: +36 1 248-1160 e-mail: office@icegec.hu website:www.icegec.hu

Who is who

You have to submit: • Institutional description and references• CVs of experts

2 choices: • Put here the full versions• Use here only a paragraph-long, short CVs

and descriptions, and put the big ones into an Annex

ICEG European CenterICEG European Center 6/B Dayka Gabor Street, Budapest 6/B Dayka Gabor Street, Budapest

Tel/Fax: +36 1 248-1160 e-mail: office@icegec.hu website:www.icegec.huTel/Fax: +36 1 248-1160 e-mail: office@icegec.hu website:www.icegec.hu

Budget

1. If you have client/donor, they might give you a special table to fill out

2. Nevertheless, it is advisable to do a bottom-up budget for your own

3. Pay attention to making it credible4. ? VAT reclaiming – not always possible!5. If it is a grant, you might have special

conditions: e.g. Overhead cannot be more than 7% of the total budget

ICEG European CenterICEG European Center 6/B Dayka Gabor Street, Budapest 6/B Dayka Gabor Street, Budapest

Tel/Fax: +36 1 248-1160 e-mail: office@icegec.hu website:www.icegec.huTel/Fax: +36 1 248-1160 e-mail: office@icegec.hu website:www.icegec.hu

Now we cook:

1. You need a different share of the ingredients for various proposals. You need less of the managerial stuff if it is a strictly scientific proposal

2. If it is a tender or a grant: you have to promise a lot in order to win, on the other hand it will be a part of your contract!!! Then you really have to carry it out

3. If it is a tender or a grant: you might have to meet a special format requirement, otherwise you have more freedom in using the ingredients

4. Pay attention to the format-wise issues: headings, language, spell-check, cover pages, etc

ICEG European CenterICEG European Center 6/B Dayka Gabor Street, Budapest 6/B Dayka Gabor Street, Budapest

Tel/Fax: +36 1 248-1160 e-mail: office@icegec.hu website:www.icegec.huTel/Fax: +36 1 248-1160 e-mail: office@icegec.hu website:www.icegec.hu

Planning the proposal preparation

1. Check eligiblity!2. Read the ToR / RFP at least 4 times. 3. Does it worth? Efforts and results. 4. Do I need partners? Experts or institutions? 5. Make your own proposal preparation team – for

admin things might need an assistant4. You might ask questions from the client/donor UP TO

a couple of days before submission – ask if you have any doubts

ICEG European CenterICEG European Center 6/B Dayka Gabor Street, Budapest 6/B Dayka Gabor Street, Budapest

Tel/Fax: +36 1 248-1160 e-mail: office@icegec.hu website:www.icegec.huTel/Fax: +36 1 248-1160 e-mail: office@icegec.hu website:www.icegec.hu

The most important thing

What does the client/donor/reader REALLY want? In what kind of scientific framework they use? What are

the hot topics, keywords for them?Make sure that it is clear from the proposal that you

understand this framework. Do not hesitate to „cite” from their ToR/RFP

Prove that you do not only understand their problems but you can add real value to their interests.

Do not lie, but don’t be shy.

ICEG European CenterICEG European Center 6/B Dayka Gabor Street, Budapest 6/B Dayka Gabor Street, Budapest

Tel/Fax: +36 1 248-1160 e-mail: office@icegec.hu website:www.icegec.huTel/Fax: +36 1 248-1160 e-mail: office@icegec.hu website:www.icegec.hu

Thank you!