Abstract

The alarm signals of a doomed project preparation are a familiar thing to all pre-award and idea phase experts: sometimes you just know that it’s not going to work. We present the alarm signals collected from various pre-award units and about 100 professionals working in research organisations, such as:

- I do not have time to write the application, can you help?
- I dot not have enough expertise for this application process
- This is not my field of knowledge
- I am not familiar with this target group
- I am not sure if this is the right call for this project
- I do not know who needs this project
- I might quit in academia anyway
- The deadline seems tight but let’s do it anyway
- I am not sure what we need to do but please help?
- I do not know who will implement this project if it will be accepted
- I do not get support for this from my faculty
- I do not know how this can be integrated to the curricula and my lecturing tasks
- This idea is mine only, I do not wish anyone to interfere
- This project preparation was allocated to me so I need to do it.

Professional pre-award expertise means saying NO sometimes. Loud and clear.

Learning outcomes:
Concrete advice on recognising proposal preparations that need to get cancelled accompanied with a good laugh and possibility to share universal pre-award experiences.