Abstract

While Horizon Europe offers a huge opportunity for research and innovation, the landscape is becoming increasingly more competitive with complex call topics that require an interdisciplinary approach spanning numerous research areas and sectors. As a result, it is imperative that the research design and concept are well thought out and developed to fully respond to the requirements of the identified call topic. In this article, we present our Proposal Development Lifecycle, consisting of four stages: Exploration, Formation, Application and Finalisation. When exploring the lifecycle, we present the core activities at each stage, including key milestones that must be achieved. When implementing the lifecycle, the philosophy is to ‘try not to go back’; meaning you are steadily making progress towards submission; starting early and building the correct team and concept is key to this. We argue that the effort given to the first two stages Exploration and Formation, can be the differentiator between winning and losing. However, these are two stages that often do not draw the appropriate level of attention by research teams, who regularly move early-on into the Application stage, without appropriate considerations in research design. From our collaboration and support on more than 50 Horizon Europe proposals (figures as of September 2022), we understand that putting the appropriate time into designing not only a fit-for-purpose project but an impactful one is what makes a bid stand out during evaluation. During this presentation, we will demonstrate the core considerations necessary to build up a strong and high-scoring bid, this includes but is not limited to understanding and responding to the call topic fully, identifying the right partners to achieve the necessary scope and expected outcomes, considering pathways to impact from the outset. We believe that proposal development must have impact at its core. To showcase this, we will present an evaluation of Horizon Europe Evaluation Summary Reports to highlight areas where research design has been central to proposals gaining or losing critical points. In our work as consultants who collaborate closely together with Research Managers, we want to share our learnings with tools that Research Managers can implement with the academics at their institute, ensuring that strategic decisions are made about what calls to respond to and how to get started.