Abstract

Horizon Europe proposal development for Pillar II is a complex process. A lot of resources can be absorbed for developing a single proposal – it has been estimated that a minimum of 6 person-moths are required, representing anything between €30,000 and €60,000 depending on location and seniority of involved personnel. This is a very important investment, considering that average success rates range from 5 to 20%. The low success rates mean that even high quality proposals are not selected for funding; there have been several cases of proposals scoring 14.5 or even 15/15 and not being funded. The combination of high investment requirements and low success rates means that the research manager can be under pressure to choose how to best allocate their time and how to best work with each researcher to ensure best overall performance for their institution.
In this presentation we use some case studies of proposals developed in Ireland with deadlines in 2022, submitted under Pillar II (Cluster5 and Cluster 6). The abstract authors are the research managers, one of the coordinators and one of the external service providers that were involved with these proposals.
The presentation and discussions will bring clarity to the audience about the approach used and the lessons learnt in relation to:
- project design
- consortium recruitment
- developing the impact section
- finalisation and submission