| Funding & Proposals: Proposal Preparation |
Requesting Letters of Support / Commitment
Often proposals submitted to sponsors can be strengthened with a letter of support or a letter of commitment for cost sharing from the leadership of the Medical School. In order to facilitate these requests, the Senior Associate Dean for Research will sign the letter on behalf of the Medical School. Click here to view the standard process for requesting these letters.
Grant Proposal Development Resources Offered by the Office of Research
The Medical School Office of Research has established several resources to help researchers develop successful grant proposals. We encourage you to explore these resources to see what may be useful to you. Please contact Chris Black (ckblack@umich.edu or 734-615-1630) or Kathryn Ridner (kridner@umich.edu or 734-763-4086) with any questions.
- Medical School Grant Proposal Sampler – This is a repository of sample proposal and proposal sections donated by Medical School faculty members. Its purpose is to offer insight into proposal development, including: proposal writing (e.g., organization, detail), responding to reviewers’ comments, sample sections and tables, etc. It also contains a list of UMMS faculty members who currently serve or recently served on study sections. This site is password-protected with access restricted to Medical School faculty, staff, and postdoctoral fellows.
- NIH Fellowship Proposal Sampler – This is a repository of sample proposal and proposal sections donated by UM graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and faculty members. Its purpose is to offer insight into proposal development. This site is password-protected with access restricted to all UM graduate students and postdoctoral fellows as well as Medical School faculty and staff.
- UMMS Resource Profiles – This online document contains descriptions of units and resources at UMHS and elsewhere on campus. These boilerplate descriptions are meant to be adapted by the user to fit his or her needs, e.g., marketing, recruiting, writing grant proposal resource sections.
- Sources for Editorial Assistance:
- Chris Black, 734-615-1630, UMMS Office of Research – Chris is an experienced interdisciplinary proposal writer who will edit, as time permits, external grant applications for grammar and grantsmanship issues.
- MICHR Research Development Core (RDC) – Provides no-cost services and consultation to assist investigators in designing, writing, and submitting external grant proposals.
- Reference List of Freelance Editors – This list of freelance editors – that includes their CV/resumes and contact information – was developed in response to faculty interest in the availability of editing services. The editors on this list have expertise in various types of writing (e.g., manuscripts, grant proposals, IRB protocol).
- Reference List of Freelance Graphics Specialists – This is a list of freelance experts in graphic design and medical illustration who may be available to help prepare various documents, e.g., grant proposals, manuscripts, dissertations.
- UMMS Grant Proposal Editors/Writers Group – This group was created for those individuals who help the faculty write or edit biomedical grant proposals so they may share insights, discussion, news, and resources about grant proposal development. The focus is on (1) pre-award activities related to preparing/writing the project description portion of grant proposals or (2) T32 (training) grant proposals.
- Proposal Preparation Funding Program – The goal of this program is to provide funds to support the submission of multi-investigator grants such as program projects, center proposals, U awards, etc.
Tutorials on Grant Proposal Preparation Offered by the Office of Research
- "Considering All the Costs: Budgeting Proposals for Medical School Faculty" – The purpose of this workshop was to review the conceptualization of the full costs required to perform research work plans, consider the sources of funds to complete the work, and discuss how peer reviewers perceive budget requests.
- "Inserting Graphics into Grant Applications & Other Word Documents" – This document offers instruction on the efficient and proper placement of images, charts, and graphics into grant proposal applications. Basic features in Microsoft Word such as image placement, captioning, and text wrapping are explained. Workshops on this topic are offered through the Taubman Health Sciences Library, and you can view a video of the workshop online. Contact Merle Rosenzweig for information on upcoming workshops.
- "The Nuts & Bolts of Building a Research Billing Calendar" – Attendees of the workshop learned why the billing calendar is required and valuable to the PI / study team, how to complete the calendar, and where to go for assistance in building a billing calendar.
NOTE: Links marked with a key are designated as “University Access - Ann Arbor Campus Only” and can only be accessed if you are on the University of Michigan Ann Arbor Campus network or if you are logged in via a VPN (Virtual Private Network).
Proposal Submission
- eResearch Proposal Management (eRPM)
- Grant Review & Analysis Office
- Office of Research and Sponsored Projects (ORSP) (formerly the Division of Research Development and Administration - DRDA)
- NIH eRA Commons – You must be registered in the NIH eRA Commons in order to upload a grant to NIH.
- Financial Operations Office
Grant Writing Guides
- UM Proposal Writing Guide
- NIH Grant Writing Tips Sheets
- Foundation Center- Proposal Writing Short Course
- Grantwriter's Seminars and Workshops
- Scientific Writing and Publishing Aids (Taubman Medical Library)
Other Resources for Proposal Preparation
- NIH Forms and Applications
- NIH Standard Postmark/Submission Dates
- NIH R01 Toolkit
- NIH Grant Review Process Videos
- NIH (NIAID) Grant Tutorials
(Even though this is from NIAID, it is quite generic and applies to all new investigators.) - Grant Writing for Tight Times
- Frequently Required Institutional Data
- Forms for UM and Select Major Sponsors
- ORSP (formerly DRDA) Grant Preparation Information
- UMMS Grant Proposal Checklist
- Medical School Requirements / Applications
- Helpful Hints for Proposal Preparation (Medical School Grants Office)
- UM Training Grant Database (requires unique name and kerberos password login)
