School Grant Application Processes 

Key steps in your Research Grant Development

  1. Notify your school-facing points of contact of your interest in a funding opportunity by the internal cut-off shown on our Research Grant Funding Calls and Demand Managed Calls pages, or by the general timescales in the table below.
  2. Obtain departmental approvals to proceed with a research grant application
  3. Write your grant application. CRSO will send you a tailored bid submission timeline of key milestones to help keep you on track. 

Grant Application Processes for each School including approvals and peer review

Birmingham Business School Grant Application Processes 

1. PI/Co-I obtains approval for application

Principal / Co-Applicant(s) to obtain email approval from their Head of Department (Cc. School Director of Research and Departmental Research Lead). Note: City REDI staff obtain approval from Anne Green and Rebecca Riley instead of HoD. 

The following information should be contained in your email:

  • Funder name and scheme;

  • Proposed time commitment on the project (% FTE), start date and duration;

  • Any other information you consider relevant to the making of an informed decision.

2. PI/Co-I seeks internal peer review

  • All bids require at least two internal peer reviews.

  • A more robust or second round of peer review may be required for very large-scale bids. 

  • Bids on which staff are Co-I (PI based in another college/external organisation) do not require peer review (reviews organised by PI and their College/organisation).

3 CRSO seek Head of School approval for non-standard items

Once CRSO has established call requirements and generated costings, they will seek authorisation of any non-standard items, such as sub-fEC or match/ in-kind contributions, from Head of School. 

4. CRSO obtains final approval(s) for application 

At least one week before the external deadline CRSO will obtain final approvals (where required) on submissions. These may include:

  • Financial sign off;

  • Head of Department/School approvals on funder portal;

  • Head of Department/School/College written support for match funded/non-standard budget (if not already obtained).

5. CRSO provide final approval and input application into Worktribe 

  • CRSO to provide final approval either by email or via funder portal.

  • CRSO to add application to Worktribe.

School of Education Grant Application Processes

1. PI/Co-I obtains approval for application

Principal / Co-Applicant(s) to obtain email approval from their Head of Department (Cc. School Director of Research).

The following information should be contained in your email:

  • Funder name and scheme;

  • Proposed time commitment on the project (% FTE), start date and duration;

  • Any other information you consider relevant to the making of an informed decision.

2. PI/Co-I seeks internal peer review

  • All bids require at least two internal peer reviews.

  • A more robust or second round of peer review may be required for very large-scale bids. 

  • Bids on which staff are Co-I (PI based in another college/external organisation) do not require peer review (reviews organised by PI and their College/organisation).

3 CRSO seek Head of School approval for non-standard items

Once CRSO has established call requirements and generated costings, they will seek authorisation of any non-standard items, such as sub-fEC or match/ in-kind contributions, from Head of School. 

4. CRSO obtains final approval(s) for application 

At least one week before the external deadline CRSO will obtain final approvals (where required) on submissions. These may include:

  • Financial sign off;

  • Head of Department/School approvals on funder portal;

  • Head of Department/School/College written support for match funded/non-standard budget (if not already obtained).

5. CRSO provide final approval and input application into Worktribe 

  • CRSO to provide final approval either by email or via funder portal.

  • CRSO to add application to Worktribe.

School of Government Grant Application Processes

1. PI/Co-I obtains approval for application

Principal / Co-Applicant(s) to obtain email approval from their Head of Department (Cc. School Head of Research). 

The following information should be contained in your email:

  • Funder name and scheme;

  • Proposed time commitment on the project (% FTE), start date and duration;

  • Any other information you consider relevant to the making of an informed decision.

2. PI/Co-I seeks internal peer review

  • All bids require at least two internal peer reviews.

  • A more robust or second round of peer review may be required for very large-scale bids. 

  • Bids on which staff are Co-I (PI based in another college/external organisation) do not require peer review (reviews organised by PI and their College/organisation).

3 CRSO seek Head of School approval for non-standard items

Once CRSO has established call requirements and generated costings, they will seek authorisation of any non-standard items, such as sub-fEC or match/ in-kind contributions, from Head of School. 

4. CRSO obtains final approval(s) for application 

At least one week before the external deadline CRSO will obtain final approvals (where required) on submissions. These may include:

  • Financial sign off;

  • Head of Department/School approvals on funder portal;

  • Head of Department/School/College written support for match funded/non-standard budget (if not already obtained).

5. CRSO provide final approval and input application into Worktribe 

  • CRSO to provide final approval either by email or via funder portal.

  • CRSO to add application to Worktribe.

School of Social Policy Grant Application Processes

1. PI/Co-I obtains approval for application

Principal / Co-Applicant(s) to obtain email approval from the School Head of Research and Head of Department.

The following information should be contained in your email:

  • Funder name and scheme;

  • Proposed time commitment on the project (% FTE), start date and duration;

  • Any other information you consider relevant to the making of an informed decision.

  • Head of Department approval for FTE is required for the PI and Co-I(s).

2. PI/Co-I seeks internal peer review

  • All bids (including outline applications) require at least two internal peer reviews, and the School Head of Research will also review.

  • A more robust or second round of peer review may be required for very large-scale bids. 

  • Bids on which staff are Co-I (PI based in another college/external organisation) do not require peer review (reviews organised by PI and their College/organisation).

3 CRSO seek Head of School approval for non-standard items

Once CRSO has established call requirements and generated costings, they will seek authorisation of any non-standard items, such as sub-fEC or match/ in-kind contributions, from Head of School. 

4. CRSO obtains final approval(s) for application 

At least one week before the external deadline CRSO will obtain final approvals (where required) on submissions. These may include:

  • Financial sign off;

  • Head of Department/School approvals on funder portal;

  • Head of Department/School/College written support for match funded/non-standard budget (if not already obtained).

5. CRSO provide final approval and input application into Worktribe 

  • CRSO to provide final approval either by email or via funder portal.

  • CRSO to add application to Worktribe.

You can also view the Grant Application Processes for each School in CoSS in Sharepoint.

General timescales for advising CRSO of your interest in applying


For bids led by UoB CoSS

If you wish to proceed with a research grant application, please let your school-facing point of contact know with appropiate lead-in time.

  • At least 4 weeks for small grants or tenders (up to £100k)
  • At least 8 weeks for mid-range applications (£100k-£500k)
  • At least 10 weeks for large-scale applications (above £500k)

For Co-I costings (externally-led)

  • 3-5 working days to provide costs to external Lead Organisation, after obtaining HoD and DoR approval. We will require longer for more complex budgets.

For an externally-led grant, please discuss the collaboration with your DoR and HoD and send them the information below by email for their formal approval. Please send this information, including the approval confirmation to your school-facing point of contact:

    • start date for each person (named or unnamed) and role (e.g. Research Assistant, Fellow or Co-applicant)
    • duration of post
    • level of involvement (e.g. full time, 2 days per week, etc...)
    • Funder and specific call
    • Working title of the research project

Writing your grant application — indicative bid timeline

Once you inform CRSO that you're interested in applying for a funding opportunity, we'll draw up a tailored bid submission timeline to help keep you on track. This will be adapted to the size and complexity of the call (i.e. larger bids will take longer to prepare) and take into account the various aspects of proposal development including grant writing, internal peer review, due diligence, costing support, approvals. We strongly encourage bids to be developed and submitted well in advance of external deadlines.

Colleges

Professional Services