A Bigger Splash

This blog is about the work I have been doing at A Bigger Splash Ltd on European Research Council projects since late 2007. During that time I have read and reviewed and commented … More

A year or so ago I created a spread sheet to capture the comments that I had made on the hundreds of ERC proposals reviewed in detail and to explore the different types of problems … More

It is a truism to say that ‘a picture is worth 1000 words’ or less commonly that there is a strong ‘picture superiority effect’ which means we are hard wired to be able to more … More

An ERC proposal is a balancing act where many forces need to be managed carefully to create an attractive and buyable proposition that promises a great deal but is also feasible … More

We get asked often where this every long standing and extensive line of work on ERC proposals comes from and so it seems helpful to set the scene a little better and explain one or … More

Another common mistake that I've seen often in the proposals I have reviewed is to give the reader the too strong an impression that this is going to be a team effort. This has two … More

I’ll continue to work my way around the mindmap of the most common errors I have encountered when reviewing ERC proposals that I first posted in the post on 'starting out'. And … More

Speaking about your project in a way that sparks interest and engages or even excites other people is very important.   You need to understand your audience’s needs and … More

Sometimes I get asked about how I measure the success of the work that we do on ERC proposals and how I know that what I say about writing for the ERC works and makes a … More

If you ask a researcher what they are going to do in a project they are planning then you’d best be prepared to wait until ‘until the cows come home’ before you can get a word into … More

The objectives are such a critical part of the proposal that I’ll continue looking at how they can be done well and quickly in this post.  The topic of writing objectives is dealt … More

In this post I’ll look more closely at an approach to objectives writing which underpins all the advice that I give about how to put these critical statements together most … More

Another post on log frame was basically saying one simple thing: make sure there is a clear logical flow of ideas and causal linkages up and down the layers of the project plan. … More

The ERC programmes are a very particular kind of ecosystem and support only certain kinds of quite rarefied life. As many of the previous posts have tried to show, there is very … More

When writing an ERC proposal, researchers are aware that they are supposed to be promising to make a big difference, that the objectives when reached are supposed to break new … More

Linking back again to the slide on the simple and most common mistakes that proposers make when writing an ERC proposal I'd like to touch on the subject that will come up again and … More

The rhetoric of scientific writing and discourse has long been a subject of research and debate which I’ll draw on extensively in future posts when thinking about the fine details … More

This is a very important topic indeed and one that worries and baffles lots of candidates who get invited to them.  We have been asked over the years to provide training expressly … More

My view is that the objectives are the most important part of the proposal, I think it is as clear and as simple as that and their importance is difficult to overstate in … More

The methods section of the proposal is the place where we show we know what we are doing.  And most researchers are capable of demonstrating that they are masters of their methods … More

The next issue that I'd like to deal with as I move one step around the mind map of common but more complex problems is the most important that we have encountered so far and one … More

The pressure on researchers to win ERC funding grows more and more intense and the competition gets tougher and tougher with no signs of abating.  Many institutions are actively … More

Taking a short time out from looking at the ideas that are set out in the pages of the brochure where I have captured many of the ideas emerging from the review of around 400 ERC … More

One of the things that sticks in researchers’ minds when they read about the ERC programmes and one of the things that is firmly embedded in the myths and legends that surround the … More

There are few, if any, consultants with a substantial body of knowledge and experience in this area - this might simply be that we have been too busy doing it to find out, of … More

I have been reminded again of a number of things as we begin to look in detail at proposals being written for the latest call and I’ll try to catch them in posts before they escape … More

This is the one of a series of posts that cover the issue of how to write effective objectives quickly.  Other aspects are covered in discussions of writing backwards, thinking … More

We are busy again with drafts for the forthcoming calls  and so we have to be able to agree with the researchers when the job has been done, when to call a halt to the work whether … More

Making promises is a critically important thing to do in the section on the objectives which forms the core of the ERC proposal.  This post will look at a very simple way of … More

There is a very common assumption among researchers preparing proposals for the ERC calls that the text must have graphics and photos and figures liberally embedded within it for … More

As a very quick follow on to another post on writing objectives SMARTly I will look very quickly at the FINER criteria which are also a very good set ideas for thinking of and … More

The logical framework planning method has been around since the 1960s and has a long and well-proven track record of creating excellent project plans in a wide range of settings. … More

All the posts in this blog have been about the input side of the proposal writing process and are based on long experience of what inputs lead to the best outputs i.e., what and … More

Whenever I give a training event in the discussion that follows the topic of 'excellence' always comes up and the level of ‘excellence’ that the researcher needs for them to be … More

It is important to make the proposal as easy as possible for the evaluator to read– in fact, the ideal text is one that hardly needs to be read at all but rather carries the reader … More

I have just completed an intensive three month period of work in which I reviewed quite a number of Advanced Grant and Starting Grant proposals.  And, as usual some new things came … More

In the last month or two I have been travelling quite a lot to some very beautiful and interesting places around Europe. I have been delivering training courses on how to prepare … More

It is rare for anyone to speak about selling in the research community – unless they research that topic in a business school.  In some areas of science I have never heard people … More

In recent months I have been to a number of countries to give a short training course and to review some of the projects that are emerging for the new ERC calls.  Below is a link … More

This post will be the last one about the issues emerging from the discussion with researchers during recent training days in various cities across Europe – it is a loose group of … More

I have had more than one conversation with ERC officers where to topic of page length has been brought up. The message coming across is that evaluators are under pressure and … More