A Bigger Splash Limited is a specialist consultancy offering services which span from introductory overviews to rigorous and detailed assessment of final drafts which many researcher find transforms their work.
We help researchers to create very competitive ERC proposals and have been doing so since the beginning of the ERC programmes. From the very start we have been known for taking proposals that are full of potential but not doing themselves justice and pushing them over the winning line. We have worked on more than 400 proposals, many in great detail over a number of drafts and with many successes. We have also worked for more than 20 years on successive Framework Programmes and on H2020 as well as on a wide range of other consulting projects funded by EU bodies and others. We have an outstanding record of success in all areas of H2020 and our work ranges across the whole programme from Marie Curie and FET to the SME programmes taking in the main bulk of funding for collaborative research along the way. We are often asked to project manage projects that we have been instrumental in winning and are fully trained and qualified and very experienced project managers.
We are always very happy to discuss finding a flexible and appropriate way to solve the particular problems you might be facing in this critical but complex area of project work. Please contact us for a discussion about how we might work together on creating better ERC or H2020 proposals.
In brief, our services for projects range from introductory work and group training through to detailed mentoring of individual researchers which is based around exhaustive and intensive reviews and discussion of the drafts of the B1 and B2 project descriptions. We supply simply, clear guidance with explicit instructions on what can be done, where and exactly how to make the proposal text more competitive and take the researchers through the review process carefully step-by-step.
Below we sketch out how we typically work on ERC project development although this is only an outline of the work we do and we are always very happy to discuss finding a flexible and appropriate way to solve the particular problems you might be facing in this critical but complex area of project work. Please contact us for a discussion about how we might work together on creating better ERC proposals.
Costs
To illustrate costs – a typical review of proposal draft takes about 1.5 days and the day rate for this work is 950 euro per day. This is generally enough time to do a thorough review of at least two drafts. It can be done quicker or in even more detail depending on what the researcher or institution has in mind – we are very flexible and turn the work around very quickly indeed even right up to deadline, so if you think it might be too late then it probably isn’t.
In contrast to the working practices of some other consultants we do not work on a ‘contingency fee’ basis – i.e., we don’t expect win bonuses or a managment role in the project when funded, you simply pay us for the detailed and expert advice we provide at each stage of the preparation process.
We welcome all contact from those interested in the ERC programmes and are happy to explore possible assignments informally and without commitment.
Training
We work in a number of ways to produce outstanding proposals that will be taken very seriously by the evaluators. We often make half-day presentations to large groups of researchers who might be thinking of writing a proposal in the next call, this is often some months before the call deadline. In these sessions we introduce the programme and set out guidelines for successful writing and things to avoid – these good practice lessons are drawn from our ERC work since 2007 and from our Framework programme expertise going back to the ’90s.
Typically, we’ll then work more intensively with those researchers from the larger group who decide to finally put pen to paper – often after a prioritisation and initial review done in conjunction with project office at the home institution.
Review and mentoring
Our intensive work with groups of researchers commonly comprises of an initial review of the proposal draft in whatever state it is in – this is done remotely. After detailed initial reading and commentary we often then travel to the host institution to meet with all the researchers individually to discuss all the points raised from the review and to work through the text together to find the solutions to the problems indentified. As a follow up to the meeting the researcher will produce a next draft for final review and commentary before submitting the text.
If the whole process is done remotely then the, typically, two rounds of commentary and discussion take place on the email and through Skype which makes this also a highly effective dialogue which researchers find very beneficial.
We are often contacted by individual researchers who invariably come to us as a result of a referral from another satisfied client. Once again, the process normally entails a detailed review of the draft which is returned with comments and suggestions and then either a meeting face-to-face or a second round of writing and commentary before submission done completely on line: we adapt to meet the needs of the client in each case.
From introductory overviews to rigorous and detailed assessment of final drafts
In brief, our services for projects range from introductory work and group training through to detailed mentoring of individual researchers which is based around exhaustive and intensive reviews and discussion of the drafts of the B1 and B2 project descriptions. We supply simply, clear guidance with explicit instructions on what can be done, where and exactly how to make the proposal text more competitive and take the researchers through the review process carefully step-by-step.
The cv plays a critical part in any successful bid, of course, and we do look at these in detail to make sure they are presented in the best light and address the assessment criteria that will be brought to bear upon them during the evaluation. However, guidance for the cv is much clearer than for the text parts of the B1 and 2 and there is much less that can be done to create a persuasive argument as it is a long process to turn around an unpromising cv. Therefore, in practice, most of our work is done in the B1 description of the project and in the B2 text which is based upon it.
As a guideline, a detailed review of a proposal will take between one and a half and two days’ consulting time to complete and we are always able to might very tight deadlines. All our work on ERC projects is done under signed confidentiality agreements.