Where do I ask for funding?
This depends on your ambitions and the character of your research:
- Is it national or international?
- Must it be solved at an international/European level
- Do I need international cooperation?
- Is it a big field requiring interdisciplinary research
- Do I need several partners?
- Is it ambitious and challenging?
- At what level?
- What is your ambitions and track record so far?
- Internationally recognized?
- International publications and cooperation?
- At the start of your carrier or a senior
- Will the challenges be best solved by a centre of excellence or a project?
- What kind of resources do I have available?
- What kind of project management capabilities do I have?
- Can I and will I do supervision?
After a reality check you can calibrate your ambitions with available funding schemes.
ERC (European Research Council) and the big thematic H2020 Health Program projects obviously are more demanding and challenging than smaller national projects. We will not rank the funding sources here but you can make your own list and see where you fit in. If you get funding from one source you can climb and be more ambitious next time. If you do not get funded you can resubmit to another source. The work done for one scheme is not wasted; it may be adapted to other programs.
Remember:
- It may not be easier to get funded by the less ambitious programs. There may be too many applicants and the success rate may therefore be low.
- The effort needed to write a proposal will probably be similar for many of the funding sources and may not correlate with the ambitious of the program. Check for number of pages. H2020 thematic program proposals may be an exception as these are 60 pages and you need to manage several partners in the writing process.
- Read the call text and check funded project for your scheme before you apply. This will give you an idea of your chances
- For top notch, such as ERC, you can check your publication track record against statistics of earlier funded projects. You should be able to match this to win.
- H2020 thematic projects differ in size and ambition. What is required for a €4 mill project is different from a €40 mill project. The large projects are expected to have big global impact and the resources needed for this must be available in the form of research power as well as management structures. The smaller H2020 projects have a focused scientific aim and may be well suited for a small competent consortium.
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